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From: Mike Maurice (no email)
Date: Tue Oct 04 2005 - 20:29:16 EDT
In the past 2 months or so there have been 3 really bad accidents of
which one did not result in any deaths, but was a close call.
1. A large charter boat out of Columbia River dumped it's passengers
into the surf near the entrance, on Clatsop Spit, near buoy 14, in
dense fog. It is nearly a miracle that no one was killed. I believe
there were about 15 people on board in this incident.
2. About 2 weeks ago a six pack boat out of Winchester Bay, Oregon
(Umpqua River) overturned in the dark while the bar was breaking.
Two people died as I recall.
3. A couple of days ago a tour boat overturned on a lake in upper
New York state and some 20 elderly folks died in that incident. This
happened on a calm day, with no wind, clear visibility and excellent
conditions.
The Clatsop Spit accident involved an USCG inspected vessel, which
requires a USCG licensed Master Near Coastal of sufficient tonnage.
The Winchester Bay incident involved an UN inspected vessel, which
means it could carry up to 6 passengers and requires a USCG Operator
Of Un-inspected Passenger Vessels. The lake accident most likely did
not involve any USCG inspection or operator since it did not happen
on a waterway considered navigable from the sea. This latter item
means that the state of New York is the supervising agent.
The level of accidents compared to the numbers of passenger boats
operating on the US West Coast, is much worse today than in years
past when there were far more boats operating out of the coastal bars
on the Oregon and Washington coasts. This implies something about the
industry wide level of experience and lack of care on the part of the
operators.
A few observations. I can not see how any of these 3 accidents has
any rational excuse. The lake accident may be a case of overloading,
which I am highly suspicious of. Both the USCG in the case of the
Taki Too incident 2 years ago and the state of New York now, are in
my opinion allowing more passengers on these boats than prudence
would consider safe. if for no other reason than the self evident
fact that the boats overturned and were inspected by these agencies.
The Clatsop Spit incident was a case of faulty navigation and lack of
situational awareness.
The Taki Too accident has been swept under the rug and the State of
New York appears to be busy doing the same with this lake accident. I
predict that there will be more of these accidents.
Because cruising folk generally don't carry more a than small
percentage of the passengers that are packed onto the paying
passenger boats, these overloading issues don't generally come into
play. Unless you happen to decide to host a big crowd for a party, in
which case you need to keep in mind that you are in the big leagues
and at risk from the same issues.
Regards,
Mike
Capt. Mike Maurice
Tualatin(Portland), Oregon
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