Boat Report from the Weekend

Cooler temps will soon keep many "fair weather" boaters out of the water and we won’t have so much excitement to write about on Mondays. But for now, there is too much to fit in our little posts.

Flipped
A sailboat flipped over on Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon, tragically resulting in the drowning of its operator, who was found not wearing a life jacket. Another man and two children onboard survived. Story, video courtesy of News9 KWTV.

Big Boat Crash in Texas
Two rented boats, carrying three families with a combined eight children and four adults, collided Sunday on Lewisville Lake in Texas. One of the boats sank, and at least one boy was seriously injured, according to the Dallas News. A spokeswoman for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department stated that the outcome might have been much worse had everyone aboard not being wearing a life vest.

Good Instincts
All nine people aboard the sinking 48-foot fishing boat "Instinct" were rescued on Saturday. SignOnSanDiego.com reported that when their boat started to take on water 30 miles off the coast of San Diego, the passengers managed to safely find their way to nearby private boats before the Coast Guard even arrived.

Multiple Boating Incidents
On Friday, the San Juan County Sheriff's Log from a paper covering San Juan Island in Washington, reported at least three boating incidents on Friday that had occurred recently. In one case a stray bullet hit a small boat; in another, a 27 ft sailboat caught on fire from an unattended charcoal stove while its operator was checking for damage from when he had recently run aground; and in a third incident, a 17 ft boat took off unexpectedly and then capsized on top of its 85 year old owner. Wow.

Across the Pond
In Great Britain, an 81 year old man had to be rescued after rowing out to sea in an inflatable boat off the coast of North Wales. He was unable to row back to shore, and his dinghy had begun to take on water. Why was he out there? Just being a good neighbor... he was trying to save the garbage can (or "wheelie" as they call them) of the man who lived next door. I guess it's true what they say, boaters make good neighbors. The Scottish Sun, which had some interesting comments from its readers, reported: “He had no life jacket, was not wearing any waterproof clothing and the dinghy was half full of water because of the conditions.”

Boating safety take-aways from all these stories? How about always wear a life jacket, and boat smart. More boating safety tips can be found on our boating safety tips page.

###