Tahoe boating deaths

Bill D.

Bill D.

Crazy Old RO
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I don't know anything about this lake so I have to ask those who boat there. This report on conditions seems over estimated, but like i say i don't have any knowledge of the lake.
"According to the Coast Guard, winds at the time were just over 34 mph, with a 6-8-foot swell."

www.foxnews.com

Multiple people dead, 2 missing after boat capsizes at vacation hotspot

Six people died, two were injured, and two are missing after a boat capsized in Lake Tahoe, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
 
Yeah, that's crazy for Tahoe. Thunderstorms come up and wreak havoc, but this one is a whole different level. Looks like Lake Michigan. I don't know how big the boat was, but 10 people is a pretty big load for most of the runabouts that are on the lake. And that water is freakin' COLD. Makes your skin feel like it's burning as soon as you jump in.
 
I'm not familiar with the either but, depending on the wind direction I've seen Sam Rayburn with some conditions I wouldn't want to be in anything smaller than 25'-30'.
I was on a business trip to Southbury, CT years ago and a group of us took an afternoon off to go to a local lake for lunch at a place on the water. One of the guys had a runabout in a marina so he brought over and wanted to take everyone for a cruise/ride. Only problem, he wanted to take everyone at once and there was either 8 or 9 of us. Being the only 'boater' in the group I pulled him aside to suggest multiple trips but he wouldn't listen. 17'-18' boat sitting low in the water anyway, 8 people onboard, no life jackets. Since he wouldn't listen I suggested to the group it wasn't a good idea but they piled in. I stayed at the dock and had a couple more beers. Fortunately, it ended well.
 
I have boated on that lake hundreds of times. What speedo said about the water temp is correct. Even in summer time you water ski in a wet suit. As to the the conditions, I have got into some pretty sporty conditions there especially when the wind starts pushing the water towards the shore over large submerged boulders. The boulders cause the water to rise up quickly creating large swells. I suspect that these swells were a result of a thunderstorm down burst that started a wall of water towards shore to be magnified by the underwater terrain. The thunderstorms are largely orographic. Moist air is pushed up the Sierras by prevailing winds out of the west. The air is compressed and thus heated into an unstable mass, when they get over the Tahoe basin the terrain drop causes an rapid decompression, and you get some pretty spectacular storms over the lake.
This boat was a 27', about the size of my boat on Lake Lanier and I've been knocked to the gunwales by pop up thunderstorm down burst so I am sure this boat was in a lot of trouble from a storm on Tahoe.

The last time I was there we rented a 18' bowrider, an inboard ski boat to make a run over to Emerald Bay from Sunnyside. It was beautiful and balmy September day. By the time we started back, we were taking water over the bow. I had visions of Bob. ;)
 
They have said it was a microburst. Years back there was a incident on the TN river at Decatur, Al. involving a microburst and the loss of life. They also reported 6'- 8' swells but I know that river area well and there isn't the underwater structures you mention. The thing is those swell have to go somewhere and there was shoreline dock and other boat damages as I recall. I assume in this case there isn't a shoreline structure issue and other boats around? I know very well what 6' - 8' seas are like in boats that can handle them. I'm just trying to understand about the why only this boat. I've seen 17' to 21' boats flip in smaller seas, but it was almost always bad job, inattention or decision, by the captain that caused it. I would guess most inland boaters are not proficient handling rough conditions.
 
To be fair, as I said I've been knocked to my gunwales from a microburst from a pop up T-Storm. It is almost impossible in a micro burst to keep the boat into the wind. These cruiser types always want to go broad side to the wind. In my case despite full helm over and power it grabbed me and threw me broad side to the wind. So I can see how this can happen.

To give you an idea of the power of these microburst, we had one the other day while I was home. It got real scary for about 15 seconds. It hammered my house so hard it bulged the drywall around a set of double doors from my master bedroom to a screen room. When I went to repair the drywall, I found that despite the door frame set into studs with 10x4 inch screws, 10 of them no less, the door frame was pushed inwards the screw holes elongated. I had to pull all the screws out, reset the door and repair the drywall around it. I wish I had a recording barometer to calculate the pressure on the door. We lost no trees because the severe down burst in July 23 had taken out all the weak ones. A lot of my neighbors had roof damage.
 
