Very sad

[LOGICAL_PSYCHO]

Man dies trying to get rc boat back from middle of lake.

--article here-- (http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-05-31T134958Z_01_N5U430908_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOAT.xml&archived=False)

[Majortomski]

It is also a shame that the reporter can't get past 'toy' boat.

[Bob D.]

It's also a shame that he wasent running with better friends

[Bob D.]

The famous last words of a redneck......"hay yall ..watch this...."

[Kmot]

Another toy boat punctured the raft, causing it to deflate rapidly, and the 31-year-old victim could not swim, Miami-Dade Police said.



With friends like that, who needs enemies! What a sad story...........

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

I think this is the original article, it is a bit more surreal, as his wife holding their baby daughter witnessed the drowning.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/email/news/breaking_news/14695770.htm

:(

If they were running gas boats, what were they thinking, these things run 30-60mph easy. I have seen video of a model hydro pierce a metal canoe. It is unthinkable that they would not stop a moment to let someone recover a boat.
Our combat boats go nowhere near that fast, but we shoot ball bearings. I have been hit plenty of times just standing on shore, but if anyone has to go out to recover a boat, ALL the other players cease fire and move to neutral corners during the recovery. In other words we all stop and wait till the recovery is complete.

[Shaun Hendricks]

This is beyond sad, it's tragic. Any loss of life, so preventable, is totally tragic.

It takes an entire chain of events to lead up to an accident like this (and I'm very cautious in applying accident to this event. At the very least it borders on negligence.)


Racing boats were on the water without a proper recovery craft. Given the odds of a boat stalling or rolling, this is not too smart.
All boat (racing) traffic was not stopped when the recovery began. Even with high performance aircraft, you normally clear the skies prior to letting someone wander out to get a downed plane. Only on car tracks do I really see a 'race' continuing and they have track crew that know the risks of being around high speed vehicles. At the least, the cars slow down near 'wrecks'.
I don't think I'd use a wal-mart style inflatable dinghy to go get a boat, but this is a very minor preference. I guess whatever works. A pool is the place for this kind of vessel IMHO.
The boater clearly could not swim and wasn't wearing a lifevest. This is a violation of most boating laws and not very smart on the groups behalf. A good swimmer should've gone out. It's possible to fall out of those little boats while leaning over to recover the RC boat.
Nobody on shore heard the cries for help? No designated lifeguard present? I certainly hope this wasn't a club!


Please, let's make something positive come out of this tragedy. If you are in a club or just out on your own, make all possible safety arrangements to retrieve your boats. Nobody goes in or on the water without all aspects of safety being looked at. Make it part of your club charter if need be. This fellow RC boater died for no reason at all. Maybe we can make it a reason if we all learn from it. Please... be safe! :(

[spiffy_spaceguy]

So why was the boat pointy enough to pucture such a raft anyway? I know that my boats would bounce/shatter upon hitting a medium/large boat.

[Boathead]

That is not the first time that has happened. It is a shame that they didn't stop the race. :mad: You know they are all hating life right now. :(

Someone should build a hands free recovery boat!!

[charge1(ds)]

I think if your gonan go out you should take a flaoting fortress or something to that effect. I am reurprise if there was any group larger than 3 they should providing the rest knew how to swim at tleast drag him to shore quickyl enough to save him. They must have very shallow vee's with sharp tips. Most boats would deflect. WE really need to impress the fact upon people to figre out a better way. THe nearest 2 lakes by me are both have boats that are made for recreation on the lake. SIt in type so if I go at the open running times I can easily use the boats and go retrieve it. Or better eyt run my boat from the rec. boat.

[Old 8140]

A tunnell hull would do it in a heart beat!! :eek:

As boathead said "You know they are all hating life right now."

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

It was a vinyl inflatable raft, drag it across the concrete, and it will most likely spring an air leak. This was hit by a high speed model.

Justaddwata posted this image over at RCuniverse.

[CG Bob]

Adding to Shaun's coments, I bet none of the people involved belonged to one of the model boat sanctioning groups. Since they were racing, they should have been following the guidelines from IMPBA (http://www.impba.net/), NAMBA (http://www.namba.com/content/default.asp), or APBA (http://www.apba-racing.com/categories.html). Scale boaters should look to the SSMA (http://www.ssmana.org/). Sailboaters have AMYA (http://www.amya.org/).

Whenever I sell a boat in the hobby shop where I work, I always ask the customer how they plan to retrieve a stalled boat. About half say they'll swim after it. I usually recommend the tennis or rubber ball on the end of a fishing reel.

[charge1(ds)]

Umi the only good thing about that boat is that it stayed there keeping the hole plugged. How bought a strong magnet mounted in the nose and a fishing rod setu p with a magnet ina floating ball. Just work on your fishing while you retrieve your boat.

