Important service announcement about swimming after your boat....

Morning everybody :tiphat: ,

This was posted by Rob Johnson on the r/c boat page on Facebook. I thought I would pass the message along as fall is upon us. Thanks :tiphat:

Just thought that I would put this out there as a public service announcement and a reminder to you all to practice safe boat retrieval methods if you break down in the water.
On Saturday, my dear cousin Isaac passed away after swimming out to retrieve his stalled boat in a pond. The water was cold, something went wrong and he never made it back. He was a good swimmer, a former surfer, had swam in the same pond to pull boats out but something happened on Saturday and he left us unexpectedly. He leaves behind a wife and 2 kids and it's been extremely tough on all of us.
Please, if you are taking your boat out, have a back up plan for getting it if it gets stuck. Now that this has happened, I have read of many other instances just like this one. Have a blow up raft, a life preserver or some type of floating device with you so that you know for sure that you'll make it back to shore. Sorry for the glum story, may you all be safe out there!

Very sad, thanks for the reminder. There have been many threads on this topic posted on OSE (and elsewhere) yet some still think it is just fine to swim for their toy boat. To them I say 'it's your life', but with so many deaths resulting from swimming after toy boats it is simply stuipid behavior. Like waterskiing without a PFD or not wearing seatbelts in a car - stupid. But then you can't fix stupid......


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Sadly, Jay is right.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-b...-8-2011-a.html


I am going to leave this thread as is for now but eventually move it to the "safe boating discussion thread".

Sorry to hear of the tragedy. My condolences to you and your family. It is too often that we cherish our boats too much and forget that they are merely just toys. I hope this sad tragedy can at least make others aware and save lives in the future

My condolences.

Sad, but it still happens unfortunately.

Anyone here who thinks their life is worth a few hundred dollars....how about a few thousand dollars...please raise your hand. :Shame_on_You:

Tragic, very sorry for his/your loss.

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Reason I bought a kayak.

Sad news


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Originally Posted by Luck as a Constant

Reason I bought a kayak.

Sad news


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And reason a life jacket will be coming with the kayak as the water gets cooler.....

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Originally Posted by kevinpratt823

And reason a life jacket will be coming with the kayak as the water gets cooler.....

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Yesway
Def a good idea


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QUOTE=Fluid;592699tery sad, thanks for the reminder. There have been many threads on this topic posted on OSE (and elsewhere) yet some still think it is just fine to swim for their toy boat. To them I say 'it's your life', but with so many deaths resulting from swimming after toy boats it is simply stuipid behavior. Like waterskiing without a PFD or not wearing seatbelts in a car - stupid. But then you can't fix stupid......


.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, as the band Suicidal Tendencies put it, Gotta Kill Capn' Stupid :thumbup: .

I know its bad and all but damn. It seems like a 50/50 shot each time you flip that coin and go out swimming after your boat as wwhether you make it back or not. that's one coin toss I'm not willing to gamble on....

Very sad and disturbing to read something like this.
It is very hard to resist the temptation though, been there myself, my only salvation was that I knew I am not a good swimmer and therefore I did not venture to go after the boat, but watching it stranded in the middle of the lake is excruciating, none the less.
We def need to remind each other that these tragedies do indeed happen.

Very sad news. Going after a boat is just not worth it.


I will swim only if well prepared for the conditions. That means wetsuit and free diving gear at a minimum. I was looking at a very long hike a few weeks ago when a boat flipped and I didn't have my gear with me. Fortunately a couple fisherman came by in a boat and saved me from a long hot walk.

Sad for sure, I've read more of these stories than I wish to... Even a john boat can be a little too tippy espacially for us bigger guys. I built our club a purpose built recovery boat, this was the first time out with it, I've since put steering on it and a higher thrust motor. now anybody can drive it and it's pretty much untipable, also I've figured out it's much easier to run over the boat in between the pontoons to pick it up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg15...4Q-xrOOtP2C-8w

I ran my boat yesterday and was maybe ankle deep in the water to launch it. It was definitley frigid, I couldn't imagine trying to swim in any water this late in the year up here in the midwest, people can be crazy.

