Missing Boater in Lake Havasu!

[Wasabe]

Just saw it on the news does anyone know anything?

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Here is the story from Todays News Herald, the Lake Havasu City Paper:
Monday, August 15, 2005 Last modified: Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:40 PM MDT
Swimmer missing after boat floats away
By Becci Angell
A 52-year-old man was missing Sunday evening after he and a companion went swimming in Lake Havasu and their boat floated away during a violent windstorm.
Sgt. Tim Smith of the San Bernardino, Calif., Sheriff's Department said the white male was presumed drowned. A search effort was terminated shortly before 9 p.m. and a recovery operation was expected to get under way this morning.
Smith said the victim, whose name was not released, and a female passenger of his boat were swimming in the area known as the "Chalk Cliffs" on the California side of the lake opposite Site Six about 5:45 p.m. At the same time, late afternoon monsoon swept across the city and the lake, churning the water into whitecaps.
The storm packed winds up to 40 mph, according to the Mohave Community College weather Web site.
The woman, who was uninjured, was pulled from the water by people in another boat, Smith said. The male was last seen treading water in the area.
Lake Havasu City police and Mohave County Sheriff's officers initially responded to the scene, which was later determined to be in the jurisdiction of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department.
Sunday night's search included boating officers assisted by a helicopter, Smith said. Divers will be called out today to aid in the recovery effort.
No other information was available late Sunday night.
You may contact the reporter at news@havasunews.com.

[MOBrien]

That's freakin terrible. :(

[Risky Business]

Wow..............
The family and I were at that spot until the winds came up around 3:30. She asked me "why are we getting off the water so early?" Told her I didn't want to take a chance beacuse it was looking pretty grim and dark. Guess she won't question me anymore!!! yea right.

[Biglue]

That sucks to hear. Prayers to the family.

[centurion tunnel]

That sucks big time

[AZKC]

I tell ya for years swimming without PFD was no problem, then you start thinking about how fast stuff happens and you start wearing or at least holding on to one more and more. Sad news :( becareful out there people :(

[CandyA$$]

Dang this sucks.
I hope they find him and he is sitting on a beach waiting for someone.
:frown:

[Parker Dreamin]

wow, that sucks....

[KACHINA KEN]

We were caught in that storm also, tried to outrun it by going to Havasu Springs but it was there when we arrived and we had to wait it out in the bay. It was bad.

[hot_diggity_dog]

We were caught in that storm also, tried to outrun it by going to Havasu Springs but it was there when we arrived and we had to wait it out in the bay. It was bad.
Ken It was unreal! We got stuck on the water on Firday with our life vest on!
HDD

[257]

hot diggity
bad wasn't the word it was terrrible all of those guys coming into
the bay way to fast and caused more damn waves than the storm, just sat in
the bay and rode the ways till the sky cleared toward copper and i got out of there was bad going to copper

[andy01]

Does anybody have any pics of how bad these waves are?

[shadow]

Does anybody have any pics of how bad these waves are?
http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/1502tsunami1.jpg

[KACHINA KEN]

Does anybody have any pics of how bad these waves are?
They were 4' swells, not really rolling but swelling pretty big with the 45mph whitecaps

[XTRM22]

http://www2.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/1502tsunami1.jpg
Yup, that's what I saw! I saw that storm building Friday afternon, and wanted no part of trying to trailer alone in a monsoon, so I was back in the garage by 4:00.
Chuck

[hot_diggity_dog]

Does anybody have any pics of how bad these waves are?
Let's just say 3'-4' swells rolling up current with the 40 MPH+ cross wind with higher gust. This was Friday, conditions where similar on Sunday evening.
HDD

[andy01]

3'-4' on Havasu? That is huge for a lake. I have never seen it with that big of water. Maybe 2-3 but not 4. I would love to be running through that in a big rain storm, no lightning. But huge water like that with rain, it would be different that's forsure. I figured somebody would have pictures of it.
Andy

[andy01]

Ken It was unreal! We got stuck on the water on Firday with our life vest on!
HDD
Snacking on some of the best sushi around. Man that time me a Scott (riverliver) had it a couple years back it was some damn good shit.......
He got cought in a storm like that in his Daytona a while back and I think they had put thier life jackets on running back to the Springs.
Andy

[Jordy]

3'-4' on Havasu? That is huge for a lake.
They were that big on Pleasant a couple weeks ago in a storm that sank 13 boats. A couple of the rollers had both my sponsons dipped and water coming over the bow and on up over the dash. It was worse than we ever saw in the ocean. Good times. :jawdrop: :D

[Holland]

We were caught in that storm also, tried to outrun it by going to Havasu Springs but it was there when we arrived and we had to wait it out in the bay. It was bad.
Yea... We were only floating by havasu landing. Getting back to windsor was a horrible trip!
This is terrible news, but I saw a lot of little boats out there and hoped they would make it safe.

