The day before Mother's Day, my family was involved in an incident that I haven't posted yet. I've thought about it several times, and felt that maybe I should post what we learned, here, to perhaps help someone else avoid the same danger.
My sister & BIL bought a party barge, and we were all out at my other sister's lake house on the Sat. before mother's day. Big family & friends gathering. We had the barge loaded down with peeps, it had been out a couple of times already that day.
I had happily hopped on, flopped down in one of the front seats, enjoying the warm sun and nice breeze. The wind was high, and there were 4 of us sitting in the front area, and we kept getting sprayed by water from the front of the barge, as we moved to the area where some of the people were planning to fish. My sister remarked a couple of times that she had never seen the water spray people like that, and we were like, Yeah right!
Suddenly, the front end of the barge dipped down, hard. Water came pouring into the front, popping the retainer door open, and dipping the barge down even more. I knew were were about to sink, it happened so fast it was unbelievable. My BIL immediately killed the motor, the front of the barge lifted, the water rushed to the back and then back foward. I made sure the door was open, and most of it rushed back out, as the barge bobbed up and down and regained stability. The biggest casualty was the bucket of minnows that got overturned, but we managed to salvage most of them.
We were all almost too shocked to speak, other than everyone started freaking out, and asking where are the life jackets. We were okay, but scared. My other BIL went to the front, and realized that someone had not pulled the anchor completely inside the boat on the last trip, it had dropped in, and we had been dragging the anchor! Hence the spray (probably caught on minor objects down there) and then the big STOP must have happened when the anchor hit a tree or limb, or something.
DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. I've thought many times about how stupid we all were to just hop on any boat without knowing where the life jackets were (they should have been out- but they were under the front seat, that would have been the first area to sink.) It taught me that you just can't assume that you're safe on a watercraft, just because you have never had a problem before. I probably will always make sure I know where life jackets and anchors are in the future. I didn't really feel like posting this before now, but I really need to warn others to be very careful out there. I will certainly pay much more attention to my family's safety while boating.
Foo
My sister & BIL bought a party barge, and we were all out at my other sister's lake house on the Sat. before mother's day. Big family & friends gathering. We had the barge loaded down with peeps, it had been out a couple of times already that day.
I had happily hopped on, flopped down in one of the front seats, enjoying the warm sun and nice breeze. The wind was high, and there were 4 of us sitting in the front area, and we kept getting sprayed by water from the front of the barge, as we moved to the area where some of the people were planning to fish. My sister remarked a couple of times that she had never seen the water spray people like that, and we were like, Yeah right!
Suddenly, the front end of the barge dipped down, hard. Water came pouring into the front, popping the retainer door open, and dipping the barge down even more. I knew were were about to sink, it happened so fast it was unbelievable. My BIL immediately killed the motor, the front of the barge lifted, the water rushed to the back and then back foward. I made sure the door was open, and most of it rushed back out, as the barge bobbed up and down and regained stability. The biggest casualty was the bucket of minnows that got overturned, but we managed to salvage most of them.
We were all almost too shocked to speak, other than everyone started freaking out, and asking where are the life jackets. We were okay, but scared. My other BIL went to the front, and realized that someone had not pulled the anchor completely inside the boat on the last trip, it had dropped in, and we had been dragging the anchor! Hence the spray (probably caught on minor objects down there) and then the big STOP must have happened when the anchor hit a tree or limb, or something.
DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. I've thought many times about how stupid we all were to just hop on any boat without knowing where the life jackets were (they should have been out- but they were under the front seat, that would have been the first area to sink.) It taught me that you just can't assume that you're safe on a watercraft, just because you have never had a problem before. I probably will always make sure I know where life jackets and anchors are in the future. I didn't really feel like posting this before now, but I really need to warn others to be very careful out there. I will certainly pay much more attention to my family's safety while boating.
Foo