A very tragic story. Everyone needs to upgrade their retrieval equipment. For the price of an RC boat, $450, I bought the 8 foot aluminum boat below. It included a new Minn Kota trolling motor, battery, oars, 2 seats and life jackets. It fits in the back of any truck. It also fits inside an enclosed trailer.
Be safe, Allen

How sweet is that!

Yep very sad to hear this.

I bought a H/K Swamp Dawg for $50 or around that. Added a cheap $20 radio and a ESC. All up under $100 for a retrieval boat .

So what happened the other day my mate came and picked me up unexpected to go for a run at a dam that he found and his rigger stopped half way out. He just swam a 1/4 way out on the previous run and he was so knackered I said I will go out as I forgot my recovery boat. When I got to the stranded boat I was so stuffed and had the return swim too go. I eventually made it but I was so out of breath for the next 20 min or so and couldn't believe I did that. I really struggled and thoughts flashed through my mind that I wasn't going to make it. This was in a nice warm water dam too...

I knew this was not a good idea but I still did it..

SO SO SO flipping stupid I was.:doh:

Total bummer.

I haven't needed it in a couple seasons but I have a blow up raft that has cloth wrapped rubber floats. I think it was a $100 maybe. Worth every penny.

Doug, please leave this right where it is. We've all read stories like this......"good swimmer lost retrieving a toy". Every couple years there's another. Maybe if we leave this at the top of the forum guys will read it and be smarter.

They're pricey guys but they're still toys.............remember?............fer fun.

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Originally Posted by T.S.Davis

Doug, please leave this right where it is. We've all read stories like this......"good swimmer lost retrieving a toy". Every couple years there's another. Maybe if we leave this at the top of the forum guys will read it and be smarter.

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:iagree:

My state lost a swimmer to the pond monster last year.. his boat stopped, so out he waddled, waded then swam to fetch it back.... less than 100' ft from shore, but he failed to return.
Police divers returned them both to shore.
:sad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOLKc9r9QqUI use this. Never been swimming for a boat. Up close we use a tennis ball on a fishing pole. Stiff bass pole so you can get the tennis ball way out there,

Wahoo, I never noticed it until now but I didn't realize you guys hooked me up with my first sticky, Thanks :tiphat:

Sorry too, this is the reality that doesn't sink in till too late. Years ago My boat split open early spring and I jumped in and got it fine, but once you got it as stated before, the weight sinking boat drags you down. Then adrenaline wears off once you reach boat cuz you think worse is over cuz you got it. But then you realize you gotta get back to shore boats pulling you down and now start shivering uncontrollably. About time started to sink my head went under, feet hit ground giving shot of adrenaline to walk outta lake and stumble on ground and start running laps around lake to warm up....
Don't do it guys it's not worth and I'm lucky enough to tell you first hand. I though because I took James Bond showers and flick it to cold and can stand there for minutes made it ok to swim out there. But that wasn't case. Because I wasn't warmed up prior and only had shorts on.
So if anybody in Nepa area needs boat recovery pm summer or winter as im actually a lisenced diver don't do it yourself. Even with thickest neoprene there a lot more than water temp to worry about when diving or swimming in lakes even worse rivers...
Now ever time I run at lake a take kayak and basic free dive gear bag just incase

You never think it can happen to you right? this is a real sad story, makes you think more.....
Im new to boating since a few years now, I had to go into real dirty pond to get my boat that flipped one time, where I had to swim around a dead seagul to get "capsized". It was very unsanitary and possibly fatal.
It was my last time doing it, till a friend of mine showed me his invention.
It was a heavy foamball, the size of a tennis ball, with a fishing line thru the center attached to a fishing reel ( I used a spiderman kids fishing rod from Walmart and cut the rod off completely) where he could throw the ball past the boat and then snag the fishing line in the rudder and reel it to shore. As a rule we always ran our boats, where we most likely in a throwing range. Right hand laps close to shore. Race circuit... This ball and reel has worked for me flawlessly upon flips, plz spread the word captians!!!

God, so sorry to hear such tragic lost. I did it a couple times out here in socal, guess I would never do it again.