boat crash in front of our Marina and 3 boating tragedies in our area

Friday night we were at the marina and several of us were sitting under our tree just hanging out when we heard a loud noise followed by a lot of screaming. We knew something bad had happened. We all jumped up and ran to the end of the pier but we couldn't see anything from there. One of the men and hubby were getting into the dingy to go see and another neighbor came running up who is a nurse and so hubby told her to go instead. He went to our dingy but couldn't get the motor to go into gear. So we jumped in the truck and drove around to the other side. We put our bright lights on and jumped out of the truck.
The area is front of the marina is a no wake zone and there was a little flat boat that was idling along when a 21 ft wake boarding boat came up behind them at full speed and crashed into them. The wakeboarding boat sunk and all the people on board...we think 5...were in the water. Our neighbor's in the dingy got all 5 and helped them board a party barge that had also heared the crash. He lives on the river and keeps his par barge docked up alongside his big boat so he was able to jump on board quick and get out there.
The flat boat was still floating but it was badly damaged. There was a little girl maybe 4 or 5 on the boat and my heart just stopped when I saw her. She was terrified. They were traveling with another flat boat who towed them to the dock. The mother of the little girl was complaining of her neck and back hurting. They pulled the little girl off the boat first so I went and talked with her while they get her mom off the boat. By this time police started arriving and a fire truck and ambulance.
The party barge pulled up alongside and the 5 people from the sunk boat got off. There was some tense moments as the father of the child and husband of the woman was very angry and screaming that those people had tried to kill his family. I was very glad all the law enforcement was arriving. They took the mom and the little girl to the hospital in the ambulance...the little girl seemed fine but the mom wanted her to get checked out.
It's an absolute miracle that no one was killed or seriously injured.
We took our boat out today and I snapped this picture of the sunk boat. It's still there.

And then there were three separate tragic boating accidents as well over the weekend.

A 5 yr old boy died last night after he and his father had to abandon their boat because they had run out of fuel and a tug was coming pushing a very large barge. The father was able to swim away but the little boy wasn't and he was sucked under and never resurfaced. They found his body this morning.

Then there was a man who leaned over out of the boat being a lookout and they were traveling pretty fast and he struck his head on a piling and died.

And then there was another man who drowned when he fell into the water while trying to tie his boat up.

Such tragedies...so sad.

Star, any further word on what happened or the sobriety of the driver of the boat that hit them?


Things like this are always sad and makes me want to hug all my grand kids the next time I see them. Little ones expect us to keep them safe. Some times we fail to prevent things from happening and that is the really sad part. There are things over which we have little or no control. Sucks when things like this happen.

Star0210 said:

A 5 yr old boy died last night after he and his father had to abandon their boat because they had run out of fuel and a tug was coming pushing a very large barge. The father was able to swim away but the little boy wasn't and he was sucked under and never resurfaced. They found his body this morning.

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Wifey B: Whoa....what? I'll say no more for the moment.

Star0210 said:

Friday night
It's an absolute miracle that no one was killed or seriously injured.
We took our boat out today and I snapped this picture of the sunk boat. It's still there.

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I once heard a crash and observed two boats immediately after they hit, both still spinning. They were both traveling on the lake at 30 mph or so. We jumped in the boat and headed out and other boats were seconds behind us. We collected 11 people from the water. I was amazed no one even required emergency treatment. Our biggest problem was insuring we'd accounted for everyone. I must say to their credit they were all so relieved that we only saw kindness.

It remind of car accidents where the cars are totally destroyed and the passengers are not hurt.

You indicated night and car lights. Was it dark when this happened?

BandB said:

You indicated night and car lights. Was it dark when this happened?

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I found times of the other two accidents. The boy and father accident was at 11:40 PM Saturday. The man leaning out of the boat traveling at high speed and hitting the pole was at 1:15 AM.

GFC said:

Star, any further word on what happened or the sobriety of the driver of the boat that hit them?


Things like this are always sad and makes me want to hug all my grand kids the next time I see them. Little ones expect us to keep them safe. Some times we fail to prevent things from happening and that is the really sad part. There are things over which we have little or no control. Sucks when things like this happen.

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Not yet..only rumor. Haven't seen anything in the news about the crash.
The other three incidences were all in the news but they involved fatalities.

I spoke briefly to the owner of the sunk boat. He wasn't driving the boat.his friend was. He was very upset. He said they didn't see the other boat until it was too late. I didn't even bother to ask why they didn't slow down for the no wake zone.

To his credit, he didn't seem concerned with his boat, he was upset because he said when they hit he saw the woman and the child and he said his heart just dropped.

It was a senseless crash though that could have easily been avoided had they followed the rules.

