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FDNY Marine units rescued a man as his boat sank off of Roosevelt Island.

The FDNY freed a sailboat that had gotten stuck under the Roosevelt Island bridge on Saturday morning, officials said.

A man was rescued by FDNY Marine units after the vessel’s mast got wedged in the steel work on the bridge at about 7:15 a.m., a spokesperson told The Post.

In coordination with Department of Transportation bridge operators the boat was freed “with minimal damage,” according to FDNY.

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sailboat stuck under bridge

KMGH - Denver, Colorado

Man allegedly stole California family’s sailboat before getting it stuck under bridge

sailboat stuck under bridge

A man who allegedly stole a large sailboat in Sacramento, California, didn’t get very far.

Authorities say the suspect, Anthony Abernathy, boosted the boat on the Sacramento River, but he couldn’t navigate under the city’s Tower Bridge, a vertical lift bridge.

The owner of the boat, Jack Holsey, told KOVR that family friends saw the suspect trying to untie the vessel from the dock, but before they could tie the boat back up, it set sail.

A witness, Ian Kelley, told KOVR that he saw the whole thing happen from his jet ski.

“I was just thinking, 'this isn’t right, this thing up against our iconic bridge. Something has to be done,'” Kelley told the news station.

The boat ended up getting stuck under the bridge and Abernathy was apprehended by law enforcement on theft-related charges.

The Sacramento Police Department told KOVR that there was actually another report filed about Abernathy and the boat a week before. However, officers say there wasn’t enough evidence to show a crime was committed at that time.

The boat’s owner says his son had been working on the boat after being paralyzed in a car crash several months ago. The family planned to use it or sell it to make some money on it someday.

“We never ever planned in 100 years that this would ever come to pass,” Holsey told KOVR.

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Update: Empty sailboat stuck beneath Hampton Blvd. bridge now free

UPDATE: The sailboat that was stuck under the Hampton Blvd. bridge for three days is finally free.

Crews were able to get the boat from under the bridge at around 8 p.m. on Friday night.

The boat's owner says he is taking it to Portsmouth for minor repairs.

A 32-foot sailboat is stuck beneath the Hampton Blvd. bridge after drifting overnight, likely due to the strong winds.

Norfolk fire crews first contacted the Coast Guard at 1:50 a.m. to alert them of the situation.

The bridge and boat were not damaged. According to Coast Guard officials, the boat's anchor drifted towards the bridge. The boat is partially grounded. The boat did not make contact with the bridge, but is under the bridge.

The Coast Guard contacted the owner, 20-year-old ODU student Tommy Chiffriller, who arrived at the bridge later in the morning.

Chiffriller rappelled from the bridge down onto the boat to secure it for the time being. He says he will come back at high tide to remove the boat.

Chiffriller says the boat had originally been anchored in the middle of the Lafayette River.

The boat does not pose a risk to anyone and no one is on board.

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sailboat stuck under bridge

If You Give A Child A Book

Watch CBS News

Sailboat Gets Stuck Under Roosevelt Island Bridge

June 24, 2020 / 6:45 PM EDT / CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was not smooth sailing for a boat after it got stuck under the Roosevelt Island Bridge on Wednesday afternoon.

Untitled-2

Video shows the boat in distress just after noon.

Fire officials say the mast got lodged in the girders.

The bridge had to be opened to free it.

An FDNY marine crew towed the boat to City Island.

There was only one passenger on board. They were not hurt.

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Best way to get under a low bridge

  • Thread starter rajhnsn
  • Start date May 13, 2016
  • Forums for All Owners
  • Ask All Sailors

rajhnsn

On my recent trip down to the Chesapeake Bay from my home town north of Philadelphia, I had to go under a train bridge that I have requested an opening for several times in the past. The surprise this dreary 55 degree spring morning at high tide was that the response to the request for an opening from the Delair Train bridge was that the bridge was under repair and was not able to open. From the advertisement when I bought the boat, I was aware that the height above the water is 47 feet 2 inches on my boat. Could this really be trusted? The bridge operator said there was 49 feet showing but the tide was still coming in. It was another 45 minutes by the time I got to the bridge. It was showing 47 feet when we arrived. This was of course too close for comfort so I did a circle close to the bridge to see how close it actually was. For anyone who has ever done this it is very difficult to tell from the cockpit if you are going to hit or not, so we pulled away and headed back to the nearest Yacht Club up river from the bridge to wait for the tide to go down a few feet. Bridesburg Yacht Club was more than generous and accommodating to our plight and allowed us to stay on their dock for a few hours. In the mean time we sent a rope to the top of the mast and measured it. Next we added the length from the top of the deck to the water. The result was close to 47 feet when we added the wind vane and antenna. At about 11:00 we were ready for another try at the bridge. It showed 49 feet when we came up to it. Enough is as good as a feast of course but caution was called for just in case so I approached the bridge sideways and actually backed threw because of the strong current. My reasoning was that if we did hit, I would have better control moving forward into the current than if I had to pull back in reverse. My crew razed me for being too cautious and making a crazy maneuver under the bridge. What do you think? Should I have just gone for it?  

