Awesome Session Turned Bad

[rams]

Yesterday after work a friend of mine drove up to Norris Lake to get down on the post Memorial Day conditions. Upon arrival I find my mom, dad, and sister have dropped the boat and had everything ready to roll. A pleasant surprise indeed.

We got under way and I hit the water first to loosen up and dork out. An hour or two went by with my buddy and sister getting some good pulls and everything was laughs and high fives. I was drive for my sister on her second pull when we came around a point and noticed two boats in close proximity. As we came within a few hundred yards we were hailed by an air horn. I stopped the boat, got my sister in the boat and headed over to lend a hand. I noticed that the vibe from the distressed boat was very relaxed so I figured that they had wrapped their tube line the prop; no big deal. I came in next to them and asked what was up.....

A lady answered my query very relaxed and said that her 19 year old cousin fell off the tube and had been under water for 8 minutes. At first, I couldn't understand what she had said mostly due to the fact that if my cousin had been under water for 8 minutes I would be FREAKING.

The rescue squad was called and our position was given. Two more boats came by and each boat began to search different areas around the accident site. The water depth in this area is 186-175 feet so you can imagine the visual search was like looking for a needle in a haystack. After searching for 10-15 mintues we pulled along side the boat to offer any assistance to the now greiving party.

I asked the lady if guy was wearing a life jacket. She said no. I asked her if the guy could swim she said no. I asked her if anyone tired to save him she said no because no one on the boat could swim. She said she saw bubbles in the water so she figured that the guy would pop up at anytime.

The rescue squad showed up and began the recovery effort in the last minutes of day light. We offered our condolences and headed back to the marina and then directly to the closest bar.

The search will continue today as a recovery effort.


Wear your jackets!

Rams

[Phil]

That sucks. But honestly, what the hell were they thinking going on a boat not knowing how to swim and noone wearing life jackets.

[rams]

[Wolf]

That really sucks. But seriously, have a little common sense, wear your jackets, especially if ou don't know how to swim, and ESPECIALLY if your being towed in a tube.

[Commodore]

rams, that will definitely ruin a good day. Sorry man.

Too many people are doing stupid things these days. I hate to say it, but if you don't think about what you are doing, Darwin will take care of the rest.

[rams]

[option21105]

that sucks really bad...but yeah i agree dont go tubing if you cant swim and why would you not wear a jacket?

[Craig-R]

yeah that really does suck but if you cant swim why would u be tubing without a life jacket? thats like skydiving without a parachute

[gene3x]

So none of that story was embellished a little? I find that almost impossible to believe that someone can actually be that dense. Sorry for the callousness but damn! Not one ounce of common sense between anyone on the boat?

Definately a Darwin finalist.

[rams]

[JV]

if it wasn't such a horrible, tasteless joke, i'd almost think the people in the boat made up a story. it's almost too surreal to believe

[rams]

[J_DOGG]

OK the non PC response.

Stupid thing happen to stupid people.....

I have no pity for people like this.

One less chump on the water is good thing IMO.
YES, I may be a dick... you'll get over it....

When people end up dead it's not a good thing but now we just might have a boat load of people that will know better next time.

[atrobbins]

I dont even understand that level of stupidity. sucks you had to come across that situation with nothing that could be done. the feeling of helplessness can almost be as bad as being responsible.

[Tyler T]

I have such a hard time believing that a whole group of people could be that stupid all at once.

I certainly can't believe that everyone could have been so calm about the situation either? Did they think he was just going to float up and hop back in the boat!?!?!

[rams]

[Commodore]

This day and age, the level of stupidity in people never ceases to amaze me.

[dirtysparks]

Kinda sounds like you got a murder on your lake.

A group of people that can't swim generally don't go out on the water together. I know people that can't swim and they don't go near water. Usually people that can't swim don't have a boat....or just decide to rent one...they go out with people that know the water, how to swim, and some concept of drowning. Strange how they just decided to get together for a day on the lake.

[drdubie]

Come live in the south for a while and you see stuff like this all the time. I work in a hospital and have had patients die and the spouse show up 2 days later drunk as hell wondering why there was somone else in the wifes room.

[P-Chick]

It's so odd that they were all so calm. I would be freaking out. Then again, I wouldn't let someone in the water without a life jacket, especially if they didn't know how to swim. What a waste!

[RufioSwashbuckle]

Holy crap man. I actually had just heard about that today at work when a guy told me about it. That really sucks, but I mean, comon, no PFD and not being able to swim? WTF? I dont really know how to feel about it really. I mean losing a part of your family is horrible, but stupid accidents like this shouldnt happen... I wouldnt go so far as to say that they got what they asked for but damn...

[rams]