WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

Accident at mouth of river this evening?

RiverDiva

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Anyone have any details?
 

Socalx09

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I believe I read it was a boat that hit the sandbar and 3 vessel assists couldn’t get it free.

edit- looks like a different boat once I compare pictures. Hope everyone is safe.
 
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Singleton

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At the DS drivers meeting yesterday, we got multiple warnings about entrance to river and how shallow and narrow the line is this year
 

Water Romper

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Some should start a 'Ghoul-Pool' on how many deaths there will be there . . .
Really? With all the horrible things going on in the world and even the sadness that's brought on to our RDP members, be it cancer, accidental death, divorce and financial difficulties, you make light of folks possibly being killed in a boating accident? naw, lets not go there. I understand you may be trying to interject some comedy relief here but lets let this one go- and I sure hope nobody was hurt or worse in this incident.
 

FreeBird236

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Seems like the first time in years they didn't kick the level up for an event, I'm sure they'll claim lack of water.
 
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Singleton

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Seems like the first time in years they didn't kick the level up for an event, I'm sure they'll claim lack of water.

that question was asked yesterday to the USCG captain on-site for the event. The request was made by those that can do it, but the DoI did not approve
 

Paradox

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Hope everyone is okay.

8 years ago or so, on New Years Day, I ran our twin Warlock cat up on a sand bar in this area. Was doing about 50 and I just wasn’t running the right line. Slid maybe 75 feet up on it. It was late afternoon with our kids in the boat and the water was absolutely freezing. Took 3 Vessel Assist boats almost an hour to free us. They told me it was considered a salvage (or words to that effect) so my membership didn’t cover it. The charge was $5800.

Markel Insurance ended up reimbursing me all but the deductible, immediately and without question other than submitting the receipt. They were extremely stand up.

Embarrassment and humiliation were the words of the day. That said, no one was hurt and the slide up on the bar was fairly smooth. No damage to the boat either with the exception of sucking in some sand.
 

Desert Whaler

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I get it's not cool., sorry, don't mean to a dick . . . . I hadn't been there in a long time, so I went mid-week monday-friday in late October. On the friday it got a little busy, so I decided to put my boat on the bank on the CA side (shallow channel) to watch boats run in and out of that entrance from a distance. I was probably 200+ yards away, . . . after just a few minutes I realized even that distance wasn't safe, and how sketchy that zone was based on the driving I saw. I couldn't imagine running that in a crowd w/ friends or family on-board. Too many clueless Honyocks with a lot of horsepower. Not a matter of 'if', but 'when' sadly . . .
 

monkeyswrench

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Seems like the first time in years they didn't kick the level up for an event, I'm sure they'll claim lack of water.
When I was at Moabi on Thursday, I couldn't believe how high the water level was for the time of year and day. I don't travel down to the mouth, but is the level fluctuation as noticeable there as it is up river?
 

02HoWaRd26

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that question was asked yesterday to the USCG captain on-site for the event. The request was made by those that can do it, but the DoI did not approve
Idk up north in Needles the water was within inches of what it’s been lately and I’ve never seen the River this high. We ran to the casinos the other day from JS and there were no water lines by Harrah’s like typical. I’ve read it’s due to lack of rain and the farmers needing for crops. Even the beaches in the gorge were at max yesterday, however I’ve also heard the sediment work at Topock last year caused a lot of new sand bars down south which could also explain the thin path through the mouth this year.
 

ONE-A-DAY

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It’s low and the line is narrow. We went to breakfast Thursday morning and there was a lot of tan colored shallow spots all the way up. Watched a guy from our clubhouse for over an hour wander around with the drive all the way up trying to figure out how to get through it.
 
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ONE-A-DAY

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It’s low and the line is narrow. We went to breakfast Thursday morning and there was a lot of tan colored shallow spots all the way up. Watched a guy from our clubhouse for over an hour wander around with the drive all the way up trying to figure out how to get through it.
It seems so simple for those of us that have done it for years. But actually it’s challenging if you don’t know even if someone explains it to you you’re hesitant to go so close to the shore and on the wrong side of the river to make it work.
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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Hope everyone is okay.

