# Boating death in Port Aransas



## devrep

tough old guy.


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## sjrobin

backcast said:


> My buddy and friend called me today to tell about what he described as a disaster. I first thought no fish. There was a drowning death. This past Friday three were returning to Hampton from fishing East Flats in a Boatwright. The boat swamped and then sunk and then flipped. No life preservers on my buddy. He held on to cooler for awhile then decided to swim to some rocks but current would not let him. He was in water for 25 minutes and exhausted. Age 70 with hip replacement in past. One was able to call 911 and sheriff department was there within the 25 minute range. The sheriff’s deputies tried unsuccessfully to revive victim.
> Joe


Old school tough. Good that he survived. Trying to place where the accident occurred and the launch location.


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## backcast

Hamptons is public launch in Aransas Pass Just off ICW. East Flats is southwest of Corpus Christi ship channels. My buddy said he thought he was going to drift into the ship channel which make me believe the accident occurred in the bay side south of Corpus ship channel.


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## MatthewAbbott

Damn. That sucks


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## Sublime

Man things can happen fast. That's about a 5 mile run back to the ramp from there, I've always been good about wearing my kill switch 100 percent of the time, but not a PFD. I'm starting to change that.


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## scissorhands

Sublime said:


> Man things can happen fast. That's about a 5 mile run back to the ramp from there, I've always been good about wearing my kill switch 100 percent of the time, but not a PFD. I'm starting to change that.


I'm guilty of not wearing a PFD too, I'm going PFD shopping. On a positive note, I always wear my kill switch


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## sjrobin

backcast said:


> Hamptons is public launch in Aransas Pass Just off ICW. East Flats is southwest of Corpus Christi ship channels. My buddy said he thought he was going to drift into the ship channel which make me believe the accident occurred in the bay side south of Corpus ship channel.


Thanks Joe. Glad you were not with them and the survivors were fortunate the water was warm. I have a couple of Mustang auto inflate vests to wear on long bay crosses, but I have not required clients to wear them and I seldom wear one. I should start requiring passengers to wear them on the skiff. This also highlights older boaters using Jon boats/skiffs to cross open water. Corpus Christi Bay is a long fetch on south/southwest and northeast winds.


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## sjrobin

jackson man said:


> Great idea about having your clients wear PFD's! If God forbid something ever happened to one of them, even if you weren't sued out of business, I don't think that you'd ever want to guide again (even if the accident was entirely not your fault).


Agreed. And even though the HB Pro is a very seaworthy skiff, if I make a series of mistakes, I can swamp it in an unrecoverable way.


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## jpipes

Terrible news. I always wear my kill switch, but I never wear a PFD. I need to change that.

I'd be interested to hear what happened to the boatright, and what size it was? I've been on Glenn Ging's Boatright, in Matagorda, multiple times, and never once felt unsafe or worried about swamping...and we've been fishing in some heavy conditions. I've always loved that boat, and have been under the assumption that they are unsinkable hulls due to the design and the amount of foam that the put in the hull. I guess nothing in unsinkable.


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## Smackdaddy53

jpipes said:


> Terrible news. I always wear my kill switch, but I never wear a PFD. I need to change that.
> 
> I'd be interested to hear what happened to the boatright, and what size it was? I've been on Glenn Ging's Boatright, in Matagorda, multiple times, and never once felt unsafe or worried about swamping...and we've been fishing in some heavy conditions. I've always loved that boat, and have been under the assumption that they are unsinkable hulls due to the design and the amount of foam that the put in the hull. I guess nothing in unsinkable.


Makes you wonder why they put foam in them at all if it’s not going to float if swamped per CG regulations...


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## Sublime

I'm not certain, but I think floatation is not required on boats > 20 ft. At least that is the way it used to be. Doesn't mean the manufacturer can't opt to put some in.


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## MatthewAbbott

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Makes you wonder why they put foam in them at all if it’s not going to float if swamped per CG regulations...


May have an exemption. Some aluminum boat manufacturers do. Not sure about boatwright though.


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## backcast

the Boatwright was an 18ft. I believe my buddy said they took wave over bow, not sure how many or just one. He said he thought that they should have put two of them in back in hind sight. From what I could tell from conversation the boat swamped first and then sunk before flipping. I can tell he does not want to talk about it and said he does not want to fish for awhile.


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## Smackdaddy53

I fish this area once every few years and it has some super tankers that when loaded throw one hell of a big wave after they pass. You can surf it they are so big. I fish another area closer to home where you have to put an anchor pin through your anchor ring and let the boat swing because as they pass and displace water the flat nearly goes dry then the big rollers come and spin the boat back around. Since Alcoa is done for the tankers are a rarity there now. We nearly flipped my friend’s Maverick there the first time we fished and were not aware of this situation.