All U Get

We have a mast of 63 feet and have lights, etc. on the masthead so we need 64+ to get under any bridge. The Atlantic ICW has accurate tide boards for nearly all the bridges and we routinely slow, stop, or turn around for any that don't read above 64 feet. We've had other boats pass us while going under causing a wake which nearly caused damage to our boat on several occasions. We also call other boats on the radio to get tide board readings before getting close to a bridge so we can anchor or find a marina to wait for the tide to lower. You made a good choice of waiting. Your next choice is the crew members allowed back on the next trip. All U Get  

Tom G P-21

njlarry

just cut off the crews supply of alcohol and then watch them really grouse  

Rich Stidger

Rich Stidger

I plan to go south from RI to SC and the numerous 65' bridges give me nightmares. My mast is 63.5' plus a light, wind transducer, and VHF antenna. I think I need a full 65'++ to clear. I have considered a plan to rig a wireless or wired camera that is attached to a gimbal mount so it always points horizontal and such that I can hoist it to the top of my mast to look out straight to a bridge. I was thinking that a pig-stick kind of rig like you would use for a masthead flag might work. Then I could evaluate the actual clearance from the cockpit as though I was at the masthead. What do you think? Workable or dumb idea?  

Gunni

Coming down the Delaware is one thing, but if you are headed south of the Ches Bay the only section you really need to consider being inside is Cape Hatteras - where the weather can stay bad for weeks. Everywhere else we just chill out and wait for weather Windows and go off, returning to port when warranted. Even with layovers it is quicker and no bridge nonsense.  

jssailem

Clever idea. Might not like what you see. Spend to much time looking at the screen "Can I make it.... yes.... no... yes... no... SMACK. OOPS." That might make an interesting youtube video. Friend bought a Moody 47. Had his rigger check out the mast before sailing. Discovered a damaged mast head not disclosed in survey or by broker. Turns out during a return from a service yard clean up the boat worker bounced off the train bridge on west side of Ballard Locks in Seattle WA. Damaged the furler extrusion about 7-8 feet below the mast head which had been repaired, but the kiss was enough force to deform the forward end of thebmast head plate on the Selden mast. Mast has been in the yard for 2 months while the search for repair parts goes on estimated cost $7-10k maybe more. Train bridge usually open - unless train due in the next 30 minutes. Boat worker distracted by text on phone. Low bridges can be nasty things.  

Always send your surveyor to the masthead.  

capta

Rich Stidger said: I plan to go south from RI to SC and the numerous 65' bridges give me nightmares. My mast is 63.5' plus a light, wind transducer, and VHF antenna. I think I need a full 65'++ to clear. I have considered a plan to rig a wireless or wired camera that is attached to a gimbal mount so it always points horizontal and such that I can hoist it to the top of my mast to look out straight to a bridge. I was thinking that a pig-stick kind of rig like you would use for a masthead flag might work. Then I could evaluate the actual clearance from the cockpit as though I was at the masthead. What do you think? Workable or dumb idea? Click to expand

John T1594

We sail our Hunter 340 in the Barnegat Bay region of New Jersey (NOAA Chart 12324). There are two fixed span bridges that limit travel at each end of the bay and Intracoastal Waterway. To the south, there is a fixed span bridge at Manahawkin Bay, carrying Route 72 East from the Jersey mainland to the barrier island. The bridge is charted at 60 feet of vertical clearance at mean high water. My mast stands 56 feet off the water and normally I would not worry about passing under this bridge on a low or falling tide. The tide boards at the bridge, however, indicate that the vertical clearance ranges between 56 - 58 feet depending upon the state of the tide. On our first trip under and with a clearance of 57 feet showing on the tide boards we stood off and debated for some time before venturing slowly and carefully through. Perhaps I should have turned back but we made it through with the VHF antenna intact but don't really know what the true clearance is at that location. I wrote to NOAA and received a polite reply that they will post a notice. At the northern end of Barnegat Bay is a double bridge near the mouth of Toms River, carrying Route 35 East to the barrier island. The East bound lanes of Route 35 are carried by an older Bascule bridge with a closed vertical clearance of 30 feet. The West bound lanes of Route 35 are carried by a fixed bridge with a charted vertical clearance of 60 feet. When you approach this bridge on the water from the south the tide boards only indicate the clearance under the Bascule bridge. A call on VHF channel 9 to the polite bridge tender will get the Bascule bridge to open but he will not tell you the minimum clearance of the fixed bridge. Local knowledge has it that the fixed bridge was built with 62 feet of vertical clearance but has settled two feet or more over the years. What to do? Based upon my experience with the Manhawkin Bay bridge, I suspect that even if I could see them for the fixed bridge the tide boards will be of little or no help. It is a long way around these bridges, out into the ocean and through two problematic inlets.  

