Pontoon boat capsizes and results in fatalities, Lake Powell

[throttle]

 

[cofooter]

That's terrible, RIP

 

[JB in so cal]

Damn

 

[DILLIGAF]

;(. RIP

 

[SoCalDave]

How sad of a event...RIP to those that lost their lives.

 

[zhandfull]

Damn, that’s terrible.

 

[DaytonaBabe]

How sad

 

[DB / HAV]

This is horrible news. RIP, prayers for all involved

 

[DarkJuJu]

Just read the news on this so sad I could only imagine the horror of losing small children and an elderly person.

 

[Mototrig]

I hate reading this, horrible event. RIP

 

[HCP3]

Damn. Lots of thoughts. Families etc. Those rescuers have it rough. Cheers to them.

 

[Boat 405]

i wonder how many of the deceased had life jackets on. Very curious. So sad. My boy is 5. I cant even imagine…

 

[rivermobster]

Jezuz...

 

[bilz]

Rest in peace. Thoughts and prayers to the surviving passengers and rescuers.

 

[Ducksquasher]

RIP...God Bless.

 

[Bajastu]

RIP little fellas. So sad.

 

[stingray11]

How big of a wave does it take to flip a pontoon?
RIP

 

[Vamodsquad]

So sad. Don't know what to say. Prayers sent.

 

[Hardly Satisfied]

So sad to hear. RIP

 

[TBulger]

This the first year I’ve heard of so many pontoons capsizing. So sorry.

 

[RiverDave]

I’m wondering if the boat that was towing them is open to any liability?

 

[D Mac]

i wonder how many of the deceased had life jackets on. Very curious. So sad. My boy is 5. I cant even imagine…

May be a case where life jackets kept them trapped under a capsized boat.

 

[napanutt]

May be a case where life jackets kept them trapped under a capsized boat.

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[bilz]

Hopefully the facts will be in shortly.

 

[Boat 405]

May be a case where life jackets kept them trapped under a capsized boat.

Same...

 

[Ziggy]

 

[Outdrive1]

That’s horrible.

 

[Vamodsquad]

May be a case where life jackets kept them trapped under a capsized boat.

Good point. I never thought about that.

 

[joecfd1]

Very sad. RIP!

 

[4Waters]

Witness stated that weather was good, wonder where the waves came from

 

[DUNEFLYER]

Just a guess... "Tour Boat"
Those boats throw a mean wake and right at the mouth of Navajo they are at full wake speed.

 

[4Waters]

Just a guess... "Tour Boat"
Those boats throw a mean wake and right at the mouth of Navajo they are at full wake speed.

They are responsible for their wake, correct

 

[stephenkatsea]

That area can be a total ‘washing machine’ when it comes to waves, wakes etc. Once had a Conquest we were towing behind our houseboat come loose in that location. We got it back, but the conditions sucked. As of now, far too little is known about this tragedy to be placing any blame. The thought of those 4 year old little guys perishing hits me in the gut. Liability of the boat towing? If the vessel doing the towing was doing so in a prudent manner, I believe any liability would be unlikely. May the 3 victims R.I.P.

 

[4Waters]

That area can be a total ‘washing machine’ when it comes to waves, wakes etc. Once had a Conquest we were towing behind our houseboat come loose in that location. We got it back, but the conditions sucked. As of now, far too little is known about this tragedy to be placing any blame. The thought of those 4 year old little guys perishing hits me in the gut. Liability of the boat towing? If the vessel doing the towing was doing so in a prudent manner, I believe any liability would be unlikely. May the 3 victims R.I.P.

I've never been to powell and why I asked where the waves could have come from, wake boats don't have big enough wakes to capsize a toon, that's some big waves.

 

[Jay Dub]

God Bless the three souls that passed away. These situations always make me think, what could I have done differently so this would not have happened?

 

[mbrown2]

That's awful news...

 

[stephenkatsea]

I've never been to powell and why I asked where the waves could have come from, wake boats don't have big enough wakes to capsize a toon, that's some big waves.

When the lake level is sufficient, most prefer to take the ‘shortcut’ from Wahweap when traveling east, to most of Lake Powell. This avoids the Antelope/Navajo Canyon area. This area is a rather narrow passage with canyon walls on both sides of the channel. When passing through this area waves and wakes bounce off the canyon walls and come from any and all directions. As of now, the configuration of 25’ pontoon is unknown. Many here saw the recent video of the pontoon boat flipping and the guys passing by rescuing the people. I believe that was in open water. Put canyon walls on both sides and conditions change a bunch.

 

[DaveH]

the Navajo entrance, where this happened apparently, can be rough but not the worst the lake has to offer. it does get VERY busy on this section of the lake, and rough is a simply understating it. just a little further up the lake where it is considerably narrower, and vertical walls on either side is where it gets really nasty, simply from all the boat traffic and no beaches for the wakes to dissipate. Instead the wakes bounce of the canyon walls and i have been through there when the swells were 4' plus.... all from traffic and not weather related. the worst time is in the early or late part of the day when the day boaters are heading in/out of Antelope marina looking to get up the lake. afternoons are generally reasonable. throw a monsoon in there, and there is a mad rush to get back to the marina......its as ugly as anything i have ever seen.

