Airboat Accident / Death - No Criminal Charges to Be Filed

This was said: "Hathaway listed the factors as the dimensions of the airboat, unfamiliarity with the weight limitations of the boat, a lack of standard operating procedures, a lack of experience, the decision to fasten the backboard to the basket, a lack of time to assess the weight carried by the boat and the occurrence of an unexpected wake from a passing boat. "A violation of standards does not establish criminal liability," Hathaway said. "We're not here to assign fault. We're here to see if the event rises to the level of criminal negligence."" .... The question addressed by Hathaway and answered in his report was straightforward: Did Robert Drye, as the operator of the Cornish Rescue Squad airboat, negligently cause the death of Virginia Yates? In short, the answer is no. ---------------------------

Dwayne

No Hard Feelings after Whale Hits Boat - Ocean Sailors beware of gentle giants! - Ocean Survival - Books by Callahan and Robertson

AUSTRALIA: January 11, 2007

SYDNEY - A sailor whose yacht was destroyed by a humpback whale off New Zealand said he had got a good "vibe" from the giant mammal and thought it was trying to say sorry, local media said on Wednesday.

For practical pointers on how to survive such a meeting see these excellent books on ocean survival.

"Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea" and Adrift second link and Survive the Savage Sea and the Robertson website.

These books are classics and a must read for anyone who intends an ocean passage.

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Dwayne

Tug Valour Hearings Resumed in Search of Cause of Sinking

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Coast Guard has concluded it final public hearing this afternoon regarding the sinking of the tug Valour, a 125-foot tug that sank approximately 40-miles east of Wilmington, N.C. Jan. 18, 2006.

Coast Guard investigators recalled the crew of the Valour to testify one last time before the investigators submit their findings to Coast Guard District Seven Command in Miami and Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington for review. Facts collected at this final hearing will be developed into a conclusion to be presented in the Coast Guard's final investigative report.

Investigators focused their questioning for the six crewmen in three major areas: training, survival equipment and the procedures regarding ballast tanks. The Coast Guard called this hearing to clarify certain issues in each of these areas.

It was also released in the public hearing that the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center in Washington and engineers with Over Seas Shipholding Group, Inc., the owners of the tug Valour, believe that Valour couldn't have sank with out water being present in the engine room.

The mood throughout the hearing was very emotional as the crewmen recalled the chaotic events that unfolded that January night. The widows of Richard H. Smoot, 50, of Southpoint, Ohio, and Ronald L. Emory, 56, of Milford, Del., were in the hearing and wept as the crewmen testified about the deaths of their husbands.

The Coast Guard's investigation is intended to determine the causes of the accident and obtain information that may prevent or reduce the occurrence of similar incidents.

The owning company is still talking of bringing the Tug Valour up from the bottom.

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Dwayne

Five People Spend Night At Sea After Boat Capsizes

CBS4) MIAMI BEACH Coast Guard crews scrambled into action Sunday morning after a boat capsized, stranding five people in the water for over 15 hours. The accident Saturday evening near Fowey Rocks, about 5 miles south of Government Cut, when the five people on board the boat tried to raise the anchor, but several waves crashed over the bow and forced the vessel to capsize. -------------------------- These folks were really lucky. This could have been a disaster if not for the keen eye of the freighter Seaboard Florida and her captain and crew. Dwayne

Man injured at Kowaliga - Fishing Boat Collision

Man injured at Kowaliga Two fishing boats involved in accident

The Alabama Marine Police are investigating a two-boat accident that occurred at the Kowaliga boat pier on Lake Martin Thursday afternoon that left one man seriously injured.

Ethan Allen Update - Criminal Charges?

QUEENSBURY — Misdemeanor charges against a cruise line and the captain of a boat that capsized on Lake George, killing 20 elderly tourists, were unsealed Monday by a prosecutor who said current law did not support stiffer penalties.

