Pontoon Boat Capsized.

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David Ray

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I copied and pasted this article from FB Lake Powell:
So, terrible. Heartbreaking.

Update on capsized pontoon boat near Antelope earlier today. Just spoke to one of Antelope staff who told us that apparently 4 people didn't survive and another is at the hospital. Apparently, the water was very choppy and pontoon boat took on a bunch of water. Several of the occupants were trapped under the boat. Utterly heartbreaking, I can't even fathom the heart break this family is feeling.
 
Gem Morris said:
Imagine how you’d feel if you were the guy that had volunteered to tow them back to the marina and was just trying to help
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I’m not saying people shouldn’t help (they should) but I’ve read that there is significant liability to anyone who tows a boat. If that’s true it will be much more than emotional distress the Good Samaritan deals with.

I’d like to see more details about what happened. I don’t understand how you can get caught under a traditional pontoon like this one.

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Virtually every state has a good samaritan clause with torts that would prevent the ski boat driver from being liable. As long as the ski boat driver was not doing any thing reckless or drunk he/she should be fine. It is one of those touchy situation if you knew that the boat was in distress and did not render aid. You could also be held liable. Either way, that just sucks.
 
Ryan said:
I don’t understand how you can get caught under a traditional pontoon like this one.

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True, but when things happen fast, traditional conception can go out the window. Panic, distortion, shock etc can make things infinitely worse and people can act abnormally even with training (the CIA agent who couldn’t even holster their gun…).

Side note, I’ve always thought and am amazed that more things like this don’t happen at Powell, the huge, often under trained and inexperienced visitors operating machines with unpredictable and unknown conditions. It’s a miracle there aren’t more annual deaths at Powell.
 
Ryan said:
I’m not saying people shouldn’t help (they should) but I’ve read that there is significant liability to anyone who tows a boat. If that’s true it will be much more than emotional distress the Good Samaritan deals with.

I’d like to see more details about what happened. I don’t understand how you can get caught under a traditional pontoon like this one.

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They mostly likely porpoised one of the pontoons while towing. If the towlinine wasn't centered and all the p
ressure was on one pontoon and the outboard on the disabled boat wasn't out of the water causing it to swivel putting more pressure on that pontoon. This would cause the poeple on board to stumble or slide towards that side of boat and the person towing didn't realize what was happening until it was to late. My
theory.
 
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Ryan said:
I’m not saying people shouldn’t help (they should) but I’ve read that there is significant liability to anyone who tows a boat. If that’s true it will be much more than emotional distress the Good Samaritan deals with.

I’d like to see more details about what happened. I don’t understand how you can get caught under a traditional pontoon like this one.

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If you were between the railing that goes all around the boat you would be stuck and you would have to go down to get out, that railing would be three feet more or less lower than the deck under water, at least that’s how I see it.
 
Dworwood said:
If you were between the railing that goes all around the boat you would be stuck and you would have to go down to get out, that railing would be three feet more or less lower than the deck under water, at least that’s how I see it.
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I would think life jackets were being worn didn't help in this accident keeping them from diving to get below railing? Very very sad prayers to everyone involved.
 
One thing to think about is the confusion on trying to egress from a vehicle that has capsized. In the Marine Corps we had to do a simulation called the helodunker where we would exit a ch46 frame that was dropped about ten feet into a pool. Then we would have to do it blindfolded. The one thing that I always remembered was that we were instructed not to activate our life vest while still in the bird. It was the crew chiefs job to pop every inflated life vest in the bird as the people in the inflated vest could not get out, but would also block the exits.

My point being is that I agree with 4lojo. if they were wearing their life vest and the boat capsized on them.They were stuck under the boat due to the railings, seats, and other objects. The vest would keep them pinned up against the pontoons deck.This may be one of the exceedingly rare events where the life vest was actually detrimental. The level of shock and confusion in an event like this would be hard to over come and it is counter intuitive to drop your vest and swim down several feet to escape the capsized vessel. I could be dead wrong, but attempting to egress from a capsized vessel or bird has killed a lot of Marines. So, I am just projecting.
 
Havalina said:
One thing to think about is the confusion on trying to egress from a vehicle that has capsized. In the Marine Corps we had to do a simulation called the helodunker where we would exit a ch46 frame that was dropped about ten feet into a pool. Then we would have to do it blindfolded. The one thing that I always remembered was that we were instructed not to activate our life vest while still in the bird. It was the crew chiefs job to pop every inflated life vest in the bird as the people in the inflated vest could not get out, but would also block the exits.

My point being is that I agree with 4lojo. if they were wearing their life vest and the boat capsized on them.They were stuck under the boat due to the railings, seats, and other objects. The vest would keep them pinned up against the pontoons deck.This may be one of the exceedingly rare events where the life vest was actually detrimental. The level of shock and confusion in an event like this would be hard to over come and it is counter intuitive to drop your vest and swim down several feet to escape the capsized vessel. I could be dead wrong, but attempting to egress from a capsized vessel or bird has killed a lot of Marines. So, I am just projecting.
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Someone drowning or a pilot in a armed ejection seat tough rescues.
 
Just terrible all around. I cringed and said a few choice words when I saw the news yesterday. I feel terrible for all involved.

It’s preached on this site a lot but preparedness is so key. As the usual captain of many boat trips, I find myself kind of constantly thinking about how to handle things if they go south. I’m sure you guys do the same. The things that will maybe come up without warning and by surprise also need to be thought about. Can you safely help someone? Can you spot if things aren’t going being done correctly? Are you in position to help when that boat you’ve been staring it finally does succumb to the inevitable.

Like Dungee said, I’m shocked this doesn’t happen more. I see “unsafe acts” more and more while out on the water here on flaming gorge and my brief visits to lake Powell. 99% of the time people end up fine and ignorance is bliss. They’ll do it again the next time.

I’ll quit rambling but of course the 72 year old and 4 year old were completely innocent in the whole ordeal and just along for the ride. Terrible tragedy.
 
I wonder what the contributing factors were to this accident? Of course the Maytag straits goes without saying, but did they tie to the wrong anchor point on the pontoon and were the people on the pontoon standing on the nose? Is a pontoon boat much more susceptible to capsizing for any reason?

I know this is all speculation, but just trying to learn
 
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