[Havasu_Dreamin]

I was driving out of Havasu when this was coming in from the West, at the time it was over the CA side, but it was massive and you could just tell it was going to get ugly real fast.

[hot_diggity_dog]

3'-4' on Havasu? That is huge for a lake. I have never seen it with that big of water. Maybe 2-3 but not 4. I would love to be running through that in a big rain storm, no lightning. But huge water like that with rain, it would be different that's forsure. I figured somebody would have pictures of it.
Andy
OK you had to be on the South end of the lake Friday evening to really believe what my wife and I went through!
I was in California cove for almost 20 minutes with boat in & out of gear with a box anchor down.
I was able too tie to a tree for awhile during the heavy wind gust, then I finally gave up and tossed the rope tied to the tree and lost my push off pole too. Pulled the boat to the middle of the cove and got the anchor up on the deck as fast as I could before it ripped me into the cliffs and I motored out to the open end of the cove. I forgot to mention as it grabbed the tree I got stuck in the palm with a knarley sticker about a inch deep by 1/8" hole with blood gushing, freaking nice!!!
Decided to just take it slow for some better coverage or Black Meadow Landing. Got the boat on plane and immediately started to launch the boat with the prop coming out of the water almost every swell. Did I mention the spray from the cross wind was so bad it was like someone had a hose on my face the whole time. I tried faster speeds and both sides of the lake to get a better ride but it was a freaking Monsoon out there!
Thompson Bay had 1'-2' swells when I got to the buoy's soaking wet an happy to be alive :clover: :D
I'm sure the conditons where the same on Sunday evening
HDD

[andy01]

OK you had to be on the South end of the lake Friday evening to really believe what my wife and I went through!
I was in California cove for almost 20 minutes with boat in & out of gear with a box anchor down.
I was able too tie to a tree for awhile during the heavy wind gust, then I finally gave up and tossed the rope tied to the tree and lost my push off pole too. Pulled the boat to the middle of the cove and got the anchor up on the deck as fast as I could before it ripped me into the cliffs and I motored out to the open end of the cove. I forgot to mention as it grabbed the tree I got stuck in the palm with a knarley sticker about a inch deep by 1/8" hole with blood gushing, freaking nice!!!
Decided to just take it slow for some better coverage or Black Meadow Landing. Got the boat on plane and immediately started to launch the boat with the prop coming out of the water almost every swell. Did I mention the spray from the cross wind was so bad it was like someone had a hose on my face the whole time. I tried faster speeds and both sides of the lake to get a better ride but it was a freaking Monsoon out there!
Thompson Bay had 1'-2' swells when I got to the buoy's soaking wet an happy to be alive :clover: :D
I'm sure the conditons where the same on Sunday evening
HDD
That sounds like the ocean man, well glad you made it back. I have been on Parker when I had swells rolling over the transom of my DCB when floating one afternoon. But I guess it is the 40 plus mph wind that makes it crazy. I run the ocean all the time now so that is why I am so curious as to how big the water was out there.

[Thunderbutt]

Thats the way it is at LOTO on a callllmmm day, on the week-ends

[RiverPirate]

We were in it on both days. Friday was the biggest water I have seen on Havi in my 15 plus years going there. I was able to keep the nose up on the 240 but we got soaked none the less. I took four kids off of a friends 21 foot Malibu that were scared to death. He took on a gang of water, the largest being a wave that cleared the helm and went over his bimini. :jawdrop: The worse part was that they were not rollers, but just big chopped up waves going in every direction. Sundays water wasn't even on the same page as Fridays. BTW, did I mention what a great weekend it was. The thunder and lightning was awsome. We never have a bad time at the Zoo.

[JetBoatRich]

Very sad news for the family :mad:
The lake sounds like it turned deadly fast with not much anbody could do, glad we are not hearing more stories of lost boaters

[Magic34]

3'-4' on Havasu? That is huge for a lake.
I have been on Mead and Powell with 6'+ swells easily. What is different from the ocean, the waves are very close together on the lake, not spaced out much at all.

