One Dead After Boat Overturns Near Camano Island

Pretty sad to listen to that all unfold over the radio this morning. Original pan-pan from CG was "five people in the water." You know that can't be good. Then listening to the people that showed up on the scene: "four people pulled from the water, two receiving CPR, one still trapped under boat." Then you knew there'd be at least one fatality.

Makes one think, how good are your CPR skills? Those rescuers were either shrimpers or halibut fishermen that just happened to be near the accident. They started their day looking forward to some recreation, and in an instant became potential lifesavers. That's really something to reflect upon.
 
Mark, seeing as how I saw you on the water yesterday as I was returning from Seattle and you mentioned that you might be out overnight in Langley, were you by chance on the water and able to assist this morning for this?
 
That is really a sad way to start opening day of boating season. Unfortunate, and unplanned but unnecessary. 4 adults, (evidently none acting responsibly or they all would have been wearing PFD's,) and a 14 year old (possibly near adult size, in an 18 foot open boat. Sorry but that doesn't sound like there was much priority on safety. the 2 waves, ahhh was that somebodies wake. Not good, and if it is a countable waves, then it was probably not the sea state. In a crowded boat the skipper may not have seen those wave coming and failed to take appropriate action, and once a wave comes over the side, with everybody jumping around, it would not take long for the vessel to roll over. In an open boat upside down, for someone to be trapped there, it would most likely be due to entanglement. A knife on a PFD or belt would be the quickest way out. Safety is planning ahead, for the worst case. In this case, those that survived owe it to having emergency assistance right on the spot. With the temps in the 40's survival in the water without a Mustang suit is a few minutes at best.

There are some lessons to be learned here, and Hope to God this is the last life lost this season. We all love to boat, but it is not worth dying for. Paying attention and practicing safety can allow us to boat for as long as we want.

Sympathies to the family, and kudos to the rescuers. Admonition to the rest of us.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Dave, we did not have our VHF on until Rick (C-Dawg) came over and told us about it. We wouldn't have been much help anyway as we were all the way south near Clinton when this was occurring. M immediately turned on 16 and they kept transmitting the "pan-pan" for assistance. One report said 5 in the water w/ one missing. First thing out of M's mouth; "I hope it's not a child". Next one said the missing was the 14 yr old. Our hearts sank. CG said they had a boat from Seattle en-route and a helo from Port Angeles. A buddy of mine who was supposed to be up that way told me as he was leaving Everett, the Everett PD boat(s) went tearing out code 3.

It was pretty rough, as Rick can attest to. Not dangerous but not smooth by any means; at least 3-4' rollers & wind from the SW going against a pretty large tide change. Pretty sad. Not to assume anything but five in a boat that small plus shrimp gear is a lot IMO.
 
One channel reported flat water, I think per the CG, and Chan 4 said some waves, 1-2 with the possibility of a boat wake exacerbation.

Still a very unfortunate and probably preventable, incident.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Living on the Mississippi River, across the street from a very popular boat ramp, we see it every day, where “exited to get going” boaters/fisherman stow their life jackets and shove off.

We “only once” witnessed a “dragging” operation, where authorities searched for several days and finally found the body of an early 20’s something (not wearing a life jacket).

Those startling images of large treble hooks, attached to a cross frame being systematically drug in search of a body, leave sobering and lasting memories.

Since “you in the water fighting for your life. Unless you are wearing a life jacket, your survival chances are marginal.” see http://powerboat.about.com/od/safetyand ... on/a/1.htm

“Play safe”.

Best regards,

Ron, Connie, Bear & Dolly Fisher
 
We were on a mooring in Holmes Harbor overnight waiting to go shrimping and delayed our intended 0700 start because of the winds still gusting to 25+ from ESE and not wanting to take a dinghy trip out to the boat with a "newbie" pup.

From the house I would say the waves were 2-3 but that is in Holmes Harbor with far less fetch than in Saratoga with a southerly. The station in Mutiny bay had earlier reported gusts to 30+ so I can well imagine that an 18 ft boat might have had some issues.

By 0800 things had calmed down and we just caught the tail end of the story on VHF.
Seems like there was a later story in Hood canal as well.

