Add another boat crash and death to the weekend....

[phragle]

Appearently last night just after closing time a boat was coming down the Ottawa river at a high rate of speed (in the middle of a couple mile long no wake zone) when it hit a dock. killed the driver, put 2 in the ICU and the 4th passenger on the boat (believed to be the bartender from the bar they had just left) somehow managed to duck and escape serious injury.

Thats as complete a version of the incident as I have been able to compile from several friends.

[fund razor]

Yeah. I had mentioned it on the ho thread I think.

There's that one dock with a lot of pilings around it that sticks out from the north side from a house on Willow. It's pretty much across from Webbers and the only dock along that north side. They would have almost had to have been in a big arc to hit it after passing the weeds.

Nobody runs on that side usually, of course.

I don't know Tom Duquette, but I'm sure a lot of people do.

http://www.wtol.com/story/32860236/1...in-point-place

[Ratickle]

Damn, I guess some will never learn.

[rschap1]

[fund razor]

The boat in question.


Hit this dock in about the middle.


http://www.monroenews.com/news/20160...ating-accident

ERIE TOWNSHIP – One Ohio man is dead and two others were critically injured when a speedboat slammed into a dock in the Ottawa River around midnight Sunday.

The accident occurred just north of the Ohio state line in the river that separates Erie Township from the Lost Peninsula. The boat, a 17-footer, struck a private dock that is reinforced with steel support beams, according to Dean Ansel, chief of the Erie Township Police Department.

The boat went underneath the dock and the three men suffered severe head injuries. A woman on board ducked at the last second.

“She saw it coming,” Chief Ansel said. “She put her on her lap. Somehow she had time to react.”

The boat operator was identified as Thomas Duquette II, 44, of Holland, Ohio. He died instantly, the chief said. Two other men, identified as Doug Hertz, 50, and John Nusbaum, 43, are both in critical condition in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo. The woman, Heather Montague, 40, did not suffer serious injuries.

After impact, a witness pulled the boat across the river to Weber’s Waterfront restaurant where emergency crews from Ohio assisted.

Chief Ansel said the four were returning from a bar when the accident occurred and alcohol was found on board. The dock, around 60 feet long, is lighted at the end. The boat struck the dock between the lighted end and shore.

“The boat was way off course,” Chief Ansel said, adding that it was unclear how fast the boat was moving at the time of the accident.

The dock is part of a residential area off Willow Place Dr.

I didn't know the driver. John is a member of my yacht club, and I went to grade school with Doug.

[Ratickle]

Damn, our prayers are with you and your friends.

[fund razor]

Not close with any of them personally, but lots of us around here are loosely "based" in that small area and belong to the clubs along the Ottawa River. That's Phragle's neighborhood year round, and Dave's shop is just the other side of a shallow bay. This same group of boaters does snowmobiling and ice boats and hot rods. Lots of blue collar guys building and maintaining their own rigs there. Not really big money, but lots of ingenuity and heart. And balls.

ORYC, PPBC, RVYC and Outings Unlimited are all clubs on the same stretch of river and road, and we sometimes are like one big club. I am pretty sure Phragle and Dave belong to one or another.

[Ratickle]

Do you think they should pass a law that there needs to be lights on all docks every 10' or something? A dock sticking 60' out in a navigable waterway should have more than one light at the very end in my estimation.

[fund razor]

The entire river is a no wake zone. "Navigable waterway" is sometimes an overstatement back there. Sometimes it empties out. But it's really wide for a creek. Surprisingly well lit with homes and yacht clubs and restaurants.

I don't think we need more laws on this one. Nobody goes near that dock normally. It's in 2 feet of water on a good day. Everybody follows the south side where the channel is. In 20 years, I've never been on that side of the river for any reason, and I had two different docks for two different boats back there. And we night boated a lot back then.

[phragle]

We just need nerf docks...

Actually over the years I think the docks have claimed more snowmobilers than boaters...

[phragle]

And the clubs fundy mentioned... pretty much all of them are AYC affiliated, so if you join one you have guest privileges in the others, and the drinks are cheap in all of them.....

[phragle]

And I have been informed that this is at least the third person (counting snowmobilers)that has died while impaling themselves upon this dock.

[endeavor1]

^^^^Jeeze.

[Ratickle]

All in the night?

[phragle]

Not sure... As mentioned it is a no wake zone.... so day or night shouldnt matter except for the sleds...

[fund razor]

Snowmobiles move through there at a good clip once its frozen.

Even the occasional SnowMoBoat.

[Ratickle]

I think someone should approach the owners about additional lighting.

[fund razor]

I think someone should approach the owners about additional lighting.

That's logical based on all the data. I think especially for snowmobiles.

Of course, they may do that without being asked. I don't know who they are, but I doubt they want to keep experiencing tragedies on their dock. I don't think they are to blame, but I can only imagine they still feel awful. Who wouldn't?

Based on my own countless trips up and down the river over the years, even coming back to a dock back there at night a lot, I would say 99.99% of boats never go on that side of the river. Anyone who has seen the river empty out (most of us) knows that there might be 5-6 feet of water in the channel, but still only have 1 foot where that dock is, far from the natural and navigational channel. There is almost no development on that side for this reason.
But the skipper who died in this crash was running a jet boat, so obviously he had little concern for water levels compared to outdrive and rudder people.

Having had time to talk to people from their club, I know that all four on the boat are very much cared about, and it is quite a shock and loss.

There was an update on conditions in the Monroe Evening News:

     
ERIE TOWNSHIP — One man who was in the fatal boating accident in the Ottawa River last week remains in critical condition while the condition of a second passenger apparently has improved.

John Nusbaum, 43, of Toledo was listed in critical condition in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo, while Doug Hertz, 50, also of Toledo, was listed in serious condition in the Ohio State University Hospital, Columbus.

They were involved in an Aug. 28 boating accident that claimed the life of Thomas Duquette II, 44, of Holland, Ohio. He was the operator of the 17-foot speedboat that slammed into a dock extending out into the river near the Lost Peninsula.

A third passenger, a woman, ducked at the last second and avoided injury, according to the Erie Township Police Department.

[Ratickle]

If they already have a light at the end, adding a few led's should be really easy.

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

Might as well light all the unlit channel markers and the shore line too.