TOPIC: 4 Boating DEATHs , 3 Events, E. Tn

GANG: It was a strange weekend on the river right around my house here in Chattanooga, Tenn. Mid 90's temps have people doing all sorts of swimming. Three different accidents have now recovered four Adults.

#1 was three guys , all age 40 fishing out of 15 - 16 ft boat in the middle of the shipping channel at 5 pm , bright sun . One guy survived, said he could not SEE / hear a tug boat pulling NINE barges , barrelling down on them at a SPEED of 5 mph .!! Just recovered the 2nd body ,Tuesday am. 2nd comment by the survivor was I waved at the tug , when my outboard would not start, NO life jackets, just kept standing in the boat . ?

#2 Was a young father who just jumped into the river off the launch ramp at SUCK Creek rd , to cool off, started yelling for help , never made shore. Think a under tow current, part cause. Early civil war history there was called Suck creek for, spining rafts, etc.

#3 was a lady who got bounced with a pulling inner tube ride. (?) Either flipped once, or she was face down , into the Closed cover tube ,holding water & swallowed water , but was unconscious & died day later in hospital.

Ya its been crazy.... We haven't been out but once this year. Wife's Uncle was saying it seemed more crowded than last year. We stay mostly up around B&B except for trips to Steve's Landing BBQ

Ah well, it happens. We get some purty horrific accidents down here too. Folks runnin' into docks & such.

But being a big fan of chaos & destruction it don't bother me so much ...

My section of the Rock River in Illinois has become crazy.
I have owned prroperty for eight years and each year - bigger and faster boats.
This year I witnessed a twin hull with two 225hp Mercs. pass my place and round the island at full tilt then round the island and come up the other side at full throtle past the state launch (no wake and through a narrow bend all at 4:30 in the afternoon while people were headed to the launch.

About a week later I saw the same boat anchored in a cove the young man had his infant daughter on board.

I hope he did not have her on the boat the first time I saw him.

The barge incident practically happened in my backyard- I haven't heard a lot of details about it, but it sounds like the boaters REALLY weren't paying attention. 9 barges and a tug is NOT a small object. And, operating without lifejackets on board is beyond belief.

I've piloted tankers for almost 9 years on the Great Lakes, including the very congested Detroit/St Clair river system, and Welland Canal. I could go on all day about small boats, and their lack of respect for commercial operators out there. If you stay out of the channel, you'll be out of our way. I draw 19 feet- The channel is 22' deep, but only 6' on the sides. Guess what- If you break down in front of me, I have no where to go. So- Why are you in front of me? I've had MANY close calls over the past years for this very reason. Just stay away- The big guy has the right of way in a restricted channel anyway!

-Andrew

I dunno about the barge incident. Years ago my 1st wife and I were camped on a beach of the Ouachita River (wash-a-taw). One night we were swimming and thought we heard something with a low rumble way off in the distance. We kinda got quiet and looked around but it was pitch black because we were 15 miles from any civilization. All of a sudden we realized we couldn't even see the stars and it dawned up us that a huge string of barges was passing by! It was probably 50 feet from us and we never even heard it really. Sounded more like an airplane way off in the distance. Scared the crap out of us, but I would think that in the daytime it would be easy to spot a set of brages coming at you even if you didn't hear the tug's engine.

ANOTHER TUBING COLLISON:::: Yesterday had another lady tubing injury here in our section of the river , just off the county park ramp / lagoon / bay .

. Two 18 yr girls on one (or two ) jetski's seem to collide with a pull tub behind a boat. Not sure if the boat driver did a U- Turn in front of ski or passing behind boats, dock / house , etc, or jet ski went to Jump the boat wake . Anyhow the mother got a broken rib & daughter a broken ankle out of the event water rescue.
. Not even to 4th of July yet .

MMMMM. maybe we wont go out for the fourth after all, been workin all year to get my boat done ,sure would hate to have some stupid mess it up for me.. well maby not Norris any way, I hear its pretty bad with drunks on the fourth. I was just up there at the 33 last week and there were more boats than ive ever seen on water, looked like I40 in ktown at rush hour , that just cant be that much fun. may be we will go down to the kingston show instead

Sounds like Lake Mohave/Colorado River/Lake Havasu where every weekend in season somebody is critically injured or killed - usually on a jetski.

I've seen them do 180's right in front of a boat coming up behind them. Extreeeeemme!!!! Yeah..Extreme misery.

MMMMM. maybe we wont go out for the fourth after all, been workin all year to get my boat done ,sure would hate to have some stupid mess it up for me.

Same thing I was thinking! It's a shame, but IMHO it's not worth the risk. I may try Sat morning EARLY, most of the jetski crowd and drunks don't come out till noon or so. Course, stupid happens 24/7. Happy Independence Day everybody!

TEEN D.U.I. jetski in collison. .Heard from one of our church neighbors, that lives in the bay where Lady tube accident occured, & he said both the 18 yr girls on two skis had been drinking .!!!
OUCH. Will start to get expensive for somebody.

TWO Mobile Boating floating METH LAB BUSTS,! Our river area is getting quite attention. Police patrols Sat night got a few B.U.I., but also busted two boats for making METH labs.!! One was a CANOE .!!! Now almost heard everything.

. Am report has boat EXPLOSION north of here in Watts Bar , South Knoxville area , 5 people injured .. www.newschannel9.com/news/officers-992442-boating-saturation.html

A boater was struck by lightning here yesterday just offshore. He lived but... The lightning was crazy here yesterday.

Another Accidental DEATH , Sunday night 6pm at anchor waiting for fireworks night .!!! Guess a guy about 25 yrs , who could not swim went with some friends , on maybe 20 ft boats .

. TV news show a few boats rafted together long line, said guy fell overboard (?) , never came up . Police did recover about two hours later . East side Tn river / lake , north Chattanooga , near Harrison State Park , could be Paradise bay , where I heard the famous Quarterback , Peyton Manning has his ranch fireworks, event.

Sad things, these boating deaths, especially since boating is usually meant to be a fun experience. Back in the 1960s, a friend of mine , aged about 14 at the time, was killed in a boating accident. He was sitting up on the bow deck of a boat driven by another teenager, at night on the Intracoastal Waterway in South Florida. They ran into a dock at high speed. The boy's brother had to identify the body, which took about two days to locate. The description of the body was not pleasant, since apparently various marine critters had started nibbling. Night time boating has some magic to it, but it always spooked me, and I avoid it.