Thread: Boaters Beware of Boating IFR's... While Night Fishing or During Heavy Fogs.

I am somewhat guilty of this myself: Using Boating Electronics to Drive by at Night or During Low Visibility Conditions. In the Airline Business, they term this as Flying (IFR) Instrument Flight Rules... and they usually use this when visibility is low such as during night flights, excess cloud cover, blinding rains, or foggy conditions.

Today there was a boating accident on Shearon Harris Lake (fifteen minutes from my house) involving night fishermen who hit a cement power line abutment (apparently) while running IFR... and (apparently) at fairly high speeds. Here is the story listed by our local news channel:

"Boater Killed, Another Rescued from Harris Lake after Boat Crashes into Cement Pole

One man was rescued and another died Friday at Harris Lake after a boat crashed into a cement pole, officials say.
A boater was found dead Friday in Harris Lake following a five-hour search after his boat crashed into a cement pole, officials say. A second boater was rescued.

According to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, around 6 a.m. deputies responded to a water rescue involving a boat at the Holleman's Crossing boating access point at Harris Lake County Park. "2 am this
morning boat collided with cement piling at lake," Captain Bill Harding, Wake County Sheriff's Office said.

The lake is located minutes from the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in New Hill.
A spokesperson told WRAL News two men who were night fishing crashed into a cement pylon in the water and were thrown from the boat. "We know at least one was thrown from boat, the other was
recovered in the boat," Chief Tony Godwin, Wake County Sheriff's Office said. When the boat crashed, witnesses heard their cries and called 911. "A witness here at the lake said they could hear someone
yelling for help from lake," Harding said. One man was found alive in the boat and transported to a hospital. The body of the other boater was pulled from the water five hours later after a multi-agency search
that included K-9s, drones, sonar and mapping software.

Earlier on Friday, WRAL News crews were on scene as the first boater was pulled from a rescue boat, strapped to a gurney and put in an ambulance.
Wake deputies and EMS, the Holly Springs Fire Department, the Cary Fire Department, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, the Nash County Sheriff's Office, Lee County Emergency Services, the Durham
County Sheriff's Office Dive Team and Wake County Emergency Management all assisted with the search. A WRAL News crew witnessed 60 first responders at the scene at the peak of the search.
The crash is under investigation by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission."

Please be careful everyone. This is a very unsafe practice... as such cement abutments are not seen on most lake mapping softwares... just "powerline".
If anyone has any further details, please share.

Prayers and condolences are sent to family and friends.

I attended a high-quality safety meeting one time, (among many others), (in my working career), that was more industrial-based than it was everyday-life based, but the keynote takeaway that I thought very interesting, and certainly most applicable to everyday life, was when the instructor said, "There is no such thing as an accident... but it's (instead) typically a place where unpreparedness meets with co-incidental circumstances." I think there is a lot of sage wisdom in that statement. What do you think???