WaGuns.org

Dipshit took a duck boat full of tourists out in 60 MPH winds.
You hear about people dying in those things all the time.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... sizes.html

The Ride the Ducks boat capsized on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, on Thursday at 7pm
The boat was carrying 31 people when aggressive storms rolled over the area and thrashed the water
Eleven people were pulled dead from the water on Friday night and seven were taken to the hospital
On Friday morning, another six bodies were pulled from the water including three belonging to children
The dead range in age from a one-year-old baby to a 70-year-old but they are yet to be publicly identifie
The boat's driver died but its captain was one of the 14 people who survived the incident
Passengers on other boats on the water filmed harrowing footage of the boat being overpowered by waves
The National Weather Service issued a severe storm warning at 6.30pm on Thursday, 30 minutes earlier

So they didn't try to abandon ship and ended up going down with it, or what? I'm trying to figure out how that many people died that close to the shore when there were presumably life jackets available for all on board.

I'm not sure. It had a roof on it, maybe they couldn't get out.
Sounds like they were too late handing out the life jackets.
Witness said "‘First we really didn't realize that it had sunk then when all the crew started running and the captain was giving orders to all the crew to get the life vests and to get out there and help them, we cried a little bit. I went to the window and I prayed and I cried. There wasn’t nothing you could do."

Captain should have listened to the weather report and cancelled the trip.

In 1999 13 people died when one of them sank in Arkansas.

Seems duck boats have been having issues in the last couple of years.
Seattle had a tragedy with a Duck Boat also a couple of years ago:
https://www.seattletimes.com/category/ride-the-ducks/

IIRC the Seattle crash into the bus was the result of a bad wheel bearing.
Owner said they had trouble getting parts.


"At least 43 people have died in duck boat-related incidents since the land-to-water vehicles became tourist attractions in the late 90s.

May 1, 1999 - 13 dead after a duck boat sank in Lake Hamilton in Arkansas

June 23, 2002 - Four dead after a duck boat sinks in the Ottawa River near Parliament Hill in the Canadian capital

July 7, 2010 - Ride the Ducks boat overrun by a barge after engine fire, killing two

April 29, 2015 - Duck boat collides with motor scooter in Boston, killing a 29-year-old woman

May 8, 2015 - Woman killed after being hit by a Ride the Ducks boat while crossing the street in Philadelphia

September 24, 2015 - Ride the Ducks boat hits bus carrying school students in Seattle, killing four

July 19, 2018 - Ride the Ducks boat capsizes in Table Rock lake, Missouri, killing 17

Sad, women and children too... what was that captain thinking!? How safe can it be when the safety protocol is to issue life vests under a fucking canopy with two narrow exits!?

This company is ridiculous.

Instant outrage before fact discovery.

Jesus fuck a dick on a stick.

Sudden storm, uncharacteristically bad and high winds of 65mph no one was expecting.

Weather came out of the north - completely opposite of standard prevailing storm front approach - which would be from the south or southwest.

So, put that keyboard down, and put away your hanging judge robes.

Everybody who was not there - is not a rocket scientist or Duck boat pro.

As for accidents and deaths, not surprising - pretty good record versus the millions of riders served since the late ninties.

After all, we get 35,000 or so killed in auto accidents every year.

So, that would be about 700,000 deaths in auto accidents during the same time period.

What about planes ? Holy fuck, lots of people die in plane crashes - about 20,000 or so over the same time period.

Heck, more old guys probably died trying to jerk off in the shower over the last 20 years than the number of people killed by a Duck.

Guess what ? Life - is not a guarantee of longevity.

There is only one sure thing - you are gonna die.

They need to take the roofs off and have a life jacket under every seat.
Younger children should be required to wear one.
Or better yet, just not go in one of those.
In the 80's we were doing LVTP-7 Amtrack ops and a few of them sank.
But at least the roofs opened up and the Marines could pop out of the water.

They need to make the ride into a movie, and have everyone watch it rather than ride on the real thing.

Then, a giant meteorite can crash into the theater and kill everybody all at once anyway.

RENCORP wrote:They need to make the ride into a movie, and have everyone watch it rather than ride on the real thing.

Then, a giant meteorite can crash into the theater and kill everybody all at once anyway.

They should have been prepared for that meteorite.

Or what if a windstorm blows apart a paper mill they are passing. Are they prepared to defend against a thousand paper cuts?

Lots of people jumping to conclusions. Something we don't like very much when the media does it.

I read 9 of the 17 were from the same family, only 2 family members on the ride survived. Wow. Sad. It does seem odd people couldn't get out. I know if the wind kicked up to 60 mph I'd put on my PFD ASAP.

They're saying the roof was holding people in.

(Survivor who lost 9 family members) "says the captain of the boat told them “don’t worry about grabbing the life jackets – you won’t need them,” so none of the family members grabbed them."

“However in doing that, when it was time to grab them, it was too late and I believe that a lot of people could have been spared,” said Tia.
https://fox59.com/2018/07/20/several-me ... oat-crash/

I have to agree with Rencorp above. While tragic, let's all put down the rope for a moment. These duckboats operate all over the place in summer time and it appears that deaths are quite rare actually.

Maybe some design features are, or not, or should be installed like quick release windows (like busses offer) for egress. I have no idea as I'm not an overnight duckboat expert.

Frankly, it was probably more risky for the folks to drive on the roads to get to the launch site, than actually ride on the boat. Life has risks. You can mitigate those risks, but you cannot eliminate them. Even sitting at home offers risk.

Let's let this play out folks. No need to hang anyone for perceived bad decisions yet.

Summary of stuff I have read the last 24 hours on this:

Wind was over 60 mph on the lake.

The storm didn't just "come up", rather it was forecast by local weather reports for 3 days. The wind peaked exactly when the TV weather people said it would.

Reported by one of the survivors, the driver said putting on life jackets wasn't necessary.



There is a video taken by a passenger of a big riverboat the duck boats passed before the incident. I have been on Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Strait of Georgia, and Lake Washington when huge windstorms / heavy seas hit. Your big, strong boat suddenly becomes a slug. The duck boats are flat bottomed, not deep V hulls that can take heavier waves and bad conditions. just before the 2 minute mark, there is a 17' open bow deep v outboard boat to compare. Notice how it bobs up quickly, and it's bow stays high. That is a deep-V hull in action. Compare to the flat bottomed duck boat, it's nose crashing thru the waves, not bob on top.

How anyone would have made the decision to take a duck boat in the water is mind-blowing. How anyone in those conditions said a life jacket wasn't necessary contributed to their deaths.

https://www.krem.com/article/news/shock ... -575974354