Bad accident in South Channel

The driver of the Baja was arrested and the sherrif stated alcohol was indeed a factor. Two confirmed dead now.

I heard it on the VHF yesterday. One woman was thrown into the water. Her body was recovered 20 minutes later.
 
Here's the best account as to what happened, per discussion with law enforcement and on-scene rescue....




August 4, 2014 at 2:28 pm
2 dead identified from weekend boat crash near Harsens Island


Tom Greenwood
The Detroit News
13 Comments


The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. in the south shipping channel near Harsens Island, located about 50 miles northeast of Detroit at the south end of the St. Clair River. (Alan Block / www.sailinganarchy.com)


Harsens Island — Alcohol and high speed may have been factors in a collision between boats that killed two people and injured three others Sunday evening on Lake St. Clair, according to witnesses and authorities.


The U.S. Coast Guard reports a 25-foot Baja boat went over a cabin cruiser carrying six people, killing two on the cabin cruiser. Three others on the cabin cruiser had to be hospitalized, including a woman in her 60s who is in critical condition.


There were no injuries on the Baja.


The crash occurred about 6:15 p.m. in the south shipping channel near Harsens Island, located about 50 miles northeast of Detroit at the south end of the St. Clair River.


The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victims as Nancy Axford, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Robert Koontz, who was in his 50s, of Chesterfield Township. Axford’s husband was physically uninjured in the incident. But Koontz’s wife, who is in her 60s, was critically injured in the crash. A third unmarried couple on the cabin cruiser received minor injuries.


Algonac resident Alan Block, who is a local sailboat racer and senior reporter for Sailing Anarchy, was sailing in the southbound channel and was about 200 feet from the collision when it occurred.


“I came to a stop because I knew something was going to happen,” Block said. “There were two large boats — perhaps 40 footers — headed southbound and they were leaving large wakes. One of the boats looked like a fishing vessel and the other was a cabin cruiser with an upper deck. A third boat, a 25-foot Baja, which is a very fast speed boat, was headed northbound in the shipping channel doing about 45 to 50 mph.”


According to Block, the Baja failed to slow down for the large wakes caused by the bigger boats.


“I watched as the speed boat tried to go around the two boats, moving toward the Canadian side,” Block said. “He hit the wake of the second boat, flew into the air and came down on the second wake. People on his boat were being thrown around and he lost control of the boat.”


Block said he watched in disbelief as the Baja hit a third wake and was launched about 10 feet into the air.


“It was completely clear of the water,” Block said. “It crashed into the top deck of the cabin cruiser and basically smashed through to the other side. It actually knocked off the upper deck, which collapsed onto the hull of the boat. I’ve lived and worked on the water my entire life, and I’ve never seen anything like this.


“It was horrible.”


According to Block, the impact threw a woman into the water.


“Myself and some other boats were looking for her,” Block said. “The body was picked up about 20 minutes later by a couple on a pontoon boat. They did CPR but to no avail.”


Another man on the cabin cruiser received a severe head injury.


“They worked on him but they stopped pretty quickly because he was clearly dead,” Block said. “The fire chief from Algonac came on board and worked on an older woman who seemed to be in shock. She was really bad off. They took her off the boat using one of those fan-driven airboats they use to rescue people from the ice or are in reeds.”


According to Block, a number of boats milled around the area before finally heading out.


“I took some photos of the guy who caused the crash and another gentleman who was on his boat,” Block said. “They were clearly shaken up. The driver of the Baja was taken into custody. I heard one deputy say to another deputy ‘he’s been drinking.’”


Drunk or sober, the driver of the Baja wouldn’t have been able to handle the wake at that speed, according to Block.


“When a little boat hits a big boat, you’re pretty much along for the ride,” Block said.


According to Sheriff Tim Donnellon the driver of the Baja — identified only as a 32-year-old resident of Chesterfield Township — remains in custody on alcohol-related charges. The Chesterfield Township man faces arraignment in Marine City District Court.


“There were three persons on the Baja, and the driver was the only one arrested,” Donnellon said. “The case will be turned over to the prosecutor’s office. I believe they’ll come to some kind of decision by the end of the day. The bodies of the victims have been turned over to the medical examiner’s office, and I don’t expect a statement as to the causes of death for a few days.”


The sheriff’s department has taken possession of the boats and has them in storage while accident reconstruction experts who specialize in marine accidents continue their investigation.


