Powerboat Smashes Fishermen

[senormechanico]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRpeOuBk5yQ

for those who missed the original link

[Adelie]

From other sources I read that the skipper was sitting at the helm and couldn’t see over the bow.

I also read that he has a disability that prevents him from standing much.

[IslandHopper]

Post #5......

Originally Posted by Fiveslide

Article below says the skipper uses a motorized scooter to get around on land, standing might have prevented the collision but may not have been possible for the gentleman.

Fisherman caught on video jumping into water to avoid death sues boat driver | OregonLive.com

Clatsop County sheriff’s deputies accused boat driver Marlin Lee Larsen of several crimes after the 75-year-old told investigators he couldn’t see where he was driving because he was sitting down and the dash of his boat was blocking his view. Larsen said he probably should have been standing, according to the sheriff’s report, which notes Larsen uses a motorized scooter to get around on land.

Larsen’s son-in-law, who also was on the boat, told investigators that he had warned his father-in-law to pay attention, that he sometimes sees his father-in-law using his cell phone while driving the boat and that his father-in-law had been off-and-on his cell phone the morning of the crash, according to the sheriff’s report.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Adelie

From other sources I read that the skipper was sitting at the helm and couldn’t see over the bow.

I also read that he has a disability that prevents him from standing much.

NO excuse. He needs someone else driving that tub.

[AKA-None]

Well maybe after the lawsuit he won't need to worry about driving anything except his scooter.

[danielamartindm]

One of the most outrageous things I've ever seen. I hope the driver of that power boat is not afforded any leniency by the courts because of a "disability."

[arsenelupiga]

please do not preach again what are american standards for sea safety or anything to do with the sea.

they dont work and are waste of time.

[Miz Pea]

Here is the original news report published immediately after the crash. It fills in a few more details:

Man cited after boat crash near Hammond

Incident happened Saturday
By Jack HeffernanThe Daily Astorian

Published on August 14, 2017 5:21PM



A man was cited for three counts of fourth-degree assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly colliding his fishing boat with another vessel Saturday morning on the Columbia River near Hammond.


Marlin Larsen, 74, was driving a fiberglass 31-foot Bayliner Trophy up river with two other passengers — Adam Forrester, 20, and Timothy Forrester, 52 — just after 8:30 a.m. It then collided with an aluminum 20-foot Weldcraft, soon after that boat’s operator — Christopher McMahon, 45 — and two passengers — Bryan Maess, 47, and Roni Durham, 57 — jumped into the river to avoid the impact.


McMahon and the two passengers had been trolling for salmon. Boaters in the area pulled them from the river as the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Coast Guard responded. All three were treated for minor injuries at Columbia Memorial Hospital.


Larsen is a Roseburg resident who owns the Harborview Resort in Hammond. Prior to Saturday’s incident, he had been cited for speeding in Oregon eight times since 1983.


The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the incident.

[GTom]

This story made me rethink to buy a 15t steel boat instead of the regular plastic...

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

please do not preach again what are american standards for sea safety or anything to do with the sea.



they dont work and are waste of time.

Care to elaborate?

[denverd0n]

Just to toss a little gas onto the fire here...

My guess is that a maritime court would find the folks in the fishing boat to also be partially responsible for the collision. Why? Because if they had been keeping a better lookout, they might have noticed that boat bearing down on them much sooner, and been able to move to avoid the collision. Or at least have had time to get a proper signalling device (did they even have one on-board?) to blow five loud blasts (which, of course, they never did).

I doubt that the people on the fishing boat would be assigned very much of the blame. Probably something like 10% of the responsibility, maybe even less. But since both boats bear the responsibility to avoid a collision, the responsibility is almost always split between the two boats involved. It is remarkably rare -- even in a case as egregious as this one -- that one boat is assigned 100% of the responsibility for the collision.

In a civil court, of course, the rules are different. Larsen deserves to lose big-time, and I hope it costs him enough that he will never again be able to operate a boat!

[waterdog]

Originally Posted by Lihuedooley77

Delancy,



Also, no life jackets on the fishermen that we could observe, lots of clothes and boots, that would pull them down.

This is a myth. The first excercise of the pool portion of a safety at sea course I did was jumping in the water with weather gear">foul weather gear and boots on. They help flotation. You do not get dragged down. My feet bobbed to the surface. Air trapped in coats keeps you floating.

[GTom]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Just to toss a little gas onto the fire here...

My guess is that a maritime court would find the folks in the fishing boat to also be partially responsible for the collision. Why? Because if they had been keeping a better lookout, they might have noticed that boat bearing down on them much sooner, and been able to move to avoid the collision. Or at least have had time to get a proper signalling device (did they even have one on-board?) to blow five loud blasts (which, of course, they never did).

I doubt that the people on the fishing boat would be assigned very much of the blame. Probably something like 10% of the responsibility, maybe even less. But since both boats bear the responsibility to avoid a collision, the responsibility is almost always split between the two boats involved. It is remarkably rare -- even in a case as egregious as this one -- that one boat is assigned 100% of the responsibility for the collision.

In a civil court, of course, the rules are different. Larsen deserves to lose big-time, and I hope it costs him enough that he will never again be able to operate a boat!

Are fishing boats required to carry foghorns in the area? Even then, judging from the video they didn't have much time to sound a horn, it happened in less than 10 seconds.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by GTom

Are fishing boats required to carry foghorns in the area? Even then, judging from the video they didn't have much time to sound a horn, it happened in less than 10 seconds.

A foghorn? No. But every vessel is required to have a way of "making an efficient sound signal." I think there are very few situations where the Coast Guard would consider shouting "HEY!" as meeting the requirements. Certainly not in this case.

And, yes, in the video they didn't have much time. That's kind of my point. They were all paying attention to their fishing, would be my guess. Only when the boat was already pretty close did the video even start. I suspect that the Coast Guard would say, "If you had been keeping a proper look-out, you would have seen the boat earlier, and had more time." Just because you are fishing, that does not relieve you of the requirement to maintain a proper look-out.

As I said before, I have read of cases that were pretty much just as egregious as this one, and yet some percentage of blame was STILL assigned to the boat that got run over. In all of those cases, that I'm aware of, the failure to maintain a proper look-out was mentioned as a reason for putting some of the blame on the "victim" boat.

And let me be clear. I am not saying that I think the fishing boat was to blame in this case. Nor am I asserting that the Coast Guard would surely assign the fishing boat any significant portion of the blame. I'm just saying that I have read of cases similar enough to this one that it seems POSSIBLE that the fishing boat might be considered partly to blame. I don't know. We have only one video, from one perspective. I have not seen any results of a Coast Guard investigation into this, and I'm not sure that there ever will be one. I'm just tossing this out as food for thought.

[senormechanico]

If I were the judge, it would be 99.999999999999999999999999999999% idiot BAYLINER,
0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000001% fishermen.

And fishermen are my biggest PITA when I'm sailing.