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 Boat overturns on Lake Michigan April 19thJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Ben Kueng |
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Professional Guide Posts: 390  | |||
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| shsimons |
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| scmuskies |
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Veteran Posts: 152 Location: On the lake... | |||
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| Ben Kueng |
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Professional Guide Posts: 390 | I’ve been receiving a very high influx of emails and phone calls regarding the incident that took place on Lake Michigan off of Waukegan on Sunday. I just want to say thanks for everyone’s kind words! We all did what we hope someone would do for us in the same situation.. Anyway, here’s the story.. On Sunday I was perch fishing with 2 buddies off of Waukegan when we noticed one of the boats near us starting to list to the starboard side. In the time it took me to look forward and then back again, the boat was flipping over and the 3 occupants were thrown into the water.The trolling motor was up and I was back on the stick heading in the direction of the overturned boat without a second thought. Once in the vicinity of the boat, Tim and I ran to the front of the boat and my other buddy Bo jumped on the motor. Having never operated my boat, he did a perfect job putting us close enough where Tim and I could get ahold of the 3 guys. Once we had everybody in our grips, Bo ran up to the front to help pull these guys in. That was when everything went very bad in my own head. We soon realized that all 3 of these guys were bigger than any of us and with their soaking wet gear on, all 3 of us weren’t able to pull one of them in the boat. We changed strategies and I pulled one of the guys to the opposite side of the boat and yelled for someone to jump in my boat and help us. There were 2-3 guys that jumped in our boat and without their help we never would have gotten these guys in. After about 7-10 minutes of pulling with everything we had, the last guy was hoisted over the side of my Ranger and we then faced the task of a 2.5 mile ride back to the launch in 3 footers with an overloaded boat. I ran the boat and Tim attended to the passengers making sure they stayed awake. Once we got to the launch the paramedics showed up and pretty much took over.. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened had one scenario been different. I just want to thank everyone again for putting yourselves at risk to help out your fellow man! I spoke with 2 of the guys we pulled out and they are very, very appreciative to everyone that went out of their way to help save their lives. Both guys told me that they didn’t have much longer in that water before their bodies shut down.. Being someone who literally spends almost 300 days a year in my boat, this hit a little closer to home. It really made me think about how fast things can go bad. Like Tim said, it pays to practice man overboard drills. I’ve jumped out of my boat in the summer and have had trouble getting back in with just shorts on. Imagine falling out of your boat in the Fall with all of your gear on. Here are a few pics of the incident that some surrounding boats took. Please be safe out there!!!!! Ben (ATT00007.jpg) (ATT00008.jpg) (sun.jpg) Attachments ----------------  ATT00007.jpg (99KB - 29 downloads) ATT00008.jpg (126KB - 22 downloads) sun.jpg (10KB - 18 downloads) | ||
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