Bad wreck on the lake last night

[Skibum]

From the GoFundMe…“Abruptly and with astonishing speed, a rocky peninsula jutted out into the water, catching them off guard.”

WHAT?...Okay….that’s it!! I’m done…Final straw…It’s bad enough worryIn‘ about whales, big logs and other floating BS at night, now I have to deal with peninsulas laying in wait to jump out at high speed??

(that comment deserves a place in the insurance companies “excuses hall of fame.” I did have a college friend that experienced a tree jumping out in front of him one night with similar results….)

in all seriousness I’m glad everyone survived this mishap to boat another day. In the past, I must admit I have landed late in the day and set off up lake at night using a WAAS gps loaded with Powell charts, spotlights, observers etc, all the while minimizing the risk in my feeble mind….that is until one night I came within feet of hitting a denuded Aton that was floating on its side. Never again. Now we launch, motor no wake to the bay opposite from Wahweap and drop the hook and go on early in the morning.
Like others, I lay down a “safe path“ of GPS bread crumbs for an emergency night evac or for driving into the sun, aware that floating objects are still a risk. I’ve never encountered another half submerged aton, but every year see a couple of large semi submerged logs…

 

[Marina Bum]

Another good rule to follow at night is no matter the distance being traveled do not go over 10mph.

No Crap! I don't mean to armchair the pilot but if you hit something solid it's creates two crashes, the boat hitting something solid and coming to a sudden stop and then flesh and bone still in motion hitting anything in its way, CRASH

My night running experience is limited, it is beautiful, a totally different experience but for God's sake slow down and have everyone wear a PFD. That seems like common sense.

 

[Kevin G]

The Bullfrog Bay has so many surprise low spots. These were all revealed when the water level dropped to the low. You can be very far from shore and find yourself in single digit water levels. Those who say just stay in the main channel must not have experienced this, because the wideness of the bay and surprises that lurk in unexpected places can catch anyone off-guard. Also - what about big floating logs - aren't going to see those on your GPS. I'm sorry but I think it's foolish to be on the water on-plane in the night for any reason but a medical emergency. Captain is responsible for the safety of everyone on board, and you need to take that responsibility seriously. Wishing this family a speedy recovery and hope others take notice of the dangers that come from trying to navigate Lake Powell at a high speed at night.

 

[Michael Pyle]

Good thread to talk about night navigation.

I was out just after it got dark a few weeks ago and could not believe all the boats with forward facing lights on. There is a reason they say docking lights on the switch.

Good night vision and a super dimmed gps is all you need to safely navigate the lake at night. But still need to do so as slow as you can. docking lights will only give you a second advanced warning of what you will hit. And they make it so you cant see further out where it matters. The worst part is they blind the guys trying to keep their night vision strong with no lights on.

here is the Utah law related to docking lights. key word "intermittent".

"The display of spotlights, docking lights or other non-navi- gational lights is limited to intermittent use to approach a dock or to locate a hazard to navigation."

Mike

 

[nzaugg]

Too many boaters have no knowledge of the laws around boating until they encounter an enforcement officer on the lake. Many of them treat boating like they are driving a car. It is these low education boaters that cause most of the perception around bad boaters on jet skis and wake boats (which also are far more likely to include a massive light bar across the tower). A little education would go a long way to improving the boater experience everywhere. Why we can't require boater education except for kids wanting to drive PWCs is beyond me.

 

[Rob’SleekCraft]

If you've ever had friends DIE boating at night on Powell, you'd never go anywhere above a trolling speed. I'm in that club unfortunately

I’m very sorry you lost friends in an accident. However, that is not a good metric to determine whether or not you will do something in the future. If everyone stopped doing things that resulted in a death nobody would do anything at all. Exercise caution and take appropriate actions to mitigate the danger in life and keep on boating.

 

[jimmybame]

I am actually for the boater course I have to take a course for a quagga mussel. I bet people renting boats don’t have to take that.

 

[Michael Pyle]

This last weekend there was some cops on the water. Must have been because of the Lake Powell
challenge that ended up not being a challenge at all. The biggest challenge was getting any info on the event from the staff. Haha

Anyway our friends that keep their boat at Wahweep were at our boat at AMP until later. They headed back just before dark.

The lake cops (sorry don’t know what division they were from) pulled over my buddy to tell him to turn off his forward facing lights. My buddy was telling me the story because he thought the cop was crazy. So even my friend that has been boating for a very long time had no clue about the rules as it relates to lights.

So even good people don’t know the rules.

Mike

 

[johnloch]

In my 7 years of boating Lake Powell I've done two night time returns to Bullfrog from Annie's Canyon. On both occasions I had a good GPS plot from my trip out there and I most certainly needed it. The full moon doesn't help that much if it's lower than the canyon walls. And you cannot rely on all of the buoy lights working. It's definitely spooky when you can't see the next buoy light and you're trying to stay as close to your GPS track. I found it best to slow down to 10-12 mph until I could pick up the next lighted buoy. Better to be safe and get back late.

 

[Lake Bum]

I’m very sorry you lost friends in an accident. However, that is not a good metric to determine whether or not you will do something in the future. If everyone stopped doing things that resulted in a death nobody would do anything at all. Exercise caution and take appropriate actions to mitigate the danger in life and keep on boating.

Well that happened in 1997, and since then I've only been on that lake at night once, and that was at trolling speed. It's called mitigating risk. Convenience does not equal emergency in my book.

 

[VikingRanch]

Well that happened in 1997, and since then I've only been on that lake at night once, and that was at trolling speed. It's called mitigating risk. Convenience does not equal emergency in my book.

Thought we were gonna make a night run clear from Oak two years ago when my son cut his foot on a quagga. Washed it out with gin (he wasn’t happy about that part) and concluded it wasn’t a trip ender. I’ve got a better selection of sterilizer now.

 

[Rainbowbridge]

Thought we were gonna make a night run clear from Oak two years ago when my son cut his foot on a quagga. Washed it out with gin (he wasn’t happy about that part) and concluded it wasn’t a trip ender. I’ve got a better selection of sterilizer now.

Love your post.... and you've got a great memory........

So, yes, alcohol....gin, whisky, etc.....was used for centuries as an antibiotic & needed sedative.

In 'Dances with Wolves' they show how it was used in civil war (WAR...CIVIL?? ) amputations......UGH......

Isn't it great we can now have Neosporin for any possible infection.....and Gin for the parents (tonic) ??

Ain't life great at our lake??

Film at 11ish.....

 

[TR.]

In my 7 years of boating Lake Powell I've done two night time returns to Bullfrog from Annie's Canyon. On both occasions I had a good GPS plot from my trip out there and I most certainly needed it. The full moon doesn't help that much if it's lower than the canyon walls. And you cannot rely on all of the buoy lights working. It's definitely spooky when you can't see the next buoy light and you're trying to stay as close to your GPS track. I found it best to slow down to 10-12 mph until I could pick up the next lighted buoy. Better to be safe and get back late.

You said it right amigo! Please for your own safety do not ever rely on the ATONs at Powell. I can’t stress this enough.