[Ghost 2501]

a few months ago, espirit spat its prop and i had to wade in to retrieve her, and bearing in mind this was in the uk, so waters were not warm, the moment the water was up to my waist i felt the cold sucking all of my body heat.

what probably caused the guy to drown is cold shock brought on by the water temperature, made worse by the fact that he cant swim.

btw yes i did get espirit back

my condolencies go out to the family concerned if they ever read this.

[LtDoc]

It sounds a little 'hard hearted', but what it boils down to is lack of thought and carelessness. Sorry 'bout that, but it's true.
- 'Doc

[Anton70]

What a tragic occurance. Particularly due to the apparant negligence of the other racers??? However, I find it hard to believe there are people who can't swim, I suppose there are billions it all depends on your location and accessability to water.

I know I was a strong swimmer when I was 5 years old (1975) and now my 4 yo son is a great swimmer now. However we live near the beach and take lessons.

I wouldn't get in a raft though if I knew I couldn't swim.

[CG Bob]

what probably caused the guy to drown is cold shock brought on by the water temperature, made worse by the fact that he cant swim. The guy who drowned was in Miami, Florida. At this time of year, the Miami area has air temperatures of 70-80 degrees F. Water temp was probably around 55-60 degrees. Cold shock didn't kill him.

[Shaun Hendricks]

Without being there, none of us could know the specifics since we haven't had an eye-witness (for as good as those are) reports of the incident. I'm with CG Bob, water temp (hypothermia) is probably out of the question at those temps. He could've gotten tangled in the deflating raft, could've been knocked cold by the RC boat that collided... dozens of possibilities. In the end, a lifevest and designated lifeguard would've probably prevented the drowning. Proper safety precautions and some common sense would've prevented the accident- period.

I feel deeply sorry for the mother and child that will not have their husband and father around now. I feel sorry for the friends and comrades that had to witness such an event. I feel sorrow for the driver of the boat that hit the inflatable... he/she has got to be feeling emotions (thankfully) few of us will ever feel. Many hobbies have danger factors to them, but RC stuff can normally be mitigated. This is just awful. My condolences to all involved.

[Bob Tewart]

This was a tragedy that could have been prevented with a little thought. I have seen a set of plans for a recovery boat on one of the many websites I have searched. It was basically a towboat hull with two arms in front about two feet apart. There was a submerged net between the arms that could be raised a bit to support the disabled craft. Not pretty but it would do the job.

If I can find the link again I will post it.

[HorribleHarry]

This was even reported on the Los Angeles local news radio stations...
I agree, the "toy" comments are disturbing.

BTW It's called a rescue boat....

file this one under "the darwin files"
His Horribleness,
Harry

[more coffee]

i agree the word toy in this case denotes the the underlying fact that these boats can produce horse power.to an untrained eye and again through the eyes of an uninterested party its a toy.
however. such incidents are rare (i hope) and it was a smack between the eyes for alot of people.a lesson learned.
but keep in mind that a scale ship ,nitro v or otherwise, you have to admit are probably one of the last few hobbies where you dont have to have a liability policy or other documents and licensing to enjoy. the major majority of us run in the honour system where its the comradery that binds the group.this is our insurance policy against injury or otherwise.
my point is ,that as horrific as what played out was let the media call them toys. if the details are to be known ,people that dont know what their looking at or talking about will begin to make decisions that well affect us in much different ways. the biggest that i can see are licensing and insurance.
in todays world of pointing fingers and ridiculous legal suits, its not hard to imagine the next step.

[JROD]

that is very sad, but if anyone needs advice on retrieving a boat i have a great suggestion that has always worked for me. i have one of those rc hovercrafts(Taiyo edge, not too expensive, not hobby quality) and it works great. seeing as it can go over any submerged obstacle that may have stopped a boat. all i do is drive it out and push it against the side of the boat and push it to shore. the air cushion conforms to the boat and holds it real well. i would recomend it as it is also fun to drive! lol

[Ron Olson]

Some people have completely missed the pint here. This site is used by a club and there was a retrieve boat that is kept there for club use only. This was not a race but just some people using the site ot run their boats. Why the others continued to run their boats while he was on the water, I don't know as it wasn't too bright on their part.
this was the second death that I know of this past year that was R/C boat related. Another was the death of a 9 year-old swimming in a river in the northern part of Puerto Rico. An R/C boater was running his boat around swimmers when his 36" boat (unknown brand) impaled the child in the chest, killing him immediately.
People need to use some sense when running their boats. Use the basic guidelines that the sanctioning bodies have when running at any time.

[killick]

Just because R/C Boats are found under Toys and Hobbies on eBay doesn't mean they can't be dangerous. Too bad some people don't know enough to show them the "respect" would show R/C Airplanes.....