“This has been one of the most deadly summers I can remember,” Donnellon said. “We had a double fatal car crash in Burtchville, the following Friday we had a fatal when someone ran a stop sign. Then a fatal motorcycle crash, a fatal car crash on a two-lane road and now a double fatal boating crash.”


Shipping traffic on the south channel was stopped for a period of time while rescue operations were underway.


The Associated Press contributed.
TGreenwood@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2345










From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitne...5#ixzz39S3aRju6
 
Thanks for the update. How narrow in that channel? How fast would they have been going to "fly" that high off the wake?

MM
 
The channel is wide enough for 1,000 foot freighters to navigate. There was more than enough room for everyone to safely pass. Unfortunately poor decisions, speed and alcohol created a fatal combination yesterday.

Relatives of the deceased are participants on another local forum I frequent. There is still another person in the hospital with collapsed lungs and all of her ribs broken. There are also reports of previous encounters with the offending boat, but at this point that is speculation.
 
Thanks for sharing and any updates you may see would be appreciated. I feel so bad for the folks injured and the families that lost loved ones.

MM
 
We had one here in baycity sunday also.some fellow boaters saw it happen.Two boats going under a bridge in the same direction from no wake to wake area and another coming off plane.One boat hit the wake of the boat coming off plane while trying to get on plane and was thrown into the other boat that was trying to get on plane.One boat was dragged up the closest ramp and the other was tied off tight to the dock while trying to get injured passengers off and into ambulances when the CG showed up at full speed,did a turnaround and started bouncing the boat against the dock as one injured guy on a board was trying to be lifted from the boat.
 
Any accident on the water is tragic, but this one seems like it could have been avoided (like most). I don’t mean to tread on anyones toes, so please bear with me.

It seems every weekend since I’ve been back in boating (since April of this year) I have noticed more and more of the foolishness of boaters. My part of the lake is used almost strictly by power boats and my marina doesn’t have one sailboat. Our bay that is all No-Wake and is long, probably 1000 yards from the boat house area to the bouys, and I see constantly boneheads tooling along well above idle, throwing a nice wake. Blasting thier music, people loaded on the bows, drinks in hand, the whole party scene. I get it, they all want to have a good time on the water and can’t wait.

Out on the water, I see skiers (recreational types as well as hard core skiers) constantly getting close to boats just trying to come on plane or coming off plane at the mouth of our bay area. The PWC's trying to catch my wake and getting Waaaayyyyy too close. There is no curtousy to each other and then the go-fasts. For the most part, they keep it out in the main part of the water, but sometimes I see 3, 4 or five of them, racing of course and it gets a little close too.

Going into the “coves” many named “Party Cove this or that” and it is crazy! From nudity to heavy drinking to loud music to dangerous games. While many of these coves are not technically “No-Wake” zones, courtesy dictates to keep your wake down when near boats at anchor. But I can’t tell you how many times our boats (me and my group of friends) get rocked around while rafted up, sometimes really badly. Thanks goodness the boaters I run with, know how to raft up right and we secure our anchors well.

When I am running on plane and I see a fishing boat, I go well around them, trying not to get them caught in my wake, but here comes another bonehead pulling his kid on a tube, right between me and the fisherman, for no reason that I can see.

The list goes on and on and I know all of you could add stories to my little ones.

When I grew up, my family had a cottage on Lake James in northern Indiana. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s it was pretty safe up there even on weekends. As boating became more and more prevelant, all courtesy and boatmanship seemed to disappear. The only times we would go out on the water on the weekends was to ski at sunrise and an hour before sunset and sometimes if we weren’t skiing, out before dawn to fish or at dusk. It was just to crazy in the later years on the water with all the transient boaters out there. I was lucky enough to spend the summers there, so I did all my boating and playing during the week, it was great!

I was away from boating for 18 years and now I come back. No one seems to have common sence or have the slightest idea of safe boat handling and courtesy and rules of the road. More youthful boaters trying to show off thier big go-fasts and drinking beer to the point of throwing up. Boaters with a “me-only on the water” mentality and so on.

It seems we are own worst enemy, and then you have a REAL TRADEGITY like this, someone dies. Where does the insanity end?

I try not to lecture people or pass judgment. I keep my nose in my own business. But I have to say, after some of the things I’ve seen in the past couple of weekends, I’m going to start saying something to people now.