I think you might be misunderstanding my questioning. I know the power of microburst, been in one myself. What I'm trying to learn is why no other damage incidents with this one. I've always "pictured" Tahoe to be a crowed lake with many different types of watercraft. It just seemed odd to me that nothing else was reported. Probably a very logical explanation such as it occured in a more remote part of the lake or something along that line. btw-- it was reported that the wind only reached 35mph, how they know that I don't know. Seems low for a microburst. Just curious.....
 
Surprisingly, most the activity is near shore and it maybe that a lot of people saw the approaching storm and left the lake. It not busy like Lake Lanier. Because of the low water temp water sports are a little more subdued.
 
GeeBee said:
Surprisingly, most the activity is near shore and it maybe that a lot of people saw the approaching storm and left the lake. It not busy like Lake Lanier. Because of the low water temp water sports are a little more subdued.
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That makes sense. If people were able to getboats out of the water and did so. I was thinking the one that capsized might have been close to a cliff type shoreline and the wave action of the swells bouncing back got it in trouble. We often get pop-up storms here and the lagoon which is shallow and only 5-6 miles long and mostly about 1/2 mile wide will goo from flat to having waves breakingover the seawall which is only about 3' high above average water surface. Often boats get damaged around docks and seawall, but they could have easily handled the wave action out on the lagoon. side note: I've seen the baby Whaler almost hit a 70 degree verticle angle when docked but because I'm careful in running my dock lines I haven't had any damage. Lots of folks who vacation here and don't understand the power of storms and water have had their boats take serious damage.
 
We get wind events on lake powell often that get real nasty. Biggest mistake people make is heading to the dock.
 
The most critical skill for any boater regardless of size and type of boat is being weather aware and knowledgeable enough to avoid or at least be prepared for incoming weather.

Every story of a boater bragging about braving 6’ or 8’ seas in a 40 footer is actually a failure as he should not have been caught there in the first place.

And we ve all made that mistake and will likely all do it again. Everytime i find myself in lousy conditions, i kick myself for not having seen the signs and nowadays with the tools we have at our fingertips, it’s getting harder and harder to come up with excuse.

This should be a lesson to all of us as we head into summer.
 
I agree you need to be weather aware, and in most cases that works, but the reality is killer T-storms can pop up very fast. For instance the T-storm that took out Delta 191 at DFW started as a benign cumulus cloud at 6000'. 5 minutes later it blew through 60,000 feet blowing out a gust front that dropped Delta 191. Without having deep knowledge of lifting indexes and K factors and easy access to that data, you can't really see that coming and even if you do, the chances of it becoming a reality is slim. Those kind of time frames don't allow time for boats to get to shelter.
 
Boat was a Chris Craft. There's quite a few older wooden Chris Crafts on Tahoe. Probably an inboard

Edit: Just saw the pic. Obvously not one of those wooden Chris Crafts
 
Bill D. said:
I think it's the Launch 27 model.
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I know it's a Chris Craft, but that's a damned expensive runabout! Capacity of 10, but doesn't look very comfortable with that many on the boat.
 
getakey said:
more than one boat capsized and many more damaged

www.yahoo.com

'A tragic day on Lake Tahoe': How a sudden storm left 8 boaters dead

Hundreds of boats were out across Lake Tahoe on Saturday when the weather took a dramatic turn. Winds picked up and waves became dangerous, capsizing several boats.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
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Now that reads a whole lot like what I would have expected! Thanks

" What I'm trying to learn is why no other damage incidents with this one. I've always "pictured" Tahoe to be a crowed lake with many different types of watercraft. It just seemed odd to me that nothing else was reported."
 
Get, there's a video from a business (Richarson's Bay) while this was happening at their dock. Gnarly!! I can't find it anymore, can you?
 
not sure about that vid, but here's some vids in this one. The girls made the right choice

 
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