Nov. 13th Accident Report

Darren P

Member
I can’t release actual accident reports but I can share these public reports of accidents available on the internet by anyone interested. I get these sent to me. This way if there is something that needs to be addressed right away were not waiting around for an investigation to be completed. This is for safety awareness and education only.

11-10-12 COLOCKUM, WA Seattle duck hunters injured when boat hits rock. Three Seattle duck hunters were injured early Sat. morning (11-10-12) when their aluminum fishing boat struck a large rock in the Columbia River, S. of Rock Island Dam. On impact, the boat’s 34-y/o driver, Kevin Charap, was thrown over the vessel’s windshield onto its bow. He suffered a broken collarbone, but was reported in stable condition this morning at Central Washington Hosp. Corporal Jason Reinfeld, spokesman for the Chelan Co. Sheriff, said the boat’s 2 passengers, both Seattle men in their 30s, were not seriously injured. Their names weren’t immediately available. The victims reported the incident just after 6 a.m. The men took off from a boat launch off Tarpiscan Road and were headed downriver when they hit the rock island. Paramedics responded to the boat launch, and were ferried to the rock island in a Chelan Co. PUD boat. The hunters’ 19-ft. boat was still on the rock Sat. morning. Neither drugs nor alcohol appear to be a factor in the crash.

11-09-12 EASTON, MD Man rescued from Miles River after boat overturns. Local FDs, state police and Talbot Co. EMS came to the aid of a man whose 14-ft. aluminum boat overturned in the Miles River around 8:30 p.m. Fri. (11-09). Jamie McNeal, chief of Easton VFD, said when he got to the scene the man was wading in the water wearing a chest wader full of 40 degree water and clinging onto the bulkhead, and he'd been there for about 30 min. But McNeal said the man's cell phone wasn't damaged when the vessel overturned, so he was able to call for help. The man had a blinking spot light attached to his hat, so he was easy to see at night in the middle of the river.
McNeal said along with the hypothermia that could have struck the man while in water that cold, the water could have also filled his chest wader and sunk him to the bottom. The man was taken to Memorial Hosp. at Easton, treated for exposure and then released.
 
I do beg to differ with McNeal on the wader issue. If those waders are the old style waders...and fill with water....you are also IN water and the does not change the bouyancy. If he was in neoprene waders...that's basically a wet suit and you can't sink in a wetsuit without extra weights. Yup, I've tested it both ways myself. Also, Captain Jeff Coats jumped into the pool at Westlake a couple years ago with waders on and couldn't get under water at all.
So....keep a cool head and understand what can save your life when push comes to shove. :)
Lou
 
I agree with Lou. People completely overestimate the risk of drowning in waders.

Drowning is not the issue--it's the ability to get back into the boat, and the hypothermia.

That said, I think most people really overestimate their ability to function in cold water. I am a very strong swimmer--I swam and played water polo in college, and I used to compete in open-water ocean races in water as cold as 55 degrees.

At my peak condition, if you'd dropped me in 40 degree water, I'd have been as unable to save myself as any non-swimmer. The only advantage I might have is being a little more comfortable in the water, and therefore less likely to panic. That might buy me 10 minutes or so before hypothermia sets in.

In cold water, the life jacket gets worn. I define cold as any time the combined water and air temp are below 100 degrees--and if anything, that's not careful enough.
 
I agree with Lou. People completely overestimate the risk of drowning in waders.

Drowning is not the issue--it's the ability to get back into the boat, and the hypothermia.

That said, I think most people really overestimate their ability to function in cold water. I am a very strong swimmer--I swam and played water polo in college, and I used to compete in open-water ocean races in water as cold as 55 degrees.

At my peak condition, if you'd dropped me in 40 degree water, I'd have been as unable to save myself as any non-swimmer. The only advantage I might have is being a little more comfortable in the water, and therefore less likely to panic. That might buy me 10 minutes or so before hypothermia sets in.

In cold water, the life jacket gets worn. I define cold as any time the combined water and air temp are below 100 degrees--and if anything, that's not careful enough.


That is why the float coat is so sweet. A fall in with a float coat and waders is likely that you won't even get fully wet before you are able to get back in the boat. Add that to the fact that you float so high in the water that you aren't even fully submerged and you are buying yourself some serious ability to save yourself.
 
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