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## Todd Thibodeaux

This spot is main fishing area and we have had at least four boating fatalities in the last four years. Smackdaddy is right about the tankers. You have too keep aware of tankers they can run you aground are swamp you for sure.


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## Chief301

Backcast 

I read your description of the boating accident that happened on 10-16-2020. I was one of the individuals who help perform the rescue. It was a small craft advisory day and it was really rough on the water that day. The man you are speaking of I remember very well. We found him treading water. I was thought to myself that he must had been in the navy and went through drown proofing because how he was able to tread water. It was actually cold that day. Your friends were the second rescue we had performed that day as well. The boat accident actually happened east of Ransom Point. The rescue boat was actually Aransas Pass PD and was staffed by one police officer and three firefighters all from Aransas Pass. 

I hope your friend is doing better today.


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## Jaterac

I never liked the metal clips that come on the kill switch lanyards so I usually add a carabiner so I can clip it to me easier. My PFD's are in my T-Bag under the poling platform. They would be hard to get to quick as I'd have to unzip the bag. Might be swapping out the zipper pull string with a bright orange one. 

I hope no one gets themselves in this situation. I have a Custom Gheenoe LT25 and it doesn't take much to get another boats wake sloshed over the bow... I'd always feared being swamped buy big boats in the main channel. Even in the creeks I've been close to getting swampped. There was a 32ish foot speed boat came ripping full throttle through Black Creek and dumped every kayaker in its wake. That thing did NOT belong on that creek and he was doing some dangerous speeds, probably 40mph or more. I came around the bend, saw buzz by, and suddenly faced a 4-5 foot wake this thing had spit up. I dropped throttle and turned in but still got airborne, prop out and all. It happened so fast... It was very scary. Im lucky the bow didn't dive under when I came down. It rocked us, like knocked my buddy's hat off his head. I thought I broke my boat in half when we landed. Then the second wake was not as bad. I dont know how many people he affected but Im sure karma will sink him one day. Blind turns and speed kill people.


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## Smackdaddy53

Jaterac said:


> I never liked the metal clips that come on the kill switch lanyards so I usually add a carabiner so I can clip it to me easier. My PFD's are in my T-Bag under the poling platform. They would be hard to get to quick as I'd have to unzip the bag. Might be swapping out the zipper pull string with a bright orange one.
> 
> I hope no one gets themselves in this situation. I have a Custom Gheenoe LT25 and it doesn't take much to get another boats wake sloshed over the bow... I'd always feared being swamped buy big boats in the main channel. Even in the creeks I've been close to getting swampped. There was a 32ish foot speed boat came ripping full throttle through Black Creek and dumped every kayaker in its wake. That thing did NOT belong on that creek and he was doing some dangerous speeds, probably 40mph or more. I came around the bend, saw buzz by, and suddenly faced a 4-5 foot wake this thing had spit up. I dropped throttle and turned in but still got airborne, prop out and all. It happened so fast... It was very scary. Im lucky the bow didn't dive under when I came down. It rocked us, like knocked my buddy's hat off his head. I thought I broke my boat in half when we landed. Then the second wake was not as bad. I dont know how many people he affected but Im sure karma will sink him one day. Blind turns and speed kill people.


Was the creek a navigable channel? It’s hard to make a 4-5 foot wake at 40mph. Wakes that big come from plowing off plane.


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## Jaterac

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Was the creek a navigable channel? It’s hard to make a 4-5 foot wake at 40mph. Wakes that big come from plowing off plane.


Its a big creek, reported to have housed ww2 ships at one point. It was on a bend and I was on the outside of the turn heading the opposite way. He was going hella fast. 40mph was a guess but I’m confident that was accurate enough not to make a big deal out of it. His wake was neck high and toppled a multiple kayaks.


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## Smackdaddy53

Jaterac said:


> Its a big creek, reported to have housed ww2 ships at one point. It was on a bend and I was on the outside of the turn heading the opposite way. He was going hella fast. 40mph was a guess but I’m confident that was accurate enough not to make a big deal out of it. His wake was neck high and toppled a multiple kayaks.


No wake zone?


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## SeaDrifter

Smackdaddy53 said:


> I fish this area once every few years and it has some super tankers that when loaded throw one hell of a big wave after they pass. You can surf it they are so big. I fish another area closer to home where you have to put an anchor pin through your anchor ring and let the boat swing because as they pass and displace water the flat nearly goes dry then the big rollers come and spin the boat back around. Since Alcoa is done for the tankers are a rarity there now. We nearly flipped my friend’s Maverick there the first time we fished and were not aware of this situation.


I've been in a cove with the power pole deployed when a tanker went by. It sucked the cove dry and I was sitting on a bed of mud and shell until it passed. After that I respect them big sun of a guns when they come through, more especially loaded.



Michael


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