Tragedy Near Alcatraz

GeeBee

GeeBee

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19 People in a pontoon boat in SF bay near Alcatraz. What could go wrong? Wonder if there was a guy named Bob?

 
It's sad people will naivly take a pontoon boat out into big water. But a triple decker? Has anyone seen what it looked like beforehand?
RIP.
 
boatbum said:
It's sad people will naivly take a pontoon boat out into big water.
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Agreed - We see pontoon boats on the Hudson all too often. IMHO it's the wrong craft for the potential environment all too often developing on big bays.
 
This article says this is the boat. Not a pontoon. I think the Bimini led people to believe it was a pontoon boat.

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What the holly hell. That’s not even close to a pontoon. Today’s reporting just sux.
 
My speculation is a hose let loose and pumped water into the bilge causing the instability. Or something like that.
 
Golfman25 said:
My speculation is a hose let loose and pumped water into the bilge causing the instability. Or something like that.
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Yeah, that boat was swamped when it went down. Evidently it rolled, violently, initially.
 
What do you expect from today’s media ? Some stories called it a cabin cruiser .

Definitely not a toon..

Low freeboard, 15+ people on the top deck, a wake taken at the wrong angle with the wrong steering input, maybe some open portholes. Done.

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yeah - not a pontoon boat. Boat was from Stockton in the Delta. Takes at least 5 hours in that kind of boat to make that trip to SF Bay. I did it many times. It said a wave swamped the boat. I boated in the bay for years. It can get very choppy in high winds, but doubt if a wave could have swamped that boat. as others said, more likely a hose.

The shipping channels them selves are not 120 ft deep as you go into the Port of Oakland, but its very deep under the Golden Gate bridge. They were between GG and Alcatraz.

"Though most of the bay is less than 30 feet deep, officials estimate that the boat sank along a shipping channel used by container ships heading toward the Port of Oakland. It could be 120 feet deep."

I don't understand this. I guess they limit to 60 ft due to visibility.
"That made it impossible for fire department divers, who can't safely dive below 60 feet, to reach the boat and determine whether any passengers remained inside, said Lt. Mariano Elias, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Fire Department."
 
There were many people on that boat. It was not a charter boat was it? Probably a number of issues that all lined up. For example, we do not know where everyone was on the boat. It could very well have been top heavy and easily rolled. Once rolled a bit it takes on water and settled. Time to sit back and let the NTSB tell is like they found it after they have had time to investigate.
 
I know nothing about diving but is it possible their equipment is not certified for depths over 60 feet.

One would be surprised the speed at which water flows through a 2" opening. I once made the mistake of neglecting to confirm the intake valve was closed before I removed the hose from the water pump.
 
A 2” hole 2 feet below WL will flow about 6000 gph. This is why early detection is so critical and testing bilge pump / high water alarms regularly is a must.
 
Bob Ware said:
I know nothing about diving but is it possible their equipment is not certified for depths over 60 feet.
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I doubt it. 60 feet is not that deep. I dove years and years ago and we had a max of 120 ft. And that was mostly due to nitrogen issues and using dive tables. Today they have diving computers that monitor this carefully.
I'm pretty sure their max is because of visibility and currents in the Bay
 
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