Had a thoroughly wet day shrimping and decided to put the boat back in Anacortes.

Met some "poachers" with a Nimitz class C-Dory trying to catch "OUR" shrimp after hours. :shock:
Photos of the culprits were taken and will be added to our album later.

(Seriously it was fun to see you guys :lol: )

Deliberately waited until late to avoid attempting the Swinomish at a minus tide and can report that at a zero tide there was very exactly 4.2 feet of water under our stern around bouys 3 & 5 at the South entrance with long stretches at 5 ft.

One sailboat sitting happily in the mud on the wrong side of "2" in a place where we would not even think of going, and a stream of bigger boats following the adrenaline stream in at 2 kts.

M&K
 
We had our usual opening day festivities yesterday at John Wayne Marina. We usually invite representatives from the military, Coast Guard and Border Patrol. Two Coast Guard helo pilots attended. Both very attractive young women, one of whom was the pilot on the above mentioned rescue mission earlier that day! Semper Peratus :thup
 
Dreamer":12rbeemr said:
Two Coast Guard helo pilots attended. Both very attractive young women

Damn! They certainly weren't around in the 60's when I was jumping out of helos in the states or flying in them in Viet Nam. :cry:

(Guess I was born way too early! :cry )
 
Dreamer":huanjgzc said:
Two Coast Guard helo pilots attended. Both very attractive young women

Now I can add to the reasons why I always wear my life jacket while on the boat. In the past I've always maintained that if there is a problem that occurs that needs to be immediately mitigated, I won't have time to be trying to put a PFD on so I always wear one. Now I can include the fact that should the "brown stuff hit the fan" and I find myself out drifting all alone in a PFD, I may still be alive to see the beautiful "saviour" that is piloting the helicopter. I'll just feel like I "died and went to heaven".... :lol: .
 
And to think that just about the time this happened I was teaching a yacht club class on safety and having an uphill battle with some about the necessity for wearing life jackets. Some showed me their life jackets still wrapped in original packaging others showed me their up-to-date flares still in the hard plastic original packaging. I challenged them to get the fares out in one minute; (without a knife :twisted: :twisted: )
 
Show them this news story, Barry. Of course everyone thinks it will never happen to them.

I must admit that I frequently do not wear my PFD which is doubly stupid considering it's an inflatable collar type and not uncomfortable to wear. I always wear it when I'm alone; it was a promise I made to Meredith. She did not want to be a young widow. Truth be told, I should've had it on yesterday but [bad] old habits remain. I am so used to wearing shorts etc when boating. Yesterday I wore slippers (flip-flops) while shrimping. My buddy told me I was "crazy". :lol: Those things do NOT have any grip on wet surfaces. But I have to realize & remember: I AM NO LONGER BOATING IN HAWAI'I! This water is cold and unforgiving of mistakes. Yesterday was a sad reminder.
 
Well right before the Hood Canal call, there was the sailboat capsized in Lake Union with 10 in the water, all were picked up safely. I was at our Elgar Bay house and noticed Kingfisher 11 on the AIS sitting across the way in Holmes Harbor, you can run but you can't hide> I did not take the boat out because the Camano Island state park was a big mess and no parking.
 
Grumpy":3ml19mby said:
Met some "poachers" with a Nimitz class C-Dory trying to catch "OUR" shrimp after hours.

I've seen the pictures and that is a Nimitz class C-Dory. What class would my C-Dory be? Every time someone asks me what kind of boat that is, I say it's a humanitarian and peace keeping vessel. But, does it have a "class"? Or, because I'm from Michigan, does it mean I have no class?

Windows_Photo_Gallery_Wallpaper.sized.jpg
 
Don & Brenda,
Thanks for the confirmation that our AIS was working. We were amused to find that one of the AIS "Dangerous targets" that came up on our screen was from the storage sheds on the Swinomish channel.
We don't worry about big black helicopters so we were also carrying a SPOT for the first time in preparation for our journeys to parts where cell phones do not work. Pleased to say it worked well and put a lot of "arrows" on places where shrimp were not.

M & K
 
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