Near drownings in Maine lake yesterday!

[Treerider]

I post this as a public service to all boaters! Most of us take for granted safety on a nice day while out trolling or otherwise fish or boating but a good day can go to hell pretty damned fast! This is a true story as I wrote it after living it yesterday evening! I'll copy it as I sent it via email last night to friends and family.
"
Last night about 7:30 as we ate dinner at Lanny's place on XXXX pond we heard some voices from the lake, since we had not seen another boat all weekend we got up to look, it was a canoe, Lanny had a spotting scope already set up so we had a look at them, appeared to be an older couple, the guy in front was pointing toward shore. The woman in back was sitting up high facing the rear running the trolling motor . We laughed cause it sounded like they were arguing. As we stood there contemplating going fishing we looked at the canoe again and it was going bow up stern down as in SUNK ! We jumped in my boat and took off for them, as we approached we saw them clinging to the stern of the now overturned canoe, the trolling motor still running in full speed with the prop just churning below the surface, it was making the canoe do 360's and already they were in trouble. As we got up close the woman's face went under twice, the guy pulling her face back above the surface. A look of panic I've never seen before! the man was struggling to keep the trolling motor from hitting them and keep her afloat. We tossed a rope and got them reeled in and safely clinging to my boat. Next we got "Richard" over the gunwale but "Lisa" was too weak to get over so we got her forward and Lanny and Richard clung to her and we motored slowly to Lanny's.
As couple walked up to shore they burst into tears hugging each other realizing how close they had been to drowning! Pam and Carolyn wrapped them in blankets to warm the couple and
Lanny and I went to the retrieve the canoe and other flotsam floating about including a cooler and the .....life preservers.
The canoe was still doing 360's overturned with the trolling motor buzzing away. It continued to run till we beached it.
The couple said another minute or two and they would have drowned as neither was strong enough to swim the 1/2 mile to shore fully clothed.
Moral of this ..... Wear your life jackets!!
The "old pal" aluminum canoe had been repaired repeatedly with some black goo on the transom seam. It started leaking faster and swamped !"
Scary stuff!

Frank C aka treerider

[Resident 2B]

Great job and great message.

[Treerider]

http://youtu.be/kec6d0XqBDc

[jeffk]

Far, far too many people lost to failure to obey this clear and simple rule. In a small boat, no matter how good your boat skills are and how good a swimmer you are, WEAR YOUR LIFEJACKET! Even in a bigger boat in rough weather, wear your life jacket. For kids, IT'S THE LAW!

[Dad sold the C * C]

Originally Posted by Treerider

http://youtu.be/kec6d0XqBDc

WOW!!!! That is scary looking. They are very lucky you and your friends were outside.

[ApS]

A poorly loaded canoe is tippy enough: adding a motor and turning it 90° adds certainty to overturning.

.

[Smith Point]

UPDATE: Dive Crews Find Body of Man Who Went Missing in Orono

JUN 1, 20169:18 AM EDT
CATHERINE PEGRAM
LOCAL NEWS

Dive crews have found the body of a man missing in the Stillwater River in Orono.

Authorities say they located 37-year-old Mohammad T. Jamal, of Massachusetts, Wednesday morning, about 13 to 15 feet off shore.

Jamal last seen about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when the kayak he was in capsized.

Authorities say his 7-year-old niece who was with him was rescued.

The two were near the Steam Plant parking lot on the University Maine campus when their boat flipped.

Jamal’s wife and the girl’s mother were watching from shore.

When emergency responders arrived, the girl, who was wearing her life jacket, was saved.

Jamal, who was not wearing a flotation device, was last seen going under the water.

“I’d like to take the opportunity to remind people it is so extremely important to wear a life jacket when you are in a watercraft. The life jacket no question saved the little girl’s life. She told the fireman that she could not swim. She simply floated with the life jacket that saved her life. It is so very important that people wear life jackets,” said Sgt. Alan Gillis of the Maine Warden Service.

Jamal’s body will now be taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta.

[fatlazyless]

And, as mentioned before, if you don't like to wear a pfd because it is too warm, or gets in the way for paddling, then a super-duper excellent great alternative is the $24.95 brite yellow, or white, old fashioned swimmer's foam belt available at Overton's or locally at www.Parafunalia.com in Gilford.

They work great. They keep you aflloat! They do not get in the way for paddling, and they are much smaller in overall size than a pfd so they do not get too warm to wear.


Wearing a swimmer's belt is probably about ten times better than having a pfd nearby that you do not actually wear......especially when you get flipped into some cold water that is over your head......plus the swimmer's belt is a good aid for actual swimming.....like doing the side stroke, breast stroke, overhand crawl, or backstroke.

If you end up in the water and need to tread water for an extended time, such as for one hour, the swimmers belt can easily be slid from the waist up to the armpits, under your arms, and it makes a huge positive buoyancy difference......like it is actually comfortable to just float there motionless with your head above the water with no addition treading effort on your part. Individual personal buoyancy varies a lot depending on one's body mass index and a swimmer's belt most likely has enough buoyancy to keep you afloat.....plus it provides a high level of confidence in the water so you do not get in a panic or get too tired.

Swimmer's belts build confidence for the tired swimmer, or the non-swimmer.

Could be they should make the swimmer's belt in drab grey, or drab khaki, so it would not look like you are wearing a bright yellow swimmer's belt.

[thinkxingu]

Last week I got a good sense of how difficult it would be to swim when entering frigid water such as that in spring or fall--we went swimming on Saturday, with the temps around 62-65 a couple feet under, and it was tough.