A bad day on the Delta

[Tom]

I snapped this photo yesterday while fishing. I haven't yet heard the story but, from the position of the boat with respect to the surrounding waterway and levy, I assume this happened at night. My guess is that the skipper left the 5mph zone, hit the throttles, but didn't see or know about the bend in the slough. It appears he/she ran straight into the levy. The black thing in the picture appears to be one of several flotation bags used by a rescue crew to re-float the boat or keep it afloat and the white drums are markers.

I hope nobody was seriously hurt or died in this accident, but this can ruin a good day's boating in a hurry. We periodically hear or read about similar occurences in the "Bonehead boater" column of our local newspaper. All too often they invlove alcohol and travel at night with no navigation aids. This particular accident occurred just off the left of the second photo and the boat would have been traveling  towards the camera (they hit the levy on their right). There should have been plenty of room in the navigable waterway.

Moral of the story - if you have to travel at night, know the waterway and use navigation aids such as charts, GPS and radar.

 

[Ned]

We had an accident some years ago in Milwaukee.  A boat out of Racine headed south to home at night, probably after more than a bit or partying.  Unfortunately, they were in the outer harbor which is surrounded by a concrete breakwater.  They go as far as the south breakwall at full throttle.  No survivors.

 

[Tom]

They go as far as the south breakwall at full throttle. No survivors.

Ouch! We get a lot of go-fast boats that run right up onto the levy. They usually get off a lot lighter than the folks you mentioned. I suspect the boat in my photo wasn't going fast enough to totally break up or ride up onto the levy.

 

[Ron]

Ouch.  Hope there were no serious injuries or deaths.  Not a good idea to play submarine with a surface boat.