Another boat tragedy

This weekend on the Shuswap lake a small 18 foot ski boat drove through one end a house boat killing the captain/owner. This accident happened at approx 11;00 pm at night
The small vessel is now lodged inside, there were 13 people onboard the house boat at the time.
(this is to the best of my memory/knowledge)

Re: Another boat tragedy

Tragic.
Speed, alcohol, lighting, or fatigue?

Re: Another boat tragedy

DaNinja said:

Tragic.
Speed, alcohol, lighting, or fatigue?

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Probably all the above, kids/teenagers at the helm as I undestand it.

Re: Another boat tragedy

did not hear that on the news yet bud.

so sorry to hear that.

i do know that it is allmost impossible to see house boats at night.
i was in gelataly bay on the okanagan lake the other night.....just putting at 10 mph....and allmost drove into one that was anchored.......

i was paying total attention to where i was going. i just could not see it till i was in collision range.
i was screaming mad as i violently laid my boat on its side to avoid the collision......no lights on the house boat at all.

lets all be safe out there.....

Re: Another boat tragedy

Very sad news indeed. I'm sure there will be a lot of stories such as this that come out of the long weekend.

Anchored boats, houseboats or otherwise must have an anchor light.

Re: Another boat tragedy

oops! said:

did not hear that on the news yet bud.

so sorry to hear that.

i do know that it is allmost impossible to see house boats at night.
i was in gelataly bay on the okanagan lake the other night.....just putting at 10 mph....and allmost drove into one that was anchored.......

i was paying total attention to where i was going. i just could not see it till i was in collision range.
i was screaming mad as i violently laid my boat on its side to avoid the collision......no lights on the house boat at all.

lets all be safe out there.....

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In that case I'd say the house boat captain is partly to blame. Whenever I anchor my boat ANYWHERE over night I have a set of battery powered LED xmas lights that I wrap around my bimini top and turn them on. Just in case someone comes blasting through I will ALWAYS have some kind of lights on ALL night long.

If I had 13 people on my house boat all night long I'd have an LED rope light around the full perimeter of the boat.

Re: Another boat tragedy

This is why I stay at home during holiday weekends , To many people who do not have a clue how to operate a boat on the water or do not understand that alcohol and driving a boat do not mix . I am sure as was posted above this is one of many avoidable tragedies that could have been avoided with proper knowledge of boating that occurred today .

Re: Another boat tragedy

here is an update
http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/55525/Update-Shuswap-Lake-fatal-crash

picture http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Boating+accident+kills+Shuswap+Lake/3234866/story.html

Re: Another boat tragedy

Sorry to hear that! It must be the moon or something.

My niece and her grandson got off very lucky two weekends ago! Her grandson grabbed the stick-steering from her control, pushing it all the way to the floor. If you know about stick-steering, that put it into an immediate 90-degree turn. Although the 25 hp o/b was only about 1/2 throttle, they went into and almost out the other side of a houseboat parked at the river bank. Grandson got some bruises and scrapes. Niece got helicoptered to the hospital, and got leg and head stitched up. She's fine now, but the houseboat is practically a wreck.

Re: Another boat tragedy

tashasdaddy said:

here is an update
http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/55525/Update-Shuswap-Lake-fatal-crash

picture http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Boating+accident+kills+Shuswap+Lake/3234866/story.html

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That photo is stunning. You couldn't hit that "perfectly" if you were a Hollywood stuntman. That took some real speed, too.

Sad, but looking at the photo, I'm surprised more weren't killed.

Re: Another boat tragedy

DaNinja said:

That photo is stunning. You couldn't hit that "perfectly" if you were a Hollywood stuntman. That took some real speed, too.

Sad, but looking at the photo, I'm surprised more weren't killed.

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They had 16-18 inches of room between the top of the skiboat and the ceiling of the houseboat.
And to get some of the people out the had to cut a hole in the roof of the house boat with a chainsaw. (as was reported)

Re: Another boat tragedy

This is tragic, was there any news on who was to blame for doing what wrong? Was the houseboat properly lit up or was the driver of the speedboat just plain drunk and stupid?

Re: Another boat tragedy

Pardon my ignorance but aren?t there any laws as to how fast a boat can go after dark in that area?
It just seems to me that the fault would be on the speed boat for being reckless. In my mind if the house boat was to blame and was careless it would have gone over the speed boat, but if the speed boat was at fault and was driving too fast, the bow would be up allowing it to come up on the house boat as seen.

I know many boaters in my area that complain but these are the reasons why Ohio waters carry a no wake speed after dark.
Tragic and I hope that all recover and the family fins closure some how.

Re: Another boat tragedy

I wonder if I bug my friend who is an RCMP officer, if he would be allowed to tell me anything...

Re: Another boat tragedy

Thajeffski said:

In that case I'd say the house boat captain is partly to blame. Whenever I anchor my boat ANYWHERE over night I have a set of battery powered LED xmas lights that I wrap around my bimini top and turn them on. Just in case someone comes blasting through I will ALWAYS have some kind of lights on ALL night long.

