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boat wreck on Priest yesterday

I don't know the cause in this particular instance but here is something I'm seeing more of. Modern bass boats are equipped with multiple 10-12 inch mapping/sonar units. A lot of guys have 2 units at the console and one up front. It's the equivalent to texting and driving a car IMO. They pay more attention to what's on the screen vs what's around them while boating. Many rely solely on the GPS and lake map function to guide them down a channel vs watching where they are going to see if they are about to run somebody or something over. My dad was idling about 2-3 mph watching his sonar to find fish on a channel ledge and about got us ran over. Hard to get mad at another boater when you are the one zig zagging in a channel lol He was so into his one time watching the side imaging screen that he drove up on a sand bar and beached us. I fished inshore with a guide once and it was really foggy the morning we left and he relied solely on his gps mapping unit to get where we were going. You could barely see from one end of the boat to the other and he was letting that boat rip. I held on and prayed the whole way that some unseen boat or obstacles wasn't in our way.
 
Crow Terminator":3271fbwd said:
I don't know the cause in this particular instance but here is something I'm seeing more of. Modern bass boats are equipped with multiple 10-12 inch mapping/sonar units. A lot of guys have 2 units at the console and one up front. It's the equivalent to texting and driving a car IMO. They pay more attention to what's on the screen vs what's around them while boating. Many rely solely on the GPS and lake map function to guide them down a channel vs watching where they are going to see if they are about to run somebody or something over. My dad was idling about 2-3 mph watching his sonar to find fish on a channel ledge and about got us ran over. Hard to get mad at another boater when you are the one zig zagging in a channel lol He was so into his one time watching the side imaging screen that he drove up on a sand bar and beached us. I fished inshore with a guide once and it was really foggy the morning we left and he relied solely on his gps mapping unit to get where we were going. You could barely see from one end of the boat to the other and he was letting that boat rip. I held on and prayed the whole way that some unseen boat or obstacles wasn't in our way.
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I disagree about scanning. Scanning is done at 4 or 5 MPH. I guess you could run into someone's path at that speed, but you would have to be completely not paying attention.

As far as mapping, I too have seen guys running way too fast at night or in fog following a known track or trail. All it takes is another vessel to be anchored in that path you and you have a huge catastrophe.
 
I found out yesterday that the gentleman that died worked for a friend of mine (for 18+ years) and that I had met him on several occasions (didn't know the last name). It is my understanding that both boats were part of the same weekly night tournament. The investigation is still going on, so I won't comment on what I was told beyond it being a terrible, catastrophic accident.

Prayers for all!
 
It wouldn't even have to be another vessel anchored. Just a vessel stopped in the path. Or a floating log. Anything like that wouldn't be a good situation.

As far as scanning and low speed goes...look at how many vehicle accidents occur in the cities at traffic lights, stop signs, drive thru windows, etc at those same speeds or less. Under 10 mph. Watching their phone vs watching what is around them. Most are just when they rear-end some body but on more than one occasion, they just aren't paying attention and pull out in front of somebody. I watch people on jet skis and wake boats all the time be oblivious to anything or any other vessels in front or to the sides of them. Most on board are watching behind them at the skiers or tubes they are pulling. Getting distracted and not paying attention is too common for most on the water.
 
I believe it. I was at pickwick this weekend and this moron was in front of us , in the no wake zone , but still. Literally going in circles with his face buried in his phone. He ended up in front of this huge yacht coming in and he blew his train horn at him ! He was oblivious to his surroundings. Middle aged family man in a cobalt ski boat.
 
scn":1iuo6nlj said:
I found out yesterday that the gentleman that died worked for a friend of mine (for 18+ years) and that I had met him on several occasions (didn't know the last name). It is my understanding that both boats were part of the same weekly night tournament. The investigation is still going on, so I won't comment on what I was told beyond it being a terrible, catastrophic accident.

Prayers for all!
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Dang sorry to hear that man. :(
 
It was around the Hobson Pike bridge that I've gone under a zillion times. Its wide there so who knows what happened. My guess would be coming from opposite directions and didn't see each other due to the bridge pillars and then bam but that's strictly a guess. They shut the bridge down in both directions for a while. Sad deal for sure and prayers for all.

Years ago my granddad and his buddy were fishing in January on Priest and they weren't doing any good and joking about how a bird that just snatched a fish was doing better than them. His buddy was driving and he was sitting on the left side perpendicular to his buddy driving. A guy came around the corner and t-boned them knocking my granddad and the other driver from the boats. Pap had a goose down jacket on and said he's never been so cold in his life. Turns out the other guy was turned around messing with his motor and not paying attention to where he was going. He missed hitting my granddad straight in the back by a few feet max. His back was black and blue as if he had been hit by it.
 

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