Conneaut, Coasties, Life Flight

Anyone know what happened last night in Conneaut?  The coasties were out on the west wall, the city brought out their air boat, and life flight flew in and out.  It was around 10PM.

I hope it didn't happen, but maybe someone smacked the break wall again...It happens atleast once a summer to someone...

Man I hope everyone is ok...that's too bad...I was there yesteday (Left at 6pm) and this morning (6am) and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary...I did see the towing boat when we came in, but thought maybe someone was just getting a tow???  I don't know what else they can do to make it more visible...I mean there is a huge lighthouse and a green blinker??? Just keep it between the two...I guess they could put marker lights on top of the breakwall every 500ft or so?   Someone smacked it last year to and they were thrown from the boat...Luckily the worst that happened was someone broke their arm....

Breakwall Collision Sends Family To Hospital

POSTED: 2:24 pm EDT August 8, 2009

Gotta agree with ya Bull. We always take it REAL easy after dark. After dark, passengers turn into spotters, as many as are on the boat.

I've seen guys runnin' 40 in the dark. Hearing about injured children hopefully will slow some people down.

"16ft boat in 5-7ft waves"
 
 
Ya, that's about as nutz as it gets. I've seen some SMALL boats out in rough stuff before and always kept an eye on them just in case. Pretty sad that some of us take away from our enjoyment to watch out for someone who doesn't care for their own safety.
 
 

POSTED: 2:55 pm EDT August 10, 2009

Who puts it in autopilot, in the dark, going 35mph, when you are not sure where you are going?????    Wow......

Here is the news report from Yesterday's Capsizing.................
 
Four people were rescued, one of them by a good Samaritan, after their boat capsized Sunday in Lake Erie. "They all showed signs of hypothermia," said Petty Officer William Campbell of the U.S. Coast Guard station at Presque Isle State Park. The three men and a woman were all taken to Hamot Medical Center for treatment, Campbell said.
He said the foursome had launched a 17-foot boat from the foot of East Avenue on Sunday morning to go fishing. The boat was northeast of Presque Isle's Gull Point and between 3 and 4 miles from the shoreline when the vessel overturned in about 50 feet of water, Campbell said.
It wasn't immediately known why the boat capsized, although the coast guardsman said there were 5-foot waves in the area Sunday morning.
After the boat tipped, one of the men decided to swim for shore, Campbell said. "People can see shore and think it's closer than it is," he said. A good Samaritan in a boat picked the man up and used a radio to call the Coast Guard at about 9 a.m. At that time, the man believed he had been in the water for one to two hours, Campbell said.
The Coast Guard launched two rescue boats from the Erie station and a helicopter from Detroit.The Coast Guard wasn't able to get a good location for either boat at first, Campbell said.The good Samaritan lit a flare, which led rescuers to his boat, and the man who had been pulled from the water was able to provide better information on the location of the capsized boat.When rescuers got to it, one of the men was standing on the capsized hull, Campbell said. The third man and the woman were in the water hanging onto the boat. The man in the water was wearing a life jacket, and the woman had a seat cushion flotation device on like a backpack, Campbell said. All four were taken by boat to the North Pier and then transported to the hospital. Campbell said one of the men had lacerations from hitting the boat's windshield and another had struck his head. The names and conditions of the four people, as well as the identity of the good Samaritan, weren't available late Sunday.

ORIGINAL: bluntman

Ive said it before and Ill say it now, dont care who I **** off a 17 foot boat has no business on Lake Erie any further from shore than you can throw a rock

 
I agree....I wouln't go on one, nor will I own one to fish Lake Erie...I had a 19' and Now a 22' and I will never own anything less than a 22' for Lake Erie....Your prolly gonna see people take offense because they have a 19' boat, but they prolly use their head and wouln't go out in 5-7' waves...I wouldn't go out in a 25'er in 7 foot waves....

i got a 17.5 foot sea nymph and dont venture out in anything over 4'ers.... it isnt any fun then anyways... just use your head, watch the sky and if the waves start building head in... little common sense goes a long way...cant feel too sorry for just plain stupidity.... you can see if a storm or front in brewing. you can feel if the winds are picking up. and can see if the waves are building..... it dont take someone with too much brains to do that... but then again i guess it does
just my 2 cents...

i have a 27'er and wont go out in 4' waves.. some common sense goes a long wy

Sunday when that 17' boat capsized I cancelled my trip BUT had to go fill the boat because we fished a late trip on saturday. I ask my customers if they wanted to ride to the fuel dock and they said okay. As we left the channel to go to Lampe for fuel the customer said the lake is nice, look how smooth it is. So I said I'll show you what it is like and took them out around seagull point where there were only two footers. Customer again sayss don't look bad ( my flag was pointed straight toward the starboard side of the boat and we were running 27 mph hours straight, so the flag should have been pointed towards transom! Just a little windy) When we got out to around 40 feet of water there were every bit of 8 foot roolers and they were breaking over. That wasn't even the bad water, out further past the point it looked like a washer machine. The customer then said it's really rough out here. I turned my boat around shut down the starboard motor and set the idle at 500 on the port side. The boat was going 5.2-5.3 and faster just from the wind. I usually can troll around 1.5 on that engine. I then had to run back in with a following sea and I must say it wasa little scary in my big boat, we were running 12-13 mph. and the waves were going faster than us. As the waveswould lift the back of my 10,000 pound plus boat it would start turning us sideways, If I powered up it would straighten out. I couldn' run faster because the trofts were a perfect distance apart to make my boat dig the nose in and push the back around and spin ud sideways. I didn't like the very short ride and couldn't imagine anyone taking a small boat out in those conditions! One wave that rolled would have swamped a 17 foot boat insatntly. I've said it before and I'll say it again noboady should be out there in a small boat. At least over 20 feet with a very deep hull just on smooth days. There are alot of ships that are way bigger than any fishing boats on the bottom of that lake. Thank god everyone is safe including the guy who trusted his gps. I could see how that accident happened. So many guys leave there gps zoomed out and you could never judge an opening in the wall loikethat. I use my lines from prior navigation zoomed in to around 1/4 mile and you can go by gps only but very slow 2 or 3 mph.

I fished a 16' for years before I got my 24.  The day I had to tie my self to my seat was the day I decided on the 24'.  I think the most dangerous situation is the fellow who thinks he can run his boat back in in 3-4' at the same speed he ran it out in 1-2's.   Many get caught on that lake thinking that they "have enough motor" when actually they don't have the hull weight to cut the chop and are reduced to very slow speeds in rough conditions, causing them to end up caught in bad weather.

This is the sole reason why I fish the tribs only.