A BIG Bad Day On The Boat!
The National Park Service and the U.S. Coast Guard are considering
banning overweight people from tour boats in the wake of reports that
fatties caused the deadly rollover of a watercraft on New York's Lake
George last fall.Bix Butterman, a tourist who witnessed the horrifying incident from
shore, said he watched as about a dozen obviously obese adults shuffled
to one side of the boat, causing it to list then roll over in the
placid lake. "Some of those heavies looked like they weighed 400 pounds," Butterman
said. "And they had these big bags of food they carried aboard. Those
types should not be allowed near any tour boat. Let 'em stick to
all-you-can-eat restaurants!" ===== "Weight of Passengers, Boat Are Cited in Deadly Sinking" Associated Press
The Washington Post
Saturday, July 1, 2006; A10 Survivors of a deadly tour-boat trip in the Adirondacks last October
say heavy people flipped the boat over, according to newly released
documents in a case that exposed how America's safety rules have been
eclipsed by its expanding waistlines. Investigators quickly focused on weight in the Ethan Allen and how it
was distributed, according to documents released yesterday by the
National Transportation Safety Board. The 40-foot boat was carrying 47 passengers and its captain when it
capsized in calm weather on New York's Lake George on Oct. 2. The
accident killed 20 people. The passengers were elderly tourists from Michigan and Ohio on a fall
foliage trip. The boat was certified to carry as many as 50 people, but officials
said that was based on obsolete passenger weight guidelines. The boat,
built in 1964, had also gained weight as it aged, modified with a
heavier canopy, larger engine and more ballast. For decades, boat operators assumed the average passenger weighed 140
pounds, based on the Coast Guard's standards for a mix of men, women
and children in calm inland waters. The Coast Guard announced in April that it has settled on a single
standard of 185 pounds per person. The new weight calculation is
voluntary until new rules are created. The boat's captain, Richard Paris, said the boat overturned because it
was tipped over by a large wake, which he suggested came from a larger
tourist boat on the lake. Passengers did not back that up http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/30/AR2006063001608.html JimH wrote: |