[hot_diggity_dog]

Body found off Site Six
By Richard de Give
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:55 PM MDT
A body, possibly that of a 52-year-old man missing since Sunday, was found off Site Six by boaters Wednesday evening.
The body was discovered around 7:30 p.m., said Sgt. Mike Fassari of the San Bernardino, Calif., Sheriff's Department. Boats from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office as well as San Bernardino had searched the area earlier in the day, Fassari said.
The boaters said the body just popped up in front of them, Fassari said.
The body was taken to Havasu Landing Resort and Casino last night, where it was to be met by a coroner to make an identification, Fassari said.
A man was reported missing Sunday afternoon in the "Chalk Cliffs" area on the California side. He was swimming with a woman when their boat was swept away by a violent windstorm.
The woman was rescued by people in another boat.
HDD

[Partycattin]

We were out there Friday, parked on the beach in from of the Sandbar Grille.
It got crazy in a hurry. As soon as the wind picked up, people went into a panic. There were people hauling booty in the no wake zone trying to get to the launch ramp. We tried to hang out there but the waves were flooding the boats so we ventured into the channel. The water was totally calm in there.
We hung out there for ahile and it looked like the storm was heading towards Laughlin, then it made a quick turn. Rain, wind, Lighting came in a hurry. We packed up and headed further in to go up to Kokomo's and get out of the storm. Everyone on my boat made it up.
My friends were still tying up and in the water when lighting struck somewhere near Kokomo's. It sounded like it hit the metal roof and they lost power for about 5 minutes. Next thing you know, my friends that had been in the water came up, all the girls crying. I guess the kinda got shocked from the lighting strike. They said they all felt a lot of pressure in their backs, almost like someone hit them in the lower back.
My new storm strategy: Forget running to the launch ramp, there will be 100+ boats there. Get into the channel (no waves), tie up, leave your bilge on, and go have a drink at Kokomo's or Javelina. :)

[My Man's Sportin' Wood]

That has usually been our practice. If we are too far out to get to the slip, we just beach it and wait it out. It is the safest thing. Especially if you have somewhere on your boat that you can get out of the rain, like a cuddy, or mid-cabin.

[AZKC]

Body found off Site Six
By Richard de Give
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:55 PM MDT
A body, possibly that of a 52-year-old man missing since Sunday, was found off Site Six by boaters Wednesday evening.
The body was discovered around 7:30 p.m., said Sgt. Mike Fassari of the San Bernardino, Calif., Sheriff's Department. Boats from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office as well as San Bernardino had searched the area earlier in the day, Fassari said.
The boaters said the body just popped up in front of them, Fassari said.
The body was taken to Havasu Landing Resort and Casino last night, where it was to be met by a coroner to make an identification, Fassari said.
A man was reported missing Sunday afternoon in the "Chalk Cliffs" area on the California side. He was swimming with a woman when their boat was swept away by a violent windstorm.
The woman was rescued by people in another boat.
HDD
EEEEWWWW!!!!
Well at least they found the poor guy :(

[prozach]

We came back through the channel from the Crazy Horse side right when the winds picked up on Fri. Everyone left the channel at once to make it to the launch ramp. It was like driving the wrong way on a freeway. there were 1 foot swells under the bridge. We made it back to the Nautical, where there were 3' swells in the channel. Found a spot on the beach and reallllly enjoyed a few drinks.

[desertbird]

We were at the Sandbar, and bailed out to Jack Smith ramp (Needles) the storm followed us in there.
It was a pretty scary 1/2 hour but no harm to anyone or any boats while we were getting out. Lots of panic and a mobile home lost a roof.... :supp:
Worst storm I think I have ever seen out there.

[hkunz]

We were on Mohave, and it hit us pretty hard. We'd gone up to the 48 mile marker, attempting to get to the bottom of the dam for a look see, but ran out of time. Everything was great upriver, but when we hit the big area near Cottonwood, it was quite nasty as the storm came in. We came out of the water several times at plane, so we tried slowing, but the waves came over everywhere. Then i tried running the drive up to get the nose out while going into the wind, but it was beating us to death, so i went across the wind to the shorline in case we had to swim. That brought big water over my wife's side and soaked her good. Running in 12' water gave us a bit less chop, but it still took an hour to cross what should have been 7 minutes or so. By the time we got to Katharine's Landing, the wind was drivng us away from the courtesy dock so we had a time tying up. We got the boat off the lake while folks were going in. We called the kids and had them drag thier jetskis back to Laughlin, we weren't putting them in. We got the boat back top the hotel in time to see the lightnig strikes black out Laughlin and the geneartors come online. I still have the boat up on jackstands draining the water out of the bilge.

[SHAKEN Not Stirred]

Guess she won't question me anymore!!! yea right.
R-I-G-H-T !!!!!
:argue:
CJG
:wink: