Drowning statistics for Muskoka are appalling. This link has all of the information I have collected over the past two years.
However, there is more news today. Three more:
1 drowns, man on life support after boating accidents, the Toronto Star reports.
Two more boating accidents on Saturday. A boat flipped just south of Muskoka Lakes, on Lake Simcoe, in Simcoe County.
One man is in hospital on life support as of Sat.
night, Aug. 8, 2009, after a high speed boat flipped near Walker's Point, very near Torrance (where a plane crashed last week killing two people). He was resuscitated and transported to Toronto hospital.(Muskoka LAKES Twp , ON August 8, 2009 at 6:05 p.m. Muskoka Lakes Lake Muskoka -Renley Rd.
Witnesses at the scene indicated that a racing boat operated by 33 year old Phillip Morden of Milford Bay was traveling south at a high rate of speed. The boat, a 19 foot STV, flipped over and the lone operator was thrown from the boat.
Local residents who witnessed the incident rushed to his aid and pulled MORDEN out of the water unconscious. He was transported to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital St. MICHAELS Hospital Toronto
The OPP Marine Unit is conducting an investigation into the incident. An OPP Marine Reconstructionist will be involved when the boat is recovered from the lake bottom. The man who drowned on August 8, 2009, was wearing a life jacket but he was speeding in a high powered boat. Phillip Morden, 33, of Milford Bay, was retrieved from Lake Muskoka with no vitals after his tunnel hull boat flipped end-over-end. OPP Insp. Ed Medved said that this man was driving a fast, powerful boat, and he knew what he was doing, except he hit a wave and flipped. Muskoka Lakes fire chief, Jim Sawkins, told the newspaper about how this type of boat can porpoise. It is on-line:
This man was dead due to high speed, not the lack of a life jacket. Let's not get ridiculous about this! I think the answer lies in taking responsibility for friends and family. If they are too drunk to be on the water, or fish and then drink they will drown. If they perceive the waterways as a Nascar track, and if they insist on drinking and boating, or swimming in deep and treacherous water, inexperienced canoists on Georgian Bay, we will lose them. You must speak up. Talk sense into these people. Their loved ones will thank you.
~~~~~~~~~~
And in Arrowhead Provincial Park, north of Huntsville.
From The Star:
A man is presumed drowned after a canoe tipped in Arrowhead Provincial Park at 1 a.m. today – following a fatal boating accident yesterday and another that has left a man clinging to life – bringing the death toll on Ontario waterways to eight in just over a week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is so dangerous out there. I was listening to ABC.net.au, and heard that they are having issues with tourists rock climbing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I watched a PWC yesterday, thrill seekers bouncing on waves, jumping over their wake, skooting around trying to create a wake for a family tubing. I presume they knew them, otherwise I'd be upset!
The tubing family were going around and around, trying to bounce the children out of the tube. The effect on the kids, as they bounce so hard, would make an interesting study. They bounce so hard. I worry over 'shaken baby' syndrome, with the impact.
It is no surprise, as boats are getting bigger and faster. Canoes, float planes and sailboats compete for open water. Our kids went out in the canoe, but had to be very careful with the wake from this PWC. They went across the lake, where they encountered two other boats.
They are speed demons. I wonder why they make such powerful boats? Especially, why they bring them onto a small lake. Many have problems in the Rideau Canal, where boat wash destroys the wildlife habitat. It washes out the nests of sunfish in shallow water.
The video below was taken a hear ago on the August long weekend.
Boat Traffic, July 25, 2008
Boat wash on the shore shows how high and powerful the waves are.