Dwayne

Booze and Boats Don't Mix - Example of Aftermath - Grant Czuj and Judges Wrath

A Livingston County Circuit Court judge was unsympathetic toward a Hamburg Township man he sentenced to prison for a July 2005 fatal boating accident on Zukey Lake, saying he was not the victim, but the perpetrator.

Judge David Reader sentenced Grant William Czuj to a minimum of eight years, three months and a maximum of 15 years in prison for operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol causing the death of Michael John LaFave, of Brighton Town-ship, and causing a crippling injury to Sarah Ribas of Howell. See this also.

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This Judge wanted the defendant to take responsibility for his actions. He did not accept that Czuj was in any way a victim but was in the wrong. His sentence reflects this.

Dwayne

Skipper in fatal boat wreck tested for intoxicants - Kenneth Venard, of Newport died

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Authorities are awaiting the results of toxicology tests given to the skipper of a fishing boat that wrecked last week, killing one man.

An Oregon State Police spokesman said the same man was arrested in December for boating under the influence of intoxicants.

Kirk Opheim, of Burlington, Wash., was arrested Dec. 23 after a tipster told police he was drinking and piloting the Starrigavan.

Dwayne

Coast Guard Bomb Dog in Training

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Jan. 16, 2007)--Coast Guard Petty Officer Fred Leland and his black Labrador retriever, Asia, are lowered from a helicopter for the mock overtaking of a Catalina Express ferry near the Port of L.A. January 17, 2007. Asia was trained at Auburn University to sniff out explosives. She is one of two Coast Guard explosives detecting dogs dedicated to homeland security in the L.A. area. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner.

Use your BRAINS in Evaluating Boating Accident Risks

BRAINS is a tool that enables you to isolate the effect of a specific variable, or a group of variables, on the probability of having a specific type of boating accident (based on the relationships between variables in the Boating Accident Report Database (BARD), which is the universe of all reported accidents).

The Coast Guard does not know if variable relationships of non-reported accidents are similar to those reported in BARD. BRAINS also gives you the flexibility to make predictions using variable combinations that are not frequently occurring in BARD.

Dwayne

Grieving parents call for mercy

Roger Frechette is still grieving over the loss of his 2-year-old son. But he says that putting the man responsible for that death on trial -- and possibly in prison -- would only compound the tragedy. The man charged with driving a water scooter onto a Windermere boat dock and killing the boy was Frechette's best friend. Dwayne

Dobbs pleads guilty to misdemeanors in Harding boating accident

Derek William Dobbs, 21, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts, carrying a maximum sentence of nearly three years in jail, in connection with the boating accident that killed Hendersonville teenager Emily Harding in May 2005.

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Dwayne

Marco Island Boating Accident - Moulter Family

This was a terrible accident.  Cause to be determined.  The father, friends and family share the grief.

This article regarding the impact of the accident on boating in the area.

Dwayne

Lost At Sea, Sailor Calls Home For Help - Ken Barnes - Rescued by Ship

(AP) The calls have been steady, giving updates about a Southern California man adrift alone on his storm-battered sailboat off the tip of South America.

They haven't always come from law enforcement and other officials, though. Word of Ken Barnes' status has come from the stranded sailor himself, who has been able to ease his family's concerns by satellite phone as an intense search-and-rescue effort continues off the coast of Chile with hopes that help will reach him by Thursday evening.

Update on search for sailor.  His site www.kensolo.com

Second update on Barnes.

Another solo sailor Donna Lange at www.donnalange.com is looking for Barnes on the open ocean.

Ken Barnes has been rescued. Good to see a happy ending to this sea story!

Dwayne

 

Lake Havasu rated nation's 11th most dangerous waterway

Lake Havasu is the nation's 11th most dangerous waterway, according to figures released Friday through the state Department of Game & Fish.

The list, which was compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard, is based on a waterway's number of accidents. Fatalities do not factor in, said Kevin Bergersen, Arizona Game & Fish boating law administrator.

Dwayne