—– Original Message —– From: ?anon? Newsgroups: rec.boats.paddle Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2000 11:27 AM Subject: Re: Boating fatality in Oregon Myron, my sincere condolonces for the loss of your father. I?m preparing to lose one or both of my parents soon, and hope I don?t have to deal with such a discouragingly unnecessary catastrophe. My thoughts are with you to find peace and comfort in the life that he shared with you. Brad paddler@mosquitonet.com The Buckster wrote in message … Hello, rbp. Sorry, I?ve been away so long. Some sad news..my father died this last Sunday. Incredibly enough, it was (of all things) a boating accident. Of the worst kind…he drowned for a series of horribly poor decisions. He had been bickering with his new wife for several months about getting a small boat for fishing. She resisted his intentions as she felt he would not exercise proper boat safety, but instead would leap into it with little common sense. But eventually, he convinced her from his research that a Sea Eagle 8 would be the perfect boat. It?s a small raft with an attachable transom, about a 10 foot waterline and a drop-in plywood floor. But mostly, the ads in the catalogue stress the stability of rafts. One picture shows 4 people standing on a side tube demonstrating how hard it is to get the raft to flip over. Another shows a fisherman standing in an 8-foot raft, fishing. Incredibly enough, neither picture shows the models wearing life jackets! Additionally, the text says ?The floorboards give you plenty of stability when standing up and casting…even in rough seas.? (see their webpage: www.seaeagle.com, especially the ?broadband video? with the scene of the fisherman hauling up his stringer.) So he took them at their word and bought one, but did not buy a lifejacket; they didn?t sell them anyway. The very first time he used it, he went out about 100 yards from shore, and according to his wife who was watching from shore with field glasses, he stood up, turned like he was turning around, lost his balance and the raft scooted sideways out from under him and he cartwheeled overboard. He did not have on a life jacket, was a nonswimmer, was alone in the lake, the water and air were cold, and the electric motor on the raft kept running so the combined wind, motor, and fall sent the boat way out of his reach. He thrashed around for awhile, and before someone from shore could get out to him, he drowned. His body still has not been recovered. In addition to being shocked at the miniscule amount of ?common boat sense? my father had, I am also stunned by the brochure of Sea Eagle. Although rafts do indeed have uncredible primary stability and are almost impossible to flip over on flat water, a low-mass boat like an 8-footer has a huge tendacy to scoot out sideways if you lose your balance, and it is grossly irresponsible for Sea Eagle to show models in their boats without PFCs, and to have claimed that the stability was so great that you could ?stand up and cast, even in rough water?. I called Sea Eagle, and spoke with the president. We had a good long discussion and the result is that, from now on, all his models except those sitting inside rafts (not on the tubes) in completely flat water will be wearing life jackets. Additionally, the text will also stress the importance of carrying and wearing a PFD, having basic swimming skills, and not boating alone unless you have dependable skills. Also, the floor decks will now carry a message that tells boaters not to stand unless they are wearing life jackets. Anyway, I?m still seriously mulling over further legal action. I recognize the responsibility my father had to show some common sense, but I also recognize the responsibility of Sea Eagle to represent the inherent dangers and appropriate safety measures in their catalogue, specifically for people like my father who would be misled by the ads. I?ll let you know more if anything develops. In the meantime, please look at Sea Eagles? website and test your own reaction to the pictures. In addition, you could e-mail the President, Mr. Cecil Hoge at staff@seaeagle.com and reiterate what I had told him about the irresponsibility of having models demonstrating potentially risky behavior in his boats. We?re all in this together… riverman (myronbuck@yahoo.com)