BandB said:

Wifey B: Whoa....what? I'll say no more for the moment.

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I'm sure you have the same thoughts and questions that I do.

BandB said:

I once heard a crash and observed two boats immediately after they hit, both still spinning. They were both traveling on the lake at 30 mph or so. We jumped in the boat and headed out and other boats were seconds behind us. We collected 11 people from the water. I was amazed no one even required emergency treatment. Our biggest problem was insuring we'd accounted for everyone. I must say to their credit they were all so relieved that we only saw kindness.

It remind of car accidents where the cars are totally destroyed and the passengers are not hurt.

You indicated night and car lights. Was it dark when this happened?

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Yes the boat crash happened just after dark Friday night.

I am a novice as a ski boat driver. A 45 foot sport fisher owner on our dock wanted to go skiing. We took my 17 Whaler into an area near us in Fort Pierce-N Hutchins Island. His wife was my spotter.

He skied for about 20 minutes. I was amazed at how busy I was watching depth, and the other boats trying to anticipate the other boaters actions. It only takes a second to turn a day of fun into a day of tragedy. I only stole one quick glance to see him up on skies, the rest of the time I was as busy as a one armed wall paper hanger.

Upon the safe return to the dock we enjoyed the previous day's catch, Wahoo.

It is easy to understand how quickly things can go south on the water if someone has an attention lapse.

Ok, just on the wakeboard boat running over the flat boat. We obviously don't have all the facts but a few we have are very disturbing. It was after dark. There was a family in a flat boat. We don't know if they had lights on or not. There was a wakeboard boat going at speed. The no-wake zone is a small part of their story as it was speed, after dark, and failure to see the other boat. This was the lucky accident of the day with no fatalities.

The one thing all these accidents have in common is all were after dark. I feel deeply sad for the families of those involved. I feel for what the survivors must live with, whether at fault or innocent. However, a man trying to serve as a lookout for a boat at speed at 1:15 AM. Dark. Speed. Recipe for disaster. Then the boy and father at 11:40 PM. We have no idea how long they'd been floating without power, so perhaps it did start before dark. We don't know if they had any light. Clearly no means of communication, but not uncommon in a small boat. The boy had a life jacket on. The part I can't get my head around is the father separating from his son. Tugs and barges don't move quickly. Why didn't the father and son abandon boat sooner. Perhaps the father was by the son and pushed under and not wearing a jacket somehow got away. Maybe the father tried to hold on to his son and the swim toward shore came after, not before. My wife's immediate reaction, and mine, was horror that he wasn't holding on to his son all the way. Perhaps he was doing all he could. We don't know and the investigation has just started.

It's dangerous on the water and you combine speed and darkness, and possibly or not alcohol as well, and you have a plan for disaster. I think we have two obligations as boaters after reading of such events as these. One is to sympathize with those involved and their families, regardless of the causes. But the second is to preach safe boating, to discourage those activities that greatly increase the risk. I think right now of the tow driver pushing the barges. I know how devastated I'd be. It doesn't matter if he couldn't avoid it, that won't relieve his pain. That could be any of us.

We use to have a problem on our lake at night with bass fishermen. They would run at all speeds including very high but without lights. Their excuse was they could see better without lights. For some reason it escaped them that the lights were so they could be seen. I didn't boat at night there. We don't boat at night now close to land except from Port Everglades to Fort Lauderdale. Even then, slowly. We don't go to Biscayne Bay for July 4 fireworks, because I don't want the risk.

We wait to see what investigations will say and whether charges will be made, but I find the term of "boating accidents" inadequate to describe these events. Yes, they were accidents, but not like two ordinary boats making mistakes and colliding. They were about boaters and decisions and high risk activities.

There's a statement on land that nothing good ever happens at 3 AM. It's referring to people away from home. It's true. Well, perhaps we need to think similarly about the water after dark.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction! it applies to both of these accidents both ocurred in my home parish of Lafourche
Below is more information from the local paper "Lafourche Comet" website, if more details arise I'll add them.




Night City Editor
Published: Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 12:02 p.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 8:18 p.m.
A 5-year-old Houma boy and 44-year-old Metairie man were killed in separate weekend boating accidents in Lafourche Parish.
Ethan Hancock got sucked under a tugboat Saturday in the Intracoastal Waterway and the boy’s body wasn’t recovered until 7:30 a.m. today, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Robert Sims hit his head on a piling near Grand Isle early today while leaning out of a boat traveling at a high rate of speed, LDWF said.
The Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a call at 11:18 p.m. Saturday about Hancock missing in the water.
LDWF agents said they learned the boy and his father were out frogging in their 14-foot mudboat when they ran out of gas near Bourg.
The father then attempted to paddle across the Intracoastal when a tugboat pushing two 297-foot barges came up from behind. The father and Hancock, who was wearing a personal flotation device, entered the water but got separated.
The father was able to swim away from the tugboat, but Hancock got sucked under it, LDWF said.
The search of two square nautical miles included Coast Guard helicopter and response boat crews, LaFourche and Terrebonne sheriffs offices patrol and K-9 units and LDWF agents.
LDWF said it also received a call around 1:15 a.m.today about Sims, who suffered serious trauma after hitting his head on a piling.
Sims was a passenger on a 28-foot vessel travelling at a high rate of speed in the Caminada Pass in Grand Isle heading to Port Fourchon, the agency said. He was leaning out of the vessel as a lookout when his head struck the piling around 1 a.m..

