Tragedy On Lake Stevens

D

DaveS

New member
This morning's Everett Herald features an article about a tragic accident that claimed the life of a local resident on Lake Stevens that occurred on Saturday night.
Our department was one of several agencies involved in the recovery effort that culminated Sunday afternoon after the location of the sunken vessel.
The location of the vessel was pinpointed through the use of a side scanning sonar unit that the Seattle Police Harbor Patrol brought up to Lake Stevens to assist in the efforts.
Although, I was not on the vessel that was towing the sonar unit and unable to see the screen during the operation, I was able to see the components that made up the device. It certainly proved to be a valuable piece of equipment and certainly a much safer method of searching than actually having divers in the water on a search pattern.
 
I read in the Tacoma paper that 9 people made it back to shore, and only the woman (boat owner/skipper?) didn't make it. What size vessel was this? Any word on what happened?
 
C-Dawg":2qyknyiw said:
What size vessel was this? Any word on what happened?
Click to expand...

It was a 20 foot ski boat with a wakeboard tower. The other occupants had made it safely to shore (via private vessels) prior to our arrival on Sat. night. (The initial rescue efforts were truly a community of boaters on the lake that came together). We were "on scene" until midnight Sat. night involved in the initial search efforts and then returned to assist law enforcement agencies from 0630 to 1730 HRS on Sunday.
Obviously, the investigation is still ongoing and until that is completed we won't know the cause. In reading some of the reader's comments on several "google" articles there are many "speculators".
In reading the Tacoma Tribune article on "google" last night, they seemed more "newsworthy" about the incident than the closer geographical newspapers.
 
The two thing that stood out in the articale were the number of people on board the boat, many ski boats are designed for 12 people, and the lack of life vest.
 
I agree with you on the "speculators" Dave. Seems nearly everyone's got an opinion on what happened. One fact though; 10 people on a 20' boat seems a little "overloaded" to me. :? And I bet they didn't have 10 life vests on board.

Still sad though.
 
Tonight at 11 PM on Seattle's King 5 News there is a feature story to be presented on the King 5 News Investigation of the manufacturer of the vessel involved in this tragic event.
 
Well this is typical, lets go after the boat builder because they should have know that a bunch of stupid people would be on the boat to overload it and the builder should have known that no one would be wearing a life preserver! What ever happened to responsibility!!! It always ends up being someone else's fault.
 
Dave, Thanks for your help on this. We have many ski/wake board boats in our areas, and one of the largest wake board competitions in the SE in the cove very near where I keep my boat... (a good weekend to just raft up with them and watch...due to the waves)... amazing what some of those kids can do.

Not my kinda boating, but, those boats are generally well built boat with great fit/finish... but, they can not out manufacture self responsibility and just being stupid....which, may occur from time to time on boats. Hopefully, some court will see the light. Ya know...we lost a great manufacture of small economical planes, Cessna... due to many stupid mistakes made by pilots....and then family lawyers go after the plane builder. Same is going to be true with our boats too.

Good thing about the C-Brats that I know....most error on the side of caution, and many of us just say....WOW... I screwed that up... learn from it and move on.

I hate one of the first targets was the boat builder...unless, known good factual knowledge on the site indicated something other than operator error was the culprit.

Keep us posted please.

Byrdman
 
Kinda an inflammatory title on the piece IMO, but what else can you expect from "the media". :roll:

I love the logic of the woman interviewed at the end of the piece. Someone died in a boat on the water...it could've been me. :roll: I wonder if she drives on the freeway?...or flies?...
 
Prior to this incident, I had considered removing the foam for added storage under the v-berth of our 22', but since this incident I've definitely reconsidered the thought as I'd just as soon have my vessel float at least bow up should something ever occur and someone be trapped inside.

(P.S. because of the King 5 video, I've had to buy ice cream at work for my shift as my compadres "seem" :shock: to have been able to see me on our Fire Rescue Boat.)
 
DaveS":lqtbwfhp said:
(P.S. because of the King 5 video, I've had to buy ice cream at work for my shift as my compadres "seem" :shock: to have been able to see me on our Fire Rescue Boat.)
Click to expand...

Kinda hard to walk out of frame on a boat. :lol:
 
You know if you read past the title it looks like the family has a good cause for a return on the money spent on the boat. I mean really what type of low life is using water absorbing foam to float a boat????? As you all know I'm no rocket scientist but come on, open cell foam in a boat????????.

Now no amount of open cell foam is going to cause a boat to sink unless some thing or some one causes water to get in. Now I don't know what the load rating is for this boat but ten seems high to me. Not having a life vest on board is just stupid and some one died of stupidity in this case. Why nine made it and the one did not is a question, did she get caught up in the boat or lines???

So how did the water get in and who ccasuedit??? I have seen loaded ski boats come off plane too fast and take a wake over the stern and sink, hell I have seen it happen twice with four total boats filed with water. So its a interesting story with a lesson. don't over load your boat and have life vest for everyone.
 
interesting to follow this...

I wonder if Phill Warnock knew Tom Latham?

I wonder if there were 10 life jackets even on board.

I wonder why the owner did not get out of the open boat like the other 9 passengers?

Do we know if for sure, open cell foam was used....and if so, was it illegal back in the 90s...or just cheaper? Two minutes is a pretty good time lag from a soaking to sinking....if life jackets had been anywhere on board?

So, did another larger boat in the area "dunk" them with wake?

Have had the big ol 35-40' Sea Ray, Maxium, and other similar larger pleasure boats really, really wake us before...to the points of our boat slaming up and down together breaking folks arms....

I do not like just using body counts for boats weights. I think when I made a run out in the Oak Harbor on one of my boats, our average weight per person was in the 225 range for the 6 folks on board. Yes, I asked each... Ladies, do not worry... I just ask a man on board that is about your size... :mrgreen:

Interesting...but still sad. I would rather drown myself rather than know someone on my boat drowned due to me not having proper safety gear on board.

Byrdman
 
Ouch! I was thinking about laying out for the Lindhouts how Tom Laytham almost single-handedly brought down the Reynolds C-Dory company with his ignorance and arrogance even before the Great Recession, but decided to let it rest!

Byrdman":2khfmg23 said:
I wonder if Phill Warnock knew Tom Latham?

Byrdman
Click to expand...
 
Lets hang him first, then have a trial and find him guilty....

"It sank in 2 minutes." Oh really...
"It was filled with open cell foam." Oh really...
"I quit to protest his shoddy practices." Oh really...
"We only took the boat out once and had to be towed in, I thought it was going to sink. We never used it again." Oh really...

So far, I have not seen one fact presented... The courts have shown over and over that eye witnesses are wrong vastly more times than they are right... Disgruntled ex employees have an axe to grind... And I do not for one minute believe that someone pays for a brand new boat, takes it out once, and then just parks it...

When someone has some facts, please post them...
 
When someone has some facts, please post them...

Never stopped us before! :roll:

And THAT is a fact.... :lol:

You gonna buy that $115K R-25 to pull with your big new White Truck? Hope so, get that temptation behind the rest of us!! :D

Charlie
 
Back
Top