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Thoughts and prayers to the families.

Real bad week. Friday a friend of ours wife went out fishing by herself, she was not home when he arrived after work. He went out in his other boat and found her drownd next to their fishing boat.

Very sad
Rest in peace

Very sad RIP

this was my close friend that got killed in this tragedy. im trying to find closure and just need to know answers. omerta your the first person that i know outside parties involved who witnessed. she was a very good person and wonderful mother of two.... trying to find strength in a very difficult time.... RIP Crystal Gudde, you will always be in my thoughts and prayers and missed by many.

Most sincere condolences to you and all of her family and friends. Know that all of us feel sorrow and grief when something like this happens and our hearts feel heavy for all of you.
:(

Condolences to family and friends.

I'm sorry for your loss but I did not witness...that quote is from

http://midwestboatparty.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=27104

Post #8

Kriss, I am very sorry for your loss it's sad when someone so young, with so much to live for meets with such a terrible accident. I feel so bad for her family and friends. Hopefully you will be able to provide some comfort to her children during this time.

Forgive me, I don't mean any disrespect for your friend but this incident brings to light a pet peeve of mine regarding safety when docking offshore boats. Many drivers seem to feel that it is necessary for a passenger to be on the bow or engine cover when docking. Perhaps in Crystal's memory some might rethink this.

We do a lot of group events where we raft off or dock against a sea wall, Ian is good at docking and for safety reasons he prefers that I stay in the cockpit with a line attached to the middle cleat and a longer one in my hand. Most of the other boaters have their women walking on the front of the bow ready to throw a line. I can tell that sometimes people are pizzed that I am not up on the bow ready to catch or throw the rope, while I realize it is important not to dent and scratch the boats I also feel limbs and lives are more important. This past week, we pulled up to the sea wall at Put In Bay, it was a bit windy and the nose blew slightly out, no biggie they have dock hands to help. After the boat was secure, the dock hand sarcastically says "normally we like to have the bow secured first". So I guess he meant that while Ian was jockeying the boat from forward to reverse I should have climbed up on the dash, gone over the windshield, and then walked or crawled foreward about 20' on a uneven bow to attach the line to the bow cleat, just to make sure our nose did not blow out a little.

So if you see me or someone else in the cockpit with lines in hand while a boat is in gear approaching a dock or a raft off, don't think we are lazy or don't know what we are doing, instead think of this thread and the two motherless children.

Once again so sorry for your loss, may Crystal rest in peace. Donna