10-25-12 MORRO BAY, CA Boat battery dead out at sea, thankfully on shore winds help push them to shore ksby.com (10-25-12) The Morro Bay Harbor Patrol was called around 11:00 am Thur. morning (10-25) after a report of a boat that had been beached. It happened just N. of the city limits on Morro Strand State Beach. When crews arrived on scene they found 5 people had been out on a fishing trip when their boat battery died. Luckily there was an onshore wind that pushed the boat to shore. The Harbor Patrol and Morro Bay Coast Guards are hoping to get the boat off the beach Thur. night, but if they are unsuccessful they will wait for high tide Fri. (10-26) to push it back into the ocean.
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10-25-12 OFF BEAUFORT, NC Four rescued from sinking boat off the coast havenews.com (10-25-12) Four boaters were rescued Thur. (10-25) after their 28-ft. pleasure craft sank in the ocean about 50 mi. SE of Beaufort Inlet, the USCG said. An EPIRB alerted CG 5th District watchstanders of a distress situation aboard the Attitude Adjuster at about 10:45 a.m., giving the vessel’s location and contact information. The CG called the phone number registered to the EPIRB and spoke with the owner’s wife who confirmed that her husband had left from Beaufort Inlet that morning for a fishing trip offshore. Watchstanders then dispatched crews aboard an HC-130 Hercules aircraft from CG Air Station Elizabeth City and a 47-ft. Motor Life Boat from CG Station Fort Macon. While en route to the scene, Good Samaritans aboard the fishing vessel Sea Lion contacted and informed the CG that all 4 people had been recovered and were aboard the Sea Lion. “The EPIRB was the key ingredient that helped save people’s lives today,” Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Jones III said. The men aboard the Attitude Adjuster were not aware their vessel was sinking until after their EPIRB started broadcasting and other boaters in the area contacted them to inquire if they needed assistance.
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10-25-12 SIESTA KEY, FL 4 rescued after boat capsizes off Siesta Key heraldtribune.com (10-25-12) Four adults were rescued when their motorboat capsized 4 mi. offshore Thur. (10-25). A friend of one of the boaters called the USCG to alert them about the sinking boat about 3:30 p.m. It took 45 min. for the CG to find the 28-ft. boat, which was quickly filling up with water, because the boaters did not know their GPS coordinates, said Alison Hinton, a firemen from the CG’s station in Cortez. AT&T located the boat’s position, which was off of Siesta Key Beach, so rescuers eventually found them, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Tara Molle. Molle did not know where the boaters were from but said their ages ranged from 40 to 59. The 4 people, who were all wearing lifejackets, were sitting on top of the capsized boat when the CG arrived. Nobody was injured or needed medical attention. “They had no idea how the water was coming in," Hinton said. “We’re still trying to figure out what happened."
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10-25-12 OAK ISLAND, NC No one injured when boat capsized near Oak Island Pier wect.com (10-25-12) A boat has capsized not far from the Oak Island Pier, according to emergency officials. Crews from the Oak Island FD, USCG and Oak Island Water Rescue were dispatched to the scene Thur. (10-25) around 1:30 p.m. Officials said 2 men were on board a 20-ft. Seasport boat. They were riding around and noticed they were taking on water, eventually capsizing and going completely under. According to emergency officials, EMS was cleared by the CG. The CG responded and brought the people on the boat back to the CG station. No injuries were reported.
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10-22-12 PORT HOPE TOWNSHIP, MN 4 teenage hunters rescued from N. Minn. lake after boat capsizes star-tribune.com (10-23-12) Four teenage duck hunters were rescued from a chilly northern Minnesota lake after their boat capsized, Beltrami Co. authorities said Tue. (10-23). The drama unfolded shortly after sunset Mon. (10-22) near Woodhaven Resort on Three Island Lake in Port Hope Township, according to the Sheriff's Office. The hunters were identified as Mitchell Kohler, 19 of Wyoming, Minn.; Collin Johnson, 19, of Forest Lake; Chase Chamberlain, 19, of Forest Lake; and Hunter Smith, 18, of Stacy, Minn. Witnesses at the scene said the hunters had PFDs but were not wearing them when the boat tipped over about 200 yds. from shore, tossing the 4 into 10-12 ft, of water, the Sheriff's Office said. The resort's owner and a bystander headed out in a boat to aid the hunters, followed by rescue personnel from several agencies. Once back at shore, the 4 were treated for exposure.
