Breakwaters, boats & alcohol- dangerous & costly



Station Manistee, May 04, 2002. The ringing telephone jarred Coast Guardsman Chris Bouchard awake. His eyes travel to a nearby clock, it was 2:30 a.m. A weather call he thought. A moment later he was running for the motor lifeboat. The telephone call had come from a boater claiming his boat had slammed into the Manistee South Breakwater.

Within minutes, the 47-foot motor lifeboat was standing off the Manistee Breakwater Light. The 22-foot boat, however, was not on the seaward side of the breakwater as first reported, but on the inside. “The man was standing on the breakwater holding a cell phone in one hand and in the other a bow line to the boat, which was rapidly taking on water. The boat rolled over before we could take action,” said Bouchard.

The Manistee police and paramedics soon arrived and attended to the 36-year-old male on the breakwater. According to them, the man thought his boat was on the south side of the breakwater. The fact he blew a .16 on the breathalyzer helped explain his confusion.

Soon after first light the Coast Guard understood why the boater seemed confused. “Early that morning I went out with a couple of guys to check the capsized boat to make sure it was still tied off to the breakwater. A man fishing near the boat asked me if the guy survived the jump,” said Bouchard who looked at the fisherman then his mates in disbelief. The fisherman pointed to an oil and fiberglass trail that streaked across the cement breakwater revealing the path the 22-foot boat had taken. “We were in shock regarding this impossible feat,” said Bouchard.

Shock was my reaction too when Bouchard told me the story that morning. I had to see for myself and sure enough I too found it mind boggling. The speeding boat struck a two-foot wide riprap with a slight incline that acted like a ramp propelling it over the entire seawall. Had the boat hit a foot or two right or left of that small flat riprap it might have been fatal. Of the thousands of squared ripraps stones that lace the 1700-foot long vertical seawall, he hits one with an upward slope.

In my twenty years of conducting search and rescue on Lake Michigan, I’ve responded to and know of dozens of seawall collisions, but never one that found a boat clearing the entire seawall. The odds of that happening again would defy Las Vegas odd makers. Yet, not only did it happen again, it happened on Manistee’s South Breakwater a month later and within yards of the previous collision. That boat was also 22-feet in length.

On Jun 21, 2002, a Coast Guard crew aboard a 21-foot rescue boat while conducting training with a Coast Guard helicopter off the Manistee Harbor around 11 p.m. heard a collision like sound. Within moments they were along side a 22-foot cabin cruiser, rapidly taking on water alongside the South Breakwater Light. They transported the two occupants- a husband and wife- to a nearby boat ramp where emergency personnel waited. Both refused medical treatment.

The Manistee police took the 42-year-old male into custody for operating a boat while intoxicated. His blood alcohol count was .14. The Coast Guard returned to the floundering boat and towed it to the boat ramp.

The boat had struck a wedge-shaped riprap that propelled it over the seawall. That v-shaped riprap lay on the other side of the seawall almost in line with the flat one the boater had struck a month earlier.

Luck, however, does have its limits. That same night a 22-foot boat collided with Muskegon’s North Breakwater. The people aboard were less fortunate. Although the 21 year-old male operator escaped injury, his 19-year-old female passenger suffered facial injuries. “When I arrived on scene I could see her lower teeth had been knocked out, and she was complaining of shoulder pain,” said Coast Guardsman Allan Hasford. The crew raced the victims to Coast Guard Station Muskegon where paramedics transported the injured woman to Hackley Hospital in Muskegon. Authorities took the boater into custody for operating a boat while intoxicated. His blood alcohol count was .138. When the CG crew returned to the boat, it had already sunk.

Gary Berdinski, head of the Muskegon County Sheriff Marine division said: “A motorist wouldn’t race along a dark country road at night without head lights. Well it’s no different for boaters and they don’t carry headlights. If you can’t see beyond your bow bring back the throttles, especially in dark waters and near structures. “

Ignoring Gary’s advice could find a boater reaching for the billfold. Boat damage, equipment lost, salvage fees, court fines, federal fines and insurance rate hikes: it could be costly enough to sway any sensible boater to cork the bottle.

Probably the most over looked, yet more painful of these is insurance. Wayne Comstock of Wolverine Mutual, whose company insures a large number of recreational watercraft in Michigan and Indiana said: “If a boater is found guilty of operating a boat while intoxicated and is involved in an accident, we will cancel their insurance.”

I asked Wayne what would a new premium cost a boater. “Well, if he can find an insurer, the policy coverage will be limited and their monthly premium cost will be around what they were paying annually before.”

It could even be worse- if a boater fails to find an insurer, and the boat is financed through a lender they can demand the loan be paid in full unless proof of insurance is provided.

Boat Smart, take out the best insurance policy of all and it’s free- boat sober.

Originally posted by CAP071
is it legal to run a boat at night with the running light's on , but also with a 1,000,000,000 candle power spot light on shining in front of you as you putt-putt along ?