The most tragic thing about these events is that the injured were victims of another skipper's bad judgement.
In two cases excessive speed at night, and the third the bad planning to run out of gas at night without adequate comms.

I wonder if the Tarpon rodeo had anything to do with that accident in Grand Isle. This rodeo is like Burning Man of the Gulf. Not for the faint of heart.....

ragin cajun said:

I wonder if the Tarpon rodeo had anything to do with that accident in Grand Isle. This rodeo is like Burning Man of the Gulf. Not for the faint of heart.....

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Wow, the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo is still around? My Dad and I did it when I was 12. I am 69 now.

Frogging at night and did not have a flashlight to signal the tow ?

ulysses said:

Frogging at night and did not have a flashlight to signal the tow ?

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Great point,...Ya got to have a spot light to frog at night.

I've never heard of frogging without a light???

We don't know that they didn't have a light. Maybe the tug just didn't see them so far away? Maybe the light was ok for frogging but not strong enough to reach the tug behind the barges? At least the boy was wearing a PDF for all the good it did him. What a tragedy. :-(

But, the other incident? Where the guy was hanging over the boat as lookout but the driver was still going so fast? If you need a lookout at night shouldn't you be going pretty slow?

I wonder how much alcohol was involved in all of these accidents.

If he was in a small boat sitting low to the water it is very possible the towboat operator could not see his light. Think about how high above the water the barges could be and could very well hide his light.

Any flashlight worth frogging with will light up pretty well. Even if the tow was comprised of empties on a small 800 hp boat if you are waving it around, as I would be, the flashlight will attract the attention of the boat. Bourg, La. ICW is fairly straight only about two small bends and the rest is straightaways for several miles. Towboat would have seen a flashlight waving about.

Who goes frogging in the ICW? With a 5 year old? We went frogging all the time in HS but we did it in ponds.

one thing about the tug and load. They move along pretty good and even if the Captain saw the small boat, just what could he have done? They do not turn or stop on a dime. Perhaps cut power, but that is about it I would guess.

Such a shame.

Does "frogging" actually mean catching frogs?
Re Mule`s post about water skiing, over here a boat towing a skier must have a dedicated observer to watch and help manage the skier. There are also rules for "distance off" other skiers, boats, land, pilings and other marine constructions, etc.

Mule said:

one thing about the tug and load. They move along pretty good and even if the Captain saw the small boat, just what could he have done? They do not turn or stop on a dime. Perhaps cut power, but that is about it I would guess.

Such a shame.

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Depends on when they would have seen. But on the other side of that, you must wonder why the small boat didn't see the tug and load sooner. Did it cut across in front of it for some reason? Why was it in the path? But you can see them at a great distance and swim with life jacket a considerable distance in that time.

I would assume "frogging" means catching frogs. Usually done with a bright light at night. Rayne, La. about 60 miles or so from where the accident happened is the frog capitol of the world.
To answer Mule's question as to what the tow Capt. could have done was to have avoided the 14' boat by whatever means he thought prudent. I am absolutely sure he would have, if he had seen it. A 14' boat not underway is avoidable no matter where it was in the Canal. If it was a 14' log and he saw it he would have steered around it. Been there done all of that but did not get the Tee Shirt.

This is what we used, attached to a long aluminum pole or conduit. Snuck up on them at the edges of ponds. This gig didn't kill them-- we would collect them in a tow sack all night then they would still be alive and kicking when we got home.

I guess there are frogs at the edges of the ICW but that seems like a dangerous way to do it. I'm sure the dad feels terrible, and I don't mean to second guess his judgement. Louisiana people are tough and do things I wouldn't.

BruceK said:

Does "frogging" actually mean catching frogs?.

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Yes. Haven't been in many years and know many catch them bare handed after blinding them with a light. I always used a tool called a gig that looks like this.



The LED lights that attach with a band to your forehead has certainly made things easier.

That video shows how they do it and the age of froggers is S.La. Note the lack of PFD's especially on "little Bo"

How do you cook these little critters ?