Terrible tragedy

Any info on why the big motor couldn�t be restarted?

Idiotic statement #1 in this thread.

Locator beacons would be a good idea. Maybe make them mandatory like wearing a life jacket.

What?

legitimate question.....apparently the wave came over front of the boat and when it came over the front deck,it lifted the passenger out of the boat...got to believe with a dual console,he would have been protected to the extent that his chest and face would be hit by the wave but it wouldn't have gotten under him and lifted him out of the boat....plus he would have opportunity to duck under the console and let most of force of the wave pass over him....

sad deal for all concerned....

Sad that we have become a society that tries to find blame in every single event where tragedy strikes.
Too rough, bad driver, too fast, too slow,single console, dual console,,the list goes on and on.
Sometimes bad things happen. Sad and unfortunate fact of life.

"4-6 ft waves in 6-10 ft of water makes a big difference. When you get to the bottom of one of those waves, you are on the bottom of the lake."

I had this happen at Richland Chambers a number of years back when a massive storm blew up quickly. I was doing fine surfing the waves back to the launch area only to run into shallow water. When you were at the bottom of a swell your were banging around on the stumps on the bottom of the lake. It would last two or three seconds until the next wave lifted you out of it. Then you would repeat.

This was the only time I have ever thought I was not going to make it. Of course I was by myself. My adrenaline was to high to get scared but I was shaking like a leaf when I finally got the boat beached.

Ah, the things we do for fun.

Sad that people jump on others for pointing out something that might have changed the outcome....

With no disrespect intended, I believe it would be very wise to consider all the factors you've listed when trying to understand and prevent future accidents.

A thousand things could have changed the outcome to any accident. I wonder what woulda happened if he had on two left shoes. Unless there's some blatant negligence there's no point to it and it detracts from just saying well [censored] and thinking of a person and their family, the frailty of life and to just be careful out there. Unless I missed something it's not 'the real question' it's a worthless question. No one knows or ever will

A wave did not come over the boat and swipe him out,, they were running down the lake and speared a wave, the boaters original statement made that clear...

For a wave to break over a boat it would have to be a surf quality wave, meaning breaking over the top etc... Ive been on fork and berryessa with huge waves likely a good 10 feet tall with no break over on them.

There have never been 10' tall waves on Fork

let me rephrase that to mean that when they speared a wave and when the water came over the front deck,it lifted/washed the passenger out of the boat.....we had a similar wave spearing situation happen on Eufaula last year but fortunately the boater was able to get turned around and pick up his Dad who had been washed out of the boat....their Ranger boat was almost full of water but they were able to drag him over the stern,get the boat turned around into the waves...took a while with both bilge pumps going until they managed to get back on plane and get out of the really rough water....

It's not the console. It's the decision to go mainlake in those winds.

Multiple times when reading this story since it happened, I�ve mentally put myself in that situation. The one part that gets me every time is the passenger being washed over board. It was very cold that day and so they were all bundled up for the ride. I know in simliar situations as the passenger i usually have hands in a pocket and head tucked down. I can�t but wonder if that was the case making it easier to be lifted out vs hanging on to grab bars. I think a lot of us don�t scrutinize to blame, but to prevent.