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10-22-12 OAHU, HI Ala Wai channel stays open as crews salvage sunken sailboat staradvertiser.com (10-25-12) The state began salvage operations Thur. morning to remove the remains of a 25-ft. sailboat that sank earlier this week in the Ala Wai channel near Magic Island. Meghan Statts, Oahu district manager of the Hawaii State Boating Division, said the entire vessel is in pieces. A portion of the mast can be seen above the waves, but it is no longer attached to the boat. Divers on Wed. (10-24) attached a buoy to mark the location of the mast. The channel is open, but boaters and other craft are advised to use caution in the area. Salvage operations, which will involve 3 vessels, should only take a day. The state Dept. of Land and Natural Resources will bill the owner of the vessel — Kevin Ogino — for the salvage effort. The boat was last seen illegally moored off Magic Island Mon. afternoon (10-22).
Statts said the boat's owner had been cited Oct. 18 and was warned that the vessel was going to be impounded because he had failed to pay mooring fees at Keehi Small Boat Harbor.
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10-25-12 PAGE, AZ Fire Destroys Houseboat at Wahweap Marina lakepowelllife.com (10-25-12) Nat’l. Park Service and Page Firefighters responded to a single houseboat fire at “N” Dock at Wahweap Marina after 7 o’clock Thur. morning (10-25). Page Fire Captain Jeff Reed says Page firefighters were dispatched to the busy marina and assisted NPS firefighters who attacked the blaze with a specialized fire boat. Reed says the private houseboat appeared to be a total loss. An adjacent boat suffered exterior damage and was towed clear of the flames by NPS personnel. Reed confirms that Page ambulance did not treat or remove any victims at the scene and the houseboat may have been unoccupied at the onset of the blaze. The origin of the inferno remains under investigation.
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10-25-12 ST. CLAIR SHORES, MI 2 on personal watercraft rescued in Lake St. Clair mlive.com (10-25-12) The USCG says one of its crews helped rescue 2 people who were thrown into Lake St. Clair when their PWC ran aground. The accident happened Thur. afternoon (10-15) in the lake's middle channel. The CG says another vessel radioed the agency's St. Clair Shores station to say that 2 people were aboard and needed medical attention. The CG boat brought the 2 ashore, where they received treatment for minor injuries. They were both wearing life jackets.
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10-24-12 ROCKY POINT, NY 3 NY men rescued after canoe capsizes wsj.com (10-25-12) Three Patchogue men have been rescued after their canoe capsized in the Long Island Sound. The Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau says the men were fishing in a 2-person canoe when it capsized just before 8 p.m. Wed. (10-24). A nearby resident heard the men shouting for help and contacted authorities. The men were found clinging to the canoe, which was floating beneath the water's surface. They were not wearing life jackets and had lost their personal belongings when they fell into the water a few hundred yds. from shore. They were in the water for about 40 min. before being rescued. The 3 are: 2 brothers, 24-y/o Edwin Arevalo and 28-y/o Jose Arevalo, and their friend, 35-y/o Moises Guevara. They were taken to a hosp. and treated for hypothermia.
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10-25-12 SPENCERPORT, NY Man rescued after canoe capsized in Erie Canal whec.com (10-25-12) A man had to be rescued after his canoe capsized in the Erie Canal. Emergency crews were called to the area of Canal Road in Spencerport around 3:00pm for a canoe that overturned in the Erie Canal.
According to Ogden Police, a man was canoeing on the Erie Canal Thur. afternoon (10-25) when his canoe capsized. An Ogden Police officer responded and threw the man a line and pulled him to shore. The man was treated at the scene and released. Emergency crews were concerned about hypothermia but the man was okay.
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10-20-12 SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE, VA Sinking boat call leads to OUI arrest smithmountaineagle.com (10-23-12) No one was injured Sat. night (10-20) when rescue crews on Smith Mountain Lake responded to a call for help from 2 people that ended up in the water after their boat began taking on water. Conservation police officer Nathan Bowling of the Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheris said they responded around 9 p.m. after reports of people screaming in the water. The incident happened near marker R36 in the vicinity of Hannabass Marina and Horseshoe Bend Road. The man and woman were picked up by a passing fisherman and taken to shore. During their investigation the boat’s operator was charged with operating a boat under the influence, said Bowling. He was taken to the magistrate’s office in Bedford Co. and later released. The man told Bowling that their boat had hit something in the water shortly before it began to take on water. Al Busch, deputy chief of the SML Marine Vol. Fire/Rescue said the 19 ft. Glastron boat had significant damage to the transom. Fireboats were able to tow the boat to a nearby dock. Busch said 4 fireboats and the Moneta Rescue Squad responded to the call.
