Drowning victim thrown from boat going 116 mph

Omaha World-Herald ^ | 7-15-03 | Susan Szalewski

[jim_trent]

Drowning victim thrown from boat going 116 mph

BY SUSAN SZALEWSKI WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

A Council Bluffs man who drowned in the Missouri River was thrown from a boat traveling more than 100 mph, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office has determined.

The Sheriff's Office said Monday that it would seek criminal charges against the boat's driver, Edward Guyett of Omaha.

A passenger in the boat on May 31, Bruce Turner of Council Bluffs, was ejected when the boat struck its own wake.

Rescuers and other boaters were unable to find Turner after he went overboard. His body was found four days later.

The month-long Sheriff's Office investigation was unusual, Capt. Steve Freese said, because data was available from a global positioning system on the boat.

Experts from the system's manufacturer in Olathe, Kan., were able to determine the boat's exact speed - 116 mph - as Turner fell overboard, he said.

Neither Turner nor Guyett was wearing a life jacket, Freese said.

[jim_trent]

I guess this probably should have a "hold ma beer", but I haven't seen for sure that they were drunk. I posted it because there have been several posts about "black boxes" in cars recently. This is not quite the same, but there is little doubt that this would not have been pursued as vigorously if there was not proof of excessive speed before the "accident". The I don't really have a problem with this. Ed had said previously that he was going much slower at the time and it was just an unavoidable accident. Was it an accident, or did criminally negligent behavior lead to someones death. The jury will decide. But as least they will know how fast he was really going instead of lies.

[Support Free Republic]

Hi

[Sam Cree]

That's a very fast boat. As far as I know, only boats made for racing are generally capable of such speeds.

[r9etb]

A passenger in the boat on May 31, Bruce Turner of Council Bluffs, was ejected when the boat struck its own wake.

Something sounds odd about this. I'm wondering how a boat going 116 mph can "hit its own wake" hard enough to do this.

For that to happen would require them to have circled back in some manner, and gotten back up to speed, and still hit enough wake to a) eject the passenger, b) not eject the driver, and c) not flip the boat.

The black box might show how this could happen, but it does sound odd.

As for the other -- any guesses as to whether the victim was conscious after he hit the water at 116 mph?

[jlogajan]

Yeah, that's in the speed range of a Formula One racer ...

[Quilla]

That is fast. We used to have a v drive, flat bottom boat with a 454 chevrolet engine in it. Because it was a two seater, it was nothing but engine. I wasn't in it at the time, but a state trooper clocked it for us at 96 mph - it wasn't equipped with a speedometer. That was way too fast for me.

[jim_trent]

For some more details from past articles, the boat did race upstream, turn around, and then race back downstream. The 116mph was on the downstream leg. Since the current here is about 15-16mph, that means it was actually traveling "only" about 100mph over the water. Still VERY fast.

There were some witnesses who said he was traveling like a bat-out-of-hell, but naturally, Ed denied it. That was before they got the GPS data. I don't know for sure, but I would almost be willing to bet they were both drunk and, yes, Bruce probably was not conscious after hitting the water at 100mph or more. It is certainly not something I would want to do.

[Hatteras]

Why would he throw a dead body from a speeding boat?

[TroutStalker]

The boat had a Garmin GPS unit on board.

Experts from the system's manufacturer in Olathe, Kan., were able to determine the boat's exact speed - 116 mph - as Turner fell overboard, he said.

I have a handheld GPS unit from Garmin (Olathe, KS) that I use when traveling. The unit records average speed, average moving speed, maximum speed, etc. in addition to keeping a log of the exact route traveled. This would have showed all turns made by the boat from which could be calculated from the speed and the type of boat right where it would have crossed it's own wake.

I can use my unit walking around the neighborhood and it shows me my speed and the exact route traveled. I can plug it into the computer and plot it on a map.

Boats regularly are bounced or swamped by wakes, depending on the angle they are hit. And a boat capable of hitting such speeds surely are able to accelerate sufficiently to do a figure 8 and resume high speed. The pilot would have a hold of the steering as well as see the coming bump. A passenger in the back, possibly swigging a cold one, could be completely unaware of what was coming.

[steve86]

Since the current here is about 15-16mph, that means it was actually traveling "only" about 100mph over the water

Huh?, the boat goes the same speed "over the water" whether it is going upstream or downstream. Speed relative to the shore changes.

[steve86]

I can use my unit walking around the neighborhood and it shows me my speed

Bet it pretty much stays in the range 0-5 MPH.

[Willie Green]

A passenger in the boat on May 31, Bruce Turner of Council Bluffs, was ejected when the boat struck its own wake.

Hmmmmm.... sounds like a malfunction of the ejector switch

[Sam Cree]

"but a state trooper clocked it for us at 96 mph"

Scary! My boat can do 50, that scares me if there is any kind of a sea running.

[cpdiii]

I have hit the water at 70mph and it hurts. You roll on the water for about a hundred feet and then go into it at an angle. You will have bruises.

[TroutStalker]

When walking, definitely! I did a trip to Las Vegas and during the second leg from Colorado Springs to Vegas the maximum speed was about 95. It recorded a stopped time of just over 29 minutes for fuel and restroom. Even when stopped, I was averaging 65 mph.

[Coop]

When walking, definitely! I did a trip to Las Vegas and during the second leg from Colorado Springs to Vegas the maximum speed was about 95. It recorded a stopped time of just over 29 minutes for fuel and restroom. Even when stopped, I was averaging 65 mph.

You're quite an impressive runner. :-)

[jim_trent]

I think we are saying the same thing, but maybe I did not phrase it very well.

The speed over the water is the same in both directions. However, the speed of the current adds to the speed when measured from a stationary satellite when going downstream. The speed of the current subtracts from speed when going upstream.

I did not see what the upstream leg was measured at in these articles, but I imagine that it was about 84mph. Anyway, Bruce was bounced out going downstream so it would not make any difference anyway.

Of course, the police may have already made the correction for current speed. The articles are not very clear on that.

[steve86]

Along the same lines, I have seen cases where current plus a tail wind added a bunch to a boat's speed relative to the shore. Turning the boat in the opposite direction, it seems to hit a brick wall from the point of view of shore observers.

[Lurker]

I topped mine out at just under 65 mph one time.

I was the only one in the boat however.

That was plenty fast for me.

Regards,

L

P.S. Owning a boat is a lot like standing in an ice cold shower while tearing up 50 dollar bills.

[IYAS9YAS]

Heck, I've hit it a lower speeds than that trying to learn how to waterski...Got a big surprise landing butt first. I stayed in the driver's seat after that and didn't attempt to ski again for about two months. Never could get it right.