8 years ago or so, on New Years Day, I ran our twin Warlock cat up on a sand bar in this area. Was doing about 50 and I just wasn’t running the right line. Slid maybe 75 feet up on it. It was late afternoon with our kids in the boat and the water was absolutely freezing. Took 3 Vessel Assist boats almost an hour to free us. They told me it was considered a salvage (or words to that effect) so my membership didn’t cover it. The charge was $5800.

Markel Insurance ended up reimbursing me all but the deductible, immediately and without question other than submitting the receipt. They were extremely stand up.

Embarrassment and humiliation were the words of the day. That said, no one was hurt and the slide up on the bar was fairly smooth. No damage to the boat either with the exception of sucking in some sand.
Thats fascinating.... so if read correctly Vessel Assist actually charged you $5800 to pull you off a sand bar? I'm guessing you must not have been a member.... those dudes are my saviors out in the ocean cause I have a tendency to run out of gas near gas docks, lol. I hear if you break down in between Catalina & mainland they pull you back as a member for free [don't quote me on that] . Best insurance policy of all time for me.
 

Desert Whaler

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Yep . . .Several years ago I was fishing tight to the beach off Palos Verdes and look over my shoulder to see a head-high set wave come out of no where. I 'almost' made it over . . . stood my boat straight up, I ran up and grabbed the bow-rail and I was hanging from it like on the monkey bars. The prop caught on the rocky bottom and acted like a cantilever and the boat came right over on top of me. I popped up under the boat with all my shit floating. I swam under and popped-up on the outside. I grabbed the rail and started to attempt to swim and keep it off the rocks . . . but after 3 more set-waves crashed on me, I couldn't hang on and she ended up on the rocks. Of ALL THINGS to come floating up my 'EPIRB' (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) washes up right next to me. I activate it and within 10 minutes the coast guard helicopter was right over my head. Then the LA Baywatch shows up and a couple swimmers jump out. I'm fine . . . then Sea Tow arrives trying to poach a tow, but i tell them to beat-it I'm with Boat US who arrives shortly afterwards. We tried to push it off the rocks for a little bit because of the 'Hard Aground' status, but the head lifeguard said no way. So they hooked up a tow-line and popped it off the rocks perfectly, actually flipped it up-right all on the first pull attempt.

I get back to the marina and they want $3600.00 for the tow, because it was 'Hard Aground" and considered a salvage operation . . . maritime law I guess. My wallet was on the bottom of the ocean. Dude's wouldn't budge and said it would go into impound and I'd have to pay additionally to get it out, or buy it back at an auction later. FUCK. Shitty call to make, 'Hey Dad, I need $3600.00, I flipped my boat and they're gonna impound it if I don't pay'. SHIT.

So yeah, they'll 'tow' you no problem, but if your ass is stuck, you're fucked. Good to make sure your insurance will cover a hard-aground / salvage tow or you might be in for a hefty tow bill should the unfortunate happen . . . adds insult to injury.
 
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FROGMAN524

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Didn’t see an all silver fountain but there was an all silver Outerlimits V running around.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MooreMoney

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My neighbor in the refuge has a view of the mouth of the river. He was counting the boats getting stuck and was up to 20 as of last night. He said the one pictured was the worse one of the weekend so far but we couldn’t tell if anyone was ejected. 10 boats were around the one pictured and it didn’t look good. To top it off as that big boat was stuck another boat drove right through the rescue boats and got stuck within 30 feet of the big boat. It got dark and we couldn’t see how it all needed.
 
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stephenkatsea

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Request Lloyd’s Open Form. It is a clear breakdown of who is to do what and for how much. Pay close attention to the Damage to the Environment paragraph. It can easily far exceed the value of the vessel. In basic terms in some situations . . . You’re probably screwed.

This is a form used by Lloyd’s of London for maritime salvage.
 