I was there once, in my youth. Young and foolish, drinking and having a good time. College seems like a blur sometimes. So I do get it. But times are different now, there are more of us, especially on the water. All it takes is a small mistake to end tradegically.

So to all who have suffered through my rant, I ask you, please, if you see someone on thier boat that has had few too many, or out when you are rafted up or wherever, just say something descretely to them. Its really up to us. All the water cops can’t catch everyone, but we can all do our small part to keep what we hold so dear to us, safe.

Stepping down off my soap box now....

Matt
 
I agree Matt. (I grew up boating on Lake Tippicanoe, btw) This tragedy reinforces my prejudice towards go-fasts and the type of people who operate them. Sure, a minority of folks who operating them, do so in a safe manner. The majority do not, IMHO. Most of them, I wouldn't trust with a slingshot, let alone a 10,000 pound mercruiser powered missile.
I don't know Scott...I wouldn't condemn the majority by boat type. If the truth be known this very site, CSR, has many jerk offs half in the bag while cruisin' their SeaRays. The majority of can boats, cruisers, go fasts, sailboats...are all concerned with the real jerkoffs. Now those jet skis are another thing but I don't count them as boats.

That's what I like about where I boat. Once out on the big lake, away from marina, 3 days last week and only saw 5 other boats...closest one maybe 3 miles away....I love it.
 
Sure, a minority of folks who operating them, do so in a safe manner. The majority do not, IMHO. Most of them, I wouldn't trust with a slingshot, let alone a 10,000 pound mercruiser powered missile.

I agree with both of you. Growing up in the same area this incident happened, I saw many close calls with fast boats and intoxicated drivers. Actually with any type of boat with intoxicated drivers. I fell into the minority you talk about and, unless it was a sanctioned racing event, only played with the speed far from others. Alcohol was never on the boat, did not need it to have a great time. Sad story for sure.
 
Please don’t misunderstand me, I like the Go-Fast boats, there is just something about them. I guess if I were younger, I’d probably have one too, along with my Sundancer. I like the power and speed just as anyone else. But I got my fix with speed racing motorcycles when I was in high school, all on sanctioned tracks and controlled enviroments.

I’m not here to be a hypocrite. I did do some foolish street (car) racing when I was a kid. I have had a beer too many on the water. But I know better. I pray many out there do too, but it is the tradgety like this that brings it out into the light.

I guess what makes me so, ticked off, is that there just doesn’t seem to be “the brotherhood” of boating as it once was. Where courtesy and rules of the road were the norm. I’m not saying there still isn’t, but what sticks out to me somedays, and in the eyes so many in the public that aren’t nessesarily in our passion, seeing the knuckleheads that don’t show the right way of boating.

Look at the article. I myself, as soon as I saw the headline, thought, alcohol for sure. BINGO! Then I see it was a go-fast. All my built in boating prejudice kicked in. “Danged drunk go-fast jerk, killed those incocent people”, yet that is exactly what happened.

But as you read on, even the sailboat reporter put his 2 cents in too. His percieved view of go-fasts (and what I felt was power boats in general...). He was pretty good though, if you ask me, I’ve met one too many surly sailboaters for my lifetime, but I can’t lump them all in the same category. I don’t think anyone here is either, we are just frustrated and angry that a few bad apples that are smearing our passion at the least and hurting inoccents to often.

sfergson727, I am like you too. While I like the go-fasts, my instincts tell me to be cautious around them. Especially when I see they are being operated by the young and have too many other young ‘uns on board. On Lake Texoma, there are all kinds of boats. But these flashy, usually noisey (from the stereos to the engines, from the guys being....... guys I guess, to screaming girls, etc.) attract attention. I suppose, they also attract attention of the lake cops, but I don’t know. But I usually stay clear of the coves they are in. For one thing, I have 2 boys, 17 going on 30.... and a 16 year old, and they don’t need any encouraging from the likes of all that!

I miss the polite world I grew up in, and look for it where ever I can, especially on the water. To be honest, I have found it at the dock I’m at. Oh, we have fun, but we all look out for each other. When we are all out, we make sure one of us (or more if needed) is legal to drive us all home. But we really don’t get crazy out on the water. I feel there are many more like me, and those who have chimed in on this, feel the same way and I’m glad.

Matt
 
The driver of the baja blew a .10. The story has gone quiet. The family was posting on a local discussion board but I'm sure the lawyers advised that to stop.
 

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