If I had 13 people on my house boat all night long I'd have an LED rope light around the full perimeter of the boat.

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Not a good idea. The only lighting you should have are the red/green nav lights forward and the white 360? if you are moving or the white 360? only if anchored.

A line of small lights in row like that, could lead someone to think that they are seeing distant lights on the horizon instead of an anchored boat.

Re: Another boat tragedy

I agree about the lighting, bekosh. Have experienced just that ... thought it was row of boats in the distance only to realize I was closer to one boat than I thought.

I would hate to go "no wake" at night, but it is important to slow down and only go as fast as you can see and react. My night speed varies on the brightness of the moon the absence or thickness of the fog/mist, and any other atmospheric conditions that hinder my sight. Some nights I feel comfortable going 25mph or slightly more, other nights you won't catch me going over 5 mph. It all depends on visibility.

As for boating accidents ... had to respond to one last evening. Don't know the details, but we flew one kid to the Trauma Center. A boat drove over a Jet Ski with 2 teens on it. Both teens were injured, and the one lost consciousness for a short time which is why he got the helo ride. It is important to pay attention when on the water and don't drive while under the influence!

Re: Another boat tragedy

There were lots and lots of boats in the area that night, certainly no need to be going quick enough to launch into the houseboat. They had just finished watching a fireworks display around 11:00 pm. Not sure about who had lights on or who didn't, but in a congested bay I would like to think some care would be taken.

Regards,

Re: Another boat tragedy

shuswap119 said:

There were lots and lots of boats in the area that night, certainly no need to be going quick enough to launch into the houseboat. They had just finished watching a fireworks display around 11:00 pm. Not sure about who had lights on or who didn't, but in a congested bay I would like to think some care would be taken.

Regards,

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Agreed ... did not read the story or know the particulars.

Re: Another boat tragedy

Just a bit of an update to this story,
Regards,


POLICE SUSPECT ALCOHOL IN CRASH
Court docs show dozens of empty liquor containers found in ski boat
Police found 27 empty beer and cooler cans in a ski boat that crashed into a houseboat on Shuswap Lake near Anglemont, killing the houseboat?s driver, court documents reveal.

Chase RCMP filed the documents in order to get a warrant to seize blood samples taken from Leon Reinbrecht, the ski boat?s driver.

Reinbrecht?s blood was collected at Royal Inland Hospital after the July 3 crash. Police state in the court document s they expect the blood samples will reveal the man was impaired at the time of the accident.

Kenneth Brown was killed in the crash.

The RCMP?s information to obtain a search warrant spells out what led investigators to suspect Reinbrecht may have been impaired at the time.
According to the documents, officers found 19 empty beer cans inside the ski boat as well as several empty cooler containers.

The officers also found a small baggie of marijuana near the ski boat, which was covered in bloody fingerprints. The inside of the ski boat was covered in blood.


At RIH, officers spoke with Reinbrecht, the court documents indicate. One of the officers noted a strong odour of liquor on the man?s breath and asked if he had been drinking earlier in the evening. Reinbrecht said in reply that he drank one beer after the crash ? while he was trapped inside the ski boat inside the houseboat, he claimed ? because he was thirsty, police reported as they assembled their information to obtain a warrant.

Officers also noted other things, including the fact Reinbrecht?s boat was not operating running lights at the time of the collision. The switch for the ski boat?s running lights was in the off position. The houseboat, in comparison, was operating all of its running lights as well as interior cabin lights.

Police also spoke with witnesses who reported seeing Reinbrecht?s boat doing ?high-speed doughnuts? in the moments before the crash.

One woman said Reinbrecht?s boat narrowly missed crashing into her boat just moments before the collision with the houseboat, the court documents reveal.
Reinbrecht also gave a statement to police. He told officers he was on the lake to watch the fireworks and was driving his boat about 30 km/h. He said he did not see the houseboat because its lights were not on. He did not lose consciousness.

Officers searched police databases and noted Reinbrecht has three past convictions for impaired driving, according to the documents.

Police use informations to obtain search warrants to articulate to a judge the reasons they have to believe someone has committed an offence.

None of the information in the documents has been proved, nor is it considered evidence.

It?s not known if the blood samples seized revealed a blood-alcohol content in excess of the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle, and Reinbrecht has not been charged with a criminal offence.

Re: Another boat tragedy

i doubt they are gonna make the booze charge stick.

but i hope they get him with some kind of dangerous driving on the water???

for those that don't know......the lakes that this happened on is a mecca for houseboating and vacationers. and was most likely jammed with traffic similar to Wriggly field after a ball game.

imho....doing those kind of maneuvers in the dark of night in heavy traffic areas, that coupled with the speed the boat had to be traveling at in order to imbed it self that deep in the house boat, including breaking the wake tower. is just absurd. (and a couple of other words that would get me banned for life.)

on the safety side of things, these were young people out having fun, having ( seemingly) a few beers on the water, when all of a sudden it turned tragic in a split second.
tho i doubt this would happen to any of us (the exact same circumstances) however it does go to show how fast things can go horribly bad.
we must all be totally aware of our actions and the consequences of them on the water.