Body found/recoverd at Cumberland.

[Dave Stewart]

It is totally amazing that so many good folks have lost their lives because they did not put that pfd on or did not hook up their kill switch when they were running their boats. Folks if you don't want to do it for yourselves...do it for your families. The New Year is coming up and this would be a great New Year's resolution for anyone that runs a boat.

[mhall]

>It is totally amazing that so many good folks have lost their
>lives because they did not put that pfd on or did not hook up
>their kill switch when they were running their boats. Folks
>if you don't want to do it for yourselves...do it for your
>families. The New Year is coming up and this would be a great
>New Year's resolution for anyone that runs a boat.


Great thought and idea Dave, words of wisdom indeed.

[roadrunner]

Dave I finally after having it in the boat for about three years I have started to wear my inflatable so spenders. I fish Bull Shoals the last of March first of April and the last of October. With all the cold weather clothing I decided I needed to do something.

At the FnF at Dale we had a young man who works with the Coast Guard and said there might be a problem with the inflatable’s in cold weather. As Moose 1 reported in his post I carry an extra insulated coverall for anyone who falls in we can get him in dry clothes and get him to a marina. Also if you do not have a boarding latter straddle the motor and hit the tilt switch and raise the motor and crawl back into the boat. In cold weather you do not have the strength to try and pull yourself into the boat. I always put a swim ladder on my boats for this reason.

[Dave Stewart]

Good idea on the extra clothing Steve. I always have an extra set in my boat also during cold water times. A very good friend of mine got to use the stowed away coveralls a number of years back when we were fishing and he fell out of the boat into 40 degree water here. I am sure he appreciated those coveralls.

I have another good friend that had a very bad experience with the inflatable life vests. He was in a night tourney a couple of years ago and was thrown out of his boat (he was alone) while running to his first spot after blastoff. The vest did not inflate...it had a bad gas cartridge. He is not a very good swimmer and as he told me he was going down for the last time when a couple of guys in another boat pulled him from the water. Luckily they had been following his boat and saw it veer off and stop in the middle of the lake in front of them and they decided to make sure he was ok.

[KyJames]

>Good idea on the extra clothing Steve. I always have an
>extra set in my boat also during cold water times. A very
>good friend of mine got to use the stowed away coveralls a
>number of years back when we were fishing and he fell out of
>the boat into 40 degree water here. I am sure he appreciated
>those coveralls.
>
>I have another good friend that had a very bad experience with
>the inflatable life vests. He was in a night tourney a couple
>of years ago and was thrown out of his boat (he was alone)
>while running to his first spot after blastoff. The vest did
>not inflate...it had a bad gas cartridge. He is not a very
>good swimmer and as he told me he was going down for the last
>time when a couple of guys in another boat pulled him from the
>water. Luckily they had been following his boat and saw it
>veer off and stop in the middle of the lake in front of them
>and they decided to make sure he was ok.

This brings two really good ideas to light... one always carry an extra PFD, because if you do go overboard, or have an accidental inflation, you still are legal and can continue to fish.

Second, If you are familiar with the inflatables, you have read the owner's manuel, then you know how to test the cartridge to ensure it is still good.

The right thing is usually not the easy thing.

James

[roadrunner]

James I do carry a regular PFD (extra) if you have an accidental inflation could you not use as pfd as long as it stayed inflated?
I think they are experiencing cold weather problems that may not have anything to do with cartridges. Jim Dickens has asked the person who brought this to our attention to keep him informed as they get all the info.

[SpotBoy]

I think they need to re- tune their "super finder equipment" ... !! All they found was a stump !!! (according to the local news)
OK I don't claim to have any ideal about these things. BUT the man that drowned during the weekend of the poker run was about 5 miles from the ****. With the amount that they are pulling water thru the turbines I would think the body went thru the **** in about 2-3 days. Heck if you are fishing on that end while they are letting the water thru it will pull your boat around at a pretty good clip when you let off the trolling motor !!!

[PRO V LE]

Spotboy! Please get you're facts straight the body "RECOVERED" early this week was from the poker run weekend.
They then began another search for a Dr. who drowned in Guffey creek 6 years ago.
When on the bottom in 100ft. plus water things are much different than at the surface. Current, water temp, pressure etc.

[mhall]

>I think they need to re- tune their "super finder
>equipment" ... !! All they found was a stump !!!
>(according to the local news)
>OK I don't claim to have any ideal about these things. BUT the
>man that drowned during the weekend of the poker run was about
>5 miles from the ****. With the amount that they are pulling
>water thru the turbines I would think the body went thru the
>**** in about 2-3 days. Heck if you are fishing on that end
>while they are letting the water thru it will pull your boat
>around at a pretty good clip when you let off the trolling
>motor !!!


Dave nor I was gossiping heresay about this traggic event. In my post I even put his first name I did not put his last on purpose. I've been telling a buddy for months that the reason they weren't finding him is that he was on or in the dam. WRONG, shows you how smart I am. He was VERY close to where they last saw him ejected from his boat. I don't know what local news you are watching, but this is documented facts not B.S.

[Moose1am]

I need to install a kill switch on my boat. It's only a 16 ft with a small engine and will only go about 20 mph on water that's like glass but that's fast enough to hit a underwater stump and throw someone out of the boat. Imagine walking into a brick wall nose first at just 20 mph. Heck that would hurt my snooze at 1 mph!

Thanks for the reminder guys.

PS I have gone to wearing my PFD at all times in the boat. Even during the hot dog days of summer I have my Sterns PFD On. And especially at this time of the year. On a cold day in Dec it can help keep you warm and safer.

All it takes is a clumsy trip that makes you fall overboard. If you bump your head on anything you could get knocked out as you fall. So it's important to protect yourself from those unseen hazards.

I worked as a life guard for many years. Then I helped to train life guards for many more years. I use to be a very good competitive swimmer and swam a mile each day when I was working as a life guard. I learned to respect the water not fear it. But these days I know that I am not in good shape and I can hardly swim the length of a 25 meter pool. And even back in the days when I swam a mile each day at work I found that in cloths I could barely go from one dock to the other at the lake. Have you ever gone off the high dive (3 meter board) wearing a dress Suit? Long story which I will save for another time but I have. I did a clown diving show once with a friend at a lake on a Sunday afternoon. It was like what they do at Holiday World these days. We did it just for the fun of it. And I found out how hard it was to swim in long pants and a coat and tie. LOL. If I tried that today I would drown in less than 30 seconds.

The point being when you fall into the lake wearing long pants and have a coat on you will have a very hard time swimming back to the boat. Better to be safe than sorry guys.

Steps down off soapbox. But remember this. The life you save may be your own or a loved one. Take care of yourselves.

I've pulled many a swimmer out of the lake who got into trouble. I've also had to scuba dive and recover those that were not so fortunate. I preferred the form and not the latter. And I am sure that any person who performs recovery operations in the World will tell you the same thing.

BTW I need to install a ladder on the back of my boat too.


Regards,

Moose1am