Boat accident on Lake Austin.....Nautique

[Kenv]

Saw this today.....always puts a hurt in my stomach when I see stories like this. Prayers to all the families involved.
http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news...emium-referral

[Tryathlete]

5:15 AM barge strike?? That's pitch black. Should be traveling at no-wake speeds I would think. Who is out on a wakeboard boat, at speed, in pitch black, at 5:15 AM?


Sooner or later your toys own you

[Kenv]

Here's an updated link with some pics and video: http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local...rash/73773898/

[WinniSQ]

Especially that barge. Lights may have been spread out pretty far to even see them at that speed (they said approximately 40mph)

[Chexi]

This is my home lake, and I live very near where this crash happened. I have seen frequently (and hear every night) boats flying up and down the river when it is pitch black out, and this area in particular is very dark. Frankly, I am surprised that this doesn't happen more often. Hopefully some good will come from this and people on Lake Austin will troll at reasonable speeds at night, but I doubt it.

[a0128]

Police have not discussed what led up to the accident, but Butch Vander-Woude, a campgoer at Emma Long said he saw the boat and heard the crash. "He had his bow light on, music real loud, and he had the boat at full speed," he said

I am sure alcohol was involved as well. Apparently all common sense was left at the dock.

[Tryathlete]

Sounds like some boating laws need a looking at. We have no wake after sunset and this is precisely why.


Sooner or later your toys own you

[tdc_worm]

Sounds like some boating laws need a looking at. We have no wake after sunset and this is precisely why.


Sooner or later your toys own you

great idea! what we need is more laws and more regulations. that will definitely fix stupid.

[Tryathlete]

I live near the Chain of Lakes in Lake County, IL. Reportedly the busiest waterway in the US in watercraft per acre (weekends). That's the law there--- still doesn't fix stupid but night boating is no wake and I can assure you it's a good idea.


Sooner or later your toys own you

[Quinner]

Actually unless regs have changed, last time I checked there is not an ILL no wake law, in fact I don't think there is any speed related dark hour regs. On the chain the speed limit is reduced after dark, 25 mph last I checked. Not a fan of more regs that's for sure!!

[MaineDR]

This is my new home lake as well (for the last 8 months). Sad to see this happen, but there is obviously negligence involved. Lake Austin is a narrow slow moving damed river. There are lots of bends and it gets pretty tight with only one or two boats around. Going 40+ mph on this lake is very difficult to do without being risky even during the day. Be smart y'all.

[tdc_worm]

I live near the Chain of Lakes in Lake County, IL. Reportedly the busiest waterway in the US in watercraft per acre (weekends). That's the law there--- still doesn't fix stupid but night boating is no wake and I can assure you it's a good idea.


Sooner or later your toys own you

That it may be. I do live on Lake Austin (well, my driveway is 1/4 mile from my community's private ramp), and while I cannot speak for its busyness relative to your chain of lakes, you can rest assured that traffic wasn't a mitigating circumstance at the 0500 hour. The lake is a 22 mile stretch of the Lower Colorado River that sits between tow dams. The shoreline is littered with lighted docks belonging to multi million dollar properties. At the upper end is Mansfield Dam, which holds back the waters of Lake Travis, and at the lower end is Tom Miller Dam which is adjacent to downtown Austin. I have navigated this waterway, above no wake speed in the dark, safely for more than 15 years, and I can assure you that its only bad idea if you are stupid,...and we already agree that laws don' fix stupid. Fishermen and recreational boaters have safely navigated our lake at night for as long as I have been here without incident...until this one.

If we examine the situation and timing:
The incident happened during ACL (a three day music festival that sees the traffic over 150k people visiting from world wide)
The vessel operator was a man of wealth, visiting from out of town.
The incident happened at 0500.

You could hypothesize that crew was just out to catch some early morning fresh air and be the first ones to see the 0730 sunrise on Lake Austin, which, indeed is spectacular. Or maybe they were out for dawn patrol and thought they needed 2.5 hours before sunrise to turf the perfect strip of water. Or perhaps they had boat issues and they just resolved them, and were headed out for a test run. Perhaps they had an early Sunday morning business meeting and thought that an entrance by lake would have the right impact. Could have been they wanted to be early for Church, and their quickest route was by water. Perhaps they know where the bass bite early and were headed to their favorite fishing hole. All things possible.

Another possibility would be that you have access to a house on Lake Austin (see aforementioned "man of wealth"), and rather than try in vain to drive (dont want to risk a DWI) or take a cab or uber to the ACL festival (would take forever), you take your boat all the way down to Hula Hut, tie it up, and catch a one mile cab (or even walk) to the festival. ACL--->watch music and imbibe from 1400 until 2300! That's what I would do! And since you are already in down town Austin, there is no reason to not have just one more rather than fight for a cab back to your boat..have to let those crowds disperse! Somehow, oddly and unexpectedly, that one more turns into two more. What better way to end a great ACL day than a boat ride back to your domicile at 0500, boat operating at WOT, with Spotify cranking repeat music from all of your favorite artists that day!

If the truth (and by the way, as plausible as it seems, I fabricated the entire last scenario) even resembles that then we already have laws to take care of the situation, two of which would be Boating While Intoxicated and/or Negligent and Reckless Operation. Again, if that is the truth and the negligence lies on the operator, then there is no reason to punish the rest of us with more laws. If two laws didn't prevent the incident, then what makes us think a third law would?