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n2otoofast4u

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Didn’t see an all silver fountain but there was an all silver Outerlimits V running around.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I asked if it was an OL, as I know exactly what boat you’re talking about. Guy was certain it was a Fountain, but I’m still leaning to think it was the OL.
 

Javajoe

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You can see people walking on the sand. He even saw jet skis stuck. So my guess is 6 inches to a foot in spots.
Good thing I started a thread a while back about trimming. I now know to trim high and Blast WOT thru it 😁
 
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FreeBird236

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When I was at Moabi on Thursday, I couldn't believe how high the water level was for the time of year and day. I don't travel down to the mouth, but is the level fluctuation as noticeable there as it is up river?
It's always changing, but in general a 6" +- fluctuation though out the day is about average. The way the sandbars are for the last couple years, a water level (elevation) of about 448' makes the entrance fairly easy to navigate, but a couple weeks ago the levels dropped to about 446.8 which makes it a little dicey.
 

ONE-A-DAY

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My neighbor in the refuge has a view of the mouth of the river. He was counting the boats getting stuck and was up to 20 as of last night. He said the one pictured was the worse one of the weekend so far but we couldn’t tell if anyone was ejected. 10 boats were around the one pictured and it didn’t look good. To top it off as that big boat was stuck another boat drove right through the rescue boats and got stuck within 30 feet of the big boat. It got dark and we couldn’t see how it all needed.
Where you at in the refuge, we are in at the end of tradition in the loop
 

MooreMoney

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The boat looked white not silver

QUOTE="n2otoofast4u, post: 4089491, member: 16966"]
I asked if it was an OL, as I know exactly what boat you’re talking about. Guy was certain it was a Fountain, but I’m still leaning to think it was the OL.
[/QUOTE]
 

Paradox

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Thats fascinating.... so if read correctly Vessel Assist actually charged you $5800 to pull you off a sand bar? I'm guessing you must not have been a member.... those dudes are my saviors out in the ocean cause I have a tendency to run out of gas near gas docks, lol. I hear if you break down in between Catalina & mainland they pull you back as a member for free [don't quote me on that] . Best insurance policy of all time for me.

I had the premium unlimited policy. They claimed anything beyond a simple one boat quick pull off is considered an uncovered event and charged me the $5800.

I believe this is for grounding only. if you’re stranded in the channel between Long Beach and Catalina, and have the premium policy, I think you are covered.
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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I had the premium unlimited policy. They claimed anything beyond a simple one boat quick pull off is considered an uncovered event and charged me the $5800.

I believe this is for grounding only. if you’re stranded in the channel between Long Beach and Catalina, and have the premium policy, I think you are covered.
Thats good info share right there. Thanks.
 

Tank

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Kinda sketchy running through the mouth last night (around 4) when everyone was coming back from pirates. The passway to get through there is so narrow right now and with the hard S Turn to avoid the sand bar it makes for almost a blind intersection. Sketchy with a lot of traffic coming and going.
 

PlanB

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^^^ I have been avoiding the gorge on the weekends for that reason. During the week is not nearly as sketchy.
 

Tank

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^^^ I have been avoiding the gorge on the weekends for that reason. During the week is not nearly as sketchy.

I bottlenecked with 4 other boats, we were all running 60 or so, pontoon boat right at the beginning of the gorge doing maybe 35. Two boats in front of me went left of him and I went right and hugged REAL close to the reeds. As we came up to the sharp right turn of the s turn dude came around the corner coming up river. He stayed right (my left) but you could tell he didn’t want to go far out as he obviously new the sand bar was right there. Like I said, sketchy AF! End of day, sun low, then add you know some boaters have been drinking. Pucker factor was high fir a moment. I was happy to get through and keep on trucking across Windsor bay.
 

PlanB

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I bottlenecked with 4 other boats, we were all running 60 or so, pontoon boat right at the beginning of the gorge doing maybe 35. Two boats in front of me went left of him and I went right and hugged REAL close to the reeds. As we came up to the sharp right turn of the s turn dude came around the corner coming up river. He stayed right (my left) but you could tell he didn’t want to go far out as he obviously new the sand bar was right there. Like I said, sketchy AF! End of day, sun low, then add you know some boaters have been drinking. Pucker factor was high fir a moment. I was happy to get through and keep on trucking across Windsor bay.

Glad you made it through okay. The water being low right now does not help the situation.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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I bottlenecked with 4 other boats, we were all running 60 or so, pontoon boat right at the beginning of the gorge doing maybe 35. Two boats in front of me went left of him and I went right and hugged REAL close to the reeds. As we came up to the sharp right turn of the s turn dude came around the corner coming up river. He stayed right (my left) but you could tell he didn’t want to go far out as he obviously new the sand bar was right there. Like I said, sketchy AF! End of day, sun low, then add you know some boaters have been drinking. Pucker factor was high fir a moment. I was happy to get through and keep on trucking across Windsor bay.

Yea you gotta be careful there. From my experience the last couple months, the S turn does not have to be as hard and as deliberate as people think. You can make it a dog leg and be OK, if you are in the right spot entering/exiting close to the reeds.

The absolute worst is having to back off when coming up on a slower boat.
 

boatdoc55

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NOT being a smartass here but what makes you guys think you have to exit or enter the river on full tilt boogiie plane. I've been doing the enter/exit now going on 6 years and have never understood why such high speeds next to those dicki-weeds. The fricken water is DEEP right there so no real reason to keep on plane, Why not back down and idle thru or at least get down to 30mph like us slow toon guys do.
I have NO problem with FAST boats at all, hell I had a gull wing many years ago but that entrance/exit is getting VERY dangerous with the amount of boats on the lake now days. I would think just cruising thru there when we have ALL the rest of the lake and river to haul ass would be a novel idea.

This wouldn't even be typed by me but we DAMNED near got our ass's ran over last Thursday by a big ol' Eliminator that was coming down and we were going up around that blind corner. He threw his arms up as threw mine up. He was like what are you doing here and I was like what are you doing here. I wasn't even at speed, if you call off idle in a toon speed, but I and my passengers KNEW he was at speed.

Jesus SLOW DOWN people!!!!!!!!!! It's only like two hundred yards out of what, 40 miles of lake and river!!!!!!!!
 

ONE-A-DAY

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NOT being a smartass here but what makes you guys think you have to exit or enter the river on full tilt boogiie plane. I've been doing the enter/exit now going on 6 years and have never understood why such high speeds next to those dicki-weeds. The fricken water is DEEP right there so no real reason to keep on plane, Why not back down and idle thru or at least get down to 30mph like us slow toon guys do.
I have NO problem with FAST boats at all, hell I had a gull wing many years ago but that entrance/exit is getting VERY dangerous with the amount of boats on the lake now days. I would think just cruising thru there when we have ALL the rest of the lake and river to haul ass would be a novel idea.

This wouldn't even be typed by me but we DAMNED near got our ass's ran over last Thursday by a big ol' Eliminator that was coming down and we were going up around that blind corner. He threw his arms up as threw mine up. He was like what are you doing here and I was like what are you doing here. I wasn't even at speed, if you call off idle in a toon speed, but I and my passengers KNEW he was at speed.

Jesus SLOW DOWN people!!!!!!!!!! It's only like two hundred yards out of what, 40 miles of lake and river!!!!!!!!
I slow down to the lowest speed I can plane at in my big ol eliminator, 40 or so, faster than that really doesn’t accomplish much other than up your odds of dieing. On Thursday coming back from breakfast, two boats coming up, me coming down, two fleas parked and socializing. I threw my hands up, actually it was both hands and both fingers at the parked sea doos. Even if they are not familiar with the area wouldn’t common sense tell you that this is a dangerous spot to float and socialize? Then I saw the numbers on the back of the sea doos, that helped explain things.

It’s only a matter of time before there is a collision, especially at sunset.

I know many of the people have no choice but to go out on the weekends but thankfully I do. I’ll be going out tomorrow.
 

Nanu/Nanu

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NOT being a smartass here but what makes you guys think you have to exit or enter the river on full tilt boogiie plane. I've been doing the enter/exit now going on 6 years and have never understood why such high speeds next to those dicki-weeds. The fricken water is DEEP right there so no real reason to keep on plane, Why not back down and idle thru or at least get down to 30mph like us slow toon guys do.
I have NO problem with FAST boats at all, hell I had a gull wing many years ago but that entrance/exit is getting VERY dangerous with the amount of boats on the lake now days. I would think just cruising thru there when we have ALL the rest of the lake and river to haul ass would be a novel idea.

This wouldn't even be typed by me but we DAMNED near got our ass's ran over last Thursday by a big ol' Eliminator that was coming down and we were going up around that blind corner. He threw his arms up as threw mine up. He was like what are you doing here and I was like what are you doing here. I wasn't even at speed, if you call off idle in a toon speed, but I and my passengers KNEW he was at speed.

Jesus SLOW DOWN people!!!!!!!!!! It's only like two hundred yards out of what, 40 miles of lake and river!!!!!!!!
In his defense eliminators throttle sticks only go full speed...jk

I completely agree with you
 

RiverDave

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NOT being a smartass here but what makes you guys think you have to exit or enter the river on full tilt boogiie plane. I've been doing the enter/exit now going on 6 years and have never understood why such high speeds next to those dicki-weeds. The fricken water is DEEP right there so no real reason to keep on plane, Why not back down and idle thru or at least get down to 30mph like us slow toon guys do.
I have NO problem with FAST boats at all, hell I had a gull wing many years ago but that entrance/exit is getting VERY dangerous with the amount of boats on the lake now days. I would think just cruising thru there when we have ALL the rest of the lake and river to haul ass would be a novel idea.

This wouldn't even be typed by me but we DAMNED near got our ass's ran over last Thursday by a big ol' Eliminator that was coming down and we were going up around that blind corner. He threw his arms up as threw mine up. He was like what are you doing here and I was like what are you doing here. I wasn't even at speed, if you call off idle in a toon speed, but I and my passengers KNEW he was at speed.

Jesus SLOW DOWN people!!!!!!!!!! It's only like two hundred yards out of what, 40 miles of lake and river!!!!!!!!

I don’t think idling through the mouth of the river is a good idea.. you want to spend as little time in that blind section as possible. That said I agree 100% that running through hauling ass is crazy dangerous as well.
 

Javajoe

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Well, maybe it’s time for another NO WAKE ZONE in that area. Could really help all the bullshit and non stop threads about it. I imagine with high number of accidents that would happen. Maybe we are not there yet. Really not a bad idea
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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I bottlenecked with 4 other boats, we were all running 60 or so, pontoon boat right at the beginning of the gorge doing maybe 35. Two boats in front of me went left of him and I went right and hugged REAL close to the reeds. As we came up to the sharp right turn of the s turn dude came around the corner coming up river. He stayed right (my left) but you could tell he didn’t want to go far out as he obviously new the sand bar was right there. Like I said, sketchy AF! End of day, sun low, then add you know some boaters have been drinking. Pucker factor was high fir a moment. I was happy to get through and keep on trucking across Windsor bay.
Whew.... back to big blue where its less crowded ;)
 

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I've prob. got the smallest / slowest boat on here . . .around 45mph . . . not that anybody cares, but FWIW . . . my approach to that zone is to have my jackplate set as high as I reasonably can w/ good water pressure . . I run a 4-blade prop specifically a 'stern-lifter' that i had worked to optimize 'what little performance I have'. It's slower than my 3-blade, but I can raise the outboard quite a bit more and keep a good grip with out cavitating . . . I'll run as slow as I can but trimmed up as high as i can maybe around 30-ish ... that way I can slow down quicker if I have to . . . and I've also got plenty (relative) of throttle left if I need to accelerate . . . . basically I give my self a margin of error . . . I'm also color blind, and even with high quality polarized shades, there's times I REALLY struggle to see the contrast in the water . . . especially with a low sun-angle. I also stay off the foam when I run the river ...
 
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