Tragic to watch, knowing that it sinks and folks die.

You may be right. Near hurricane winds (70mph) when they debarked. Poor decision from the outset.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/21/do ... -ntsb.html


Edited -Deleted other comments.

I grew up on sail boats and have owned a couple myself.
First thing the skipper does before departing the dock is listen to the NOAA weather channel for an updated forecast.
They do it every time before a fishing charter boat heads out.

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That quote right there could be very damning.

Tragic all around no matter who or what you blame.

I rode one in Boston on the Charles River. I think that will be the only time I take my kids on one. With traffic you can barely drive above 20mph and the river isn't wide enough for waves to whip up like that.

Profit vs. common sense. People thinking they don't want to lose their ticket price even though it's bad weather. Captain not wanting to lose his tip money even when he knows it's a bad day to sail.

All that aside Rencorp is right, ride the ducks or ride in your car today. Which is more dangerous? We all know the answer to that question.

Rencorp and Sinus are right in the grand scheme.

How many times have you driven, taken that flight, or sealed other deals with dodgy weather or situations... life is full of risks.

The passengers saw heavy winds apparently before the boat set sail. Most had access to the same weather reports on cell phones and could apparently see/feel big winds. Nobody forced the adults on the boat. Could have just surrendered ticket or asked for a refund and canceled and ate the cost. Plenty of blame to go around.

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I'm not knowledgeable on boats or these amphibious vehicles, but it seems that they don't do either water or land particularly well. Sort of a not-very-good do-all. Great for military, but not so good for civilians.

Why wouldn't a company instead just have a normal tour bus, and then a normal boat?? Seems that would be far more logical.

Have passengers simply move from boat to bus....

I guess the novelty of it is a lure, but still... I've never been on one nor have I had any interest because they just don't seem very safe.

The "Ride the Ducks" is a company, out of Georgia I believe, that bought all the WWII surplus landing craft, rebuilt and modernized them, and sells franchises around the country who operate them. The Georgia company does the heavy maintenance on them. Seattle's franchise is (was?) owned by a guy named Brian Tracey, who was one of the early successful guys on Evening Magazine of a previous generation.

The technology is WWII. They were designed to drop from a troop ship run troops into shore and into war. Once. This Georgia company made it into a fun way as a tourist to see a city or area that has water. In flat water like Lake Union, or Branson, in normal weather, they run fine. There are design problems making them hard to handle in cities, like drivers not being able to see corners in traffic, stuff like you would expect using a 75 year old technology today.

But that hull wasn't designed for abnormally rough water. Again, watch the video and see that little deep-V hull bob like a cork and stay dry. The duck boat had many tons of axles and wheels to keep it from bobbing like the other boat, or even like an aluminum boat. It was like a barge. Anyone who had an operating license, which by federal law the Duck boat driver had to have, would have known the weather and using life jackets. If the life jacket thing is true, it just leaves me stunned. I am not kidding, it is the worst level of a poor decision, anyone who has spent any time on small craft knows this. I will leave it to others what it means legally.

Yeah, if that part is true, it rises to the level of negligence. If I was in that boat, I would have put on my PFD without waiting for someone to tell me to do it. That just seems like common sense. But it seems like it may not have been much help if they were trapped inside. Sad situation.

I went out on one here from Seattle. Bout 7 years ago. Everybody was drunk, screaming to bad music, and waving to everybody in traffic. We had a “captain”, who drove the duck, and simultaneously lead the party.

All around good time on a bright ass sunny day. It wasn’t comfortable to ride in. The bench seats have been moved vertically up on a platform built above the centerline driveshaft. When troops rode in these things, they had room to stand up from the flat keel. With 30 adults riding high, the damn things are a bit top heavy.

My dad and his business partner owned a few back in the 80s. Along with weasels, MJs, a couple mighty mites, gpw, one half track, numerous dueceandahalfs, some mules, a few artillery pieces, armored cars, etc.

They were rented to movie companies on occasion.

Revenge of the nerds
Maximum overdrive
King Kong lives
Etc