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10-19-12 MELBOURNE, FL Melbourne wedding guests rescue 3 boaters floridatoday.com (10-24-12) Robert Vitaliano was on his way to a wedding reception Fri. (10-19) when something caught his eye at a Front Street dock in Melbourne. “I stepped out of my truck and I heard a bang at the dock,” Vitaliano said. “I look and I think it was a 21-25-ft. bow rider that had struc the dock.” Vitaliano watched as the boat got stuck on the dock but remained in forward gear, the propulsion flipping it end-over-end. “As it went vertical, I was running down to the water’s edge,” he said. “It went straight up and flipped over upside-down.” Vitaliano said he and 6 other wedding guest went to help 3 people thrown out of the boat and 3 others trapped underneath. As a crowd formed, the men picked up the boat enough to allow the people to swim out to shore. “They had no chance of breathing under there,” he said. “They were trapped.” Vitaliano, a Brevard Co. sheriff’s sergeant, said the ordeal was surreal, but he thought he did what anyone would do.
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10-24-12 DIXON, IL Boat stranded close to dam saukvalley.com (10-26-12) Frank Berman saw a pontoon boat in the Rock River late Wed. afternoon (10-24). A person was in the water. At first, Berman, who lives near the river, thought a family was enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. Upon closer inspection, he realized there was a problem. It turned out that the boat’s motor quit working, Dixon Fire Chief Tim Shipman said. There was a man, woman and small child in the boat; she was behind the boat, trying to push it back to the N. shore, while he was paddling. They were 80 yds. from the dam. They made it to shore quickly after near E. Boyd Street, but someone called firefighters, who pulled the boat to a nearby dock. Dixon city and rural FDs helped with the effort. Local firefighters get about 2 such calls a year, Shipman said.
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10-21-12 PORT ORCHARD, WA Boat sinks in Sinclair Inlet while owner is in Kitsap County jail bremertonpatriot.com (10-23-12) A 1964 32-ft. Owens cabin cruiser sank off the shore of Port Orchard over the weekend and officials were hoping to haul it out of the water sometime Wed. (10-24) or Thur. (10-25). Port Orchard PD Commander Geoffrey Marti said Tue. (10-23) that the boat's owner, Steven Holt, is currently incarcerated at the Kitsap Co. Jail. Marti also said that city officials have had problems with the boat in the past. "I'd like to have the boat destroyed, but the owner is not cooperating in waiving his right to the boat so we're gonna have to go through a process to seize the boat," Marti said. Port Orchard police and the DNR were working together to find a contractor to pull the boat out of Sinclair Inlet. "It's one of those things where there's a lot of paperwork involved, but we're working as fast as we can to get the boat out of the water because it is a priority," Marti said. Marti said that there is a sort of silver lining in this case in knowing where the registered owner is, even if he is in county lock-up.
"We do have access to the owner," Marti said. "A lot of times the boats are abandoned. For financial reasons they just abandoned them and rely on local governments to deal with the aftermath and it's a problem." Marti also said that Port Orchard police will be diligent. "Fortunately we don't have a lot of these because we try and stay on top of boats illegally anchoring in the city," he said. "There are some laws to enforce that type of thing but we do run into issues if its' a vessel that's owned by somebody that's Native American. The main thing here is the boat is sunk and it's a priority for us and DNR to take action and we do have the authority to do that under state laws dealing with derelict vessels."
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10-25-12 WEST PALM BEACH, FL Jury convicts Deerfield Beach man of BUI manslaughter sun-sentinel.com (10-25-12) It was shortly after 2 a.m. when Mandy Romeu took the wheel of his 34-ft. powerboat and left the dock along the ICW with passengers Christopher Smith and his older sister, Alexandra Smith, not long after meeting them at a Delray Beach lounge. The May 8, 2010, joy ride was brief and ended tragically, when Christopher, 31, of Boynton Beach, was thrown from the speeding boat and died after it slammed into an unlit USCG daybeacon just S. of the Atlantic Avenue bridge. On Thur. (10-25), a Palm Beach Co. jury decided that Romeu, 44, of Deerfield Beach, was criminally responsible for the crash and death that night on the water. Completing a 4-day trial that included testimony from Alexandra Smith, 38, about the fateful excursion and the events before it, the jury convicted Romeu of one count of BUI manslaughter and one count of vessel homicide. Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp said he will issue a sentence at a date to be determined. He ordered Romeu to be jailed immediately, denying a defense request to keep him free on his $25,000 bond.
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