First, I seldom watch television, especially "news" and I never watch "news magazine" shows. But tonight I wanted some background noise and turned on Dateline. Here's the story as presented by NBC, minus some drama, false inferences of death, and commercials. I make no claim to the accuracy of their story.

Two people were in a boat, they were drifting while waiting for the trailer to pull the boat, and the engine would not start. One of them was talking on the phone to the friend with the trailer (stuck in traffic, not at the ramp) and said she thought they were going to drift into a bridge. Unfortunately it was not a bridge, but a dam. They floated into the dam and got caught in a floodgate. One of them was washed over, the other stayed on the boat. A worker at the dam (and some others) dropped a rope to her, and swung her out to a patrol boat that was there. The patrol boat made it out with the woman, and the man washed up buck naked downstream.

So what did they do wrong?
1. The engine wouldn't start. It may have been the first time the boat was in the water since being restored, so that could have been several things.
2. They didn't know where they were or didn't realize how close they were to the dam.
3. They didn't tie off to the buoys that surround the floodgates. This is the one that gets me - I can't imagine allowing my boat to float over the cable and buoys that block floodgates. The video even shows them drifting right past a buoy. I believe these red buoy lines are called "lifeline buoys" and I can guess why.

I don't know what to think about the patrol boat going in to pick up the woman. He said he didn't have a plan, just to nose up as close as he could and then slam it in reverse and hope he could back out of it before he went over. I can't say what I would do there, and I don't know all the facts, but my first guess is that they were extremely lucky.

This happened in Austin, TX last week (July 2005). Here are some links:

http://news8austin.com

Video: Tom Miller dam rescue

Watch the video - the guys in the rescue boat are crazy and all involved are very lucky.

It always drives me crazy when I watch a movie where the main characters are in a dangerous situation, they know they're going to have to leave in a hurry, yet they still turn off the car's engine. Then they can't get it started again. Usually they've parked on the RR tracks, for good measure.

This guy must be the one who writes those scripts. And look at all the gas he saved by turning the boat's motor off!

Sue

I would like to know how far he was from the flood gates. I was surprised to see how fast his boat was moving towards the gates. It was also getting dark when it happened. Should boat ramps be placed so near to a flood gate that it would put people in jeapardy when they are opened? I have a hard time faulting this guy without knowing more.

Great video. Reminds me of skiing and fishing around damns on Texas lakes as a kid. Well, except for the being swept through the flood gates part. We arent that stupid. The floodgates are pretty well marked with cables and bouys you have to be a real darwin awards finalist (or blind0 to not utilize them, that is if youre stupid enough to get that close in the first place. If my boat was disabled I would have jumped ship looooooooong before getting close enough to the dam to be caught in floodgate current.