I can see where a boat being towed, especially with 11 people on it, and being a toon, could easily get flipped under the right circumstances. no mention of the rainbow bridge tour boat having been a factor....that thing easily throws a 5' wake on its own. it slows down when it gets to the narrows just past Navajo as the wake is insane in that canyon section.

having been going to powell for 40 years, the last ten or so is when i have seen the water get so nasty. yeah, gonna take a shot at wave tractors here.....but the reality is these boats have become wildly popular at powell, and its COMMON to see families of 15 piled in these things plowing through the narrows throwing up huge wakes and they arent even surfing. so between the volume and size of the boats, its a perfect storm.

 

[renodaytona]

Wow, it sucks to read stuff like this. RIP to the ones lost in this.

 

[King295]

Tough to read. A year or two back I helped a group of women out on the lower river when their boat was taking on water. There was an infant and pregnant women on the boat taking on water. First thing I did was put them on my boat before I ended up towing them up to their launch ramp. All ended up well but there was no way I was leaving those two in the sinking boat.

 

[J DUNN]

I towed somebody at Powell one time. They were only out of gas but they were overloaded and add that with no power, they had no control over the boat obviously.

We took 6 teenage boys onto our boat and made owner and his wife who stayed in their boat, wear life jackets. Why? Because that's what the park rangers do and a host of reasons to support it.

I'm not saying anything about the accident referenced above, just sharing insight for situations we might find ourselves in the future.

 

[J DUNN]

That area can be a total ‘washing machine’ when it comes to waves, wakes etc. Once had a Conquest we were towing behind our houseboat come loose in that location. We got it back, but the conditions sucked. As of now, far too little is known about this tragedy to be placing any blame. The thought of those 4 year old little guys perishing hits me in the gut. Liability of the boat towing? If the vessel doing the towing was doing so in a prudent manner, I believe any liability would be unlikely. May the 3 victims R.I.P.

That sucks, just to be clear though, big waves don't make the boat loose, poor rigging does.

I've found a boat disconnected from a HB before and I've been on a HB where the 3/8" nylon cheap Home Depot rope broke and everybody thought something cut it, no bro, your rope was just crap to start with, lol. Happens a lot at Powell.

 

[stephenkatsea]

That sucks, just to be clear though, big waves don't make the boat loose, poor rigging does.

I've found a boat disconnected from a HB before and I've been on a HB where the 3/8" nylon cheap Home Depot rope broke and everybody thought something cut it, no bro, your rope was just crap to start with, lol. Happens a lot at Powell.

Totally agree. We had a proper tow line, Samson Braid. But, a very inadequate knot for the tow, by another, was the cause of that Conquest coming loose. And it was his friggin’ brand new Conquest. He felt like an idiot. The very choppy, sloppy conditions in that area made the retrieval, using just the houseboat, a bit more challenging. But we did it. Got back underway and enjoyed a great week on Powell. There’s no other place like it.

 

[Boat 405]

Yeah, when you get a boat without it's own power, possibly tour boat wake, and an overloaded boat. Things can go sideways quickly. I'm guessing they had a canopy up and when they flipped the people got caught between the boat and canopy and were stuck between underwater... So sad. I don't know a life jacket in that situation would have helped or hurt. If they get caught up in the canopy. It may have wrapped around them like jumping into a pool with a pool cover on it. It would just stick you like glue making it really difficult to get free not to mention underwater....

 

[Tooned Up]

I have no words… RIP to those lost.

 

[92562]

the Navajo entrance, where this happened apparently, can be rough but not the worst the lake has to offer. it does get VERY busy on this section of the lake, and rough is a simply understating it. just a little further up the lake where it is considerably narrower, and vertical walls on either side is where it gets really nasty, simply from all the boat traffic and no beaches for the wakes to dissipate. Instead the wakes bounce of the canyon walls and i have been through there when the swells were 4' plus.... all from traffic and not weather related. the worst time is in the early or late part of the day when the day boaters are heading in/out of Antelope marina looking to get up the lake. afternoons are generally reasonable. throw a monsoon in there, and there is a mad rush to get back to the marina......its as ugly as anything i have ever seen.

I can see where a boat being towed, especially with 11 people on it, and being a toon, could easily get flipped under the right circumstances. no mention of the rainbow bridge tour boat having been a factor....that thing easily throws a 5' wake on its own. it slows down when it gets to the narrows just past Navajo as the wake is insane in that canyon section.

having been going to powell for 40 years, the last ten or so is when i have seen the water get so nasty. yeah, gonna take a shot at wave tractors here.....but the reality is these boats have become wildly popular at powell, and its COMMON to see families of 15 piled in these things plowing through the narrows throwing up huge wakes and they arent even surfing. so between the volume and size of the boats, its a perfect storm.

This also was my 40th year on the lake. The dock crushers I saw in the washing machine had 15+ people on board and had their wake tabs set to full. It makes their ride very tolerable and kills it for everyone else. I too wondered if life jackets kept the little ones trapped underneath. Such a tragic event. RIP to those who perished.

 

[crzy2bealive]

Heart breaking