Attachments

DSCN0685.JPG

Gunni said: Always send your surveyor to the masthead. Click to expand

There is a lot of good info on Active Captain on the troublesome bridges. If you have experience with a trouble spot, post it with them so we all can share. All U Get  

MrBill_FLL

PaulK

Rich, I've done the trip several times with a 63' 4" mast. You just have to take your time. Here are tips: Take the windvane and light down. Why risk them getting knocked off. For an anchor light - hang a portable light in the rigging. You will be under power so you won't be using a tricolor for navigation lights. You can leave the VHF antenna assuming it is the standard flexible whip (the antenna will "twang" loudly as it snaps under each bridge girder. This may cause a certain amount of butt puckering ) South of Beaufort, NC you have significant tide range. So if you pass under a bridge more than 2 hours from high tide you have very little to worry about (but check the height boards anyways). By leaving early or stopping for lunch it's usually easy to time the bridges to miss high tide. Your mind goes numb after about six hours of motoring in the ICW so just plan the best use of those six hours. But from The locks at ICW Mile 8 to Beaufort NC there is no lunar tide to speak of. And wind and rain can raise the water level 1-2ft. If you are unlucky enough to be there in high water, you may have to wait 3-4 days for the water to got down. Just be patient. The attached picture is the bridge that gives me the most trouble - Pungo Ferry at Mile 26. No tide range. You can instead try going down the Dismal Swamp route but this has a tricky bridge too. No other way to avoid except by going outside Hatteras. In the picture my VHF antenna bent just about double - so the bridge was 63' 10" by my calculation. A storm had raised the water some. You can see by the staining on the board that it can be worse. The Wilkerson Bridge farther south is also feared but can be avoided if you take the alternate (and actually shorter) route past Roanoke island - and it's a prettier trip. I also had the idea of a camera and put on in the mast head. It didn't help. When the clearance is less than 12" or so, it's impossible to judge the angle until you are too close to stop. There's enough wind and current at most bridges that you usually need to keep up 3-4 knots to keep steerage. (hitting an abutment isn't cool) Good luck Carl  

Screen Shot 2016-05-13 at 11.58.00 PM.png

It would be super cool to have a mast head remote camera viewable from cockpit mounted furano 10" screan that when switched from GPS to radar then to camera uses the joystick on unit to change x and y axis maybe even have usb port to capture data and WiFi to broadcast pict to phone you could check bridge hight then swing around point at cockpit and watch boat from office on work days  

CarlN said: Rich, I've done the trip several times with a 63' 4" mast. You just have to take your time. Here are tips: Click to expand

Love the idea of the camera. I agree that it may not work for bridges but I would love to have a bird's eye view of the area I'm in. Thanks for the support. I think I'll keep the crew now that I am vindicated. Great videos. I have a whole new concept of stepping a mast after watching the Three River's Race.  

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Police arrest man after stolen sailboat gets stuck under tower bridge.

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sailboat stuck under bridge

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A man was arrested Monday on theft charges after a stolen sailboat got stuck under the Tower Bridge, Sacramento police said.

Officers received the report of the stolen boat around 8:50 p.m., police said. The sailboat was found stuck against the bridge.

Police were seen using a jet ski to pull the boat free.

The man arrested has been identified as 36-year-old Anthony Abernathy.

sailboat stuck under bridge

Scary moment when tour boat gets stuck under a bridge is claustrophobics' worst nightmare

You may reconsider a romantic boat ride in Italy after witnessing the struggle of a TikTok user when the tour boat carrying her got stuck under a low bridge.

The viral video viewed more than 4 million times is the epitome of claustrophobia and it’s clearly not meant for someone with an irrational fear of confined space. However, the TikTok user had to experience the horror only briefly as she was able to get the boat to move, after a lot of trying.

Tour boat gets stuck under a low bridge in a scary video

TikTok user Mikaela was in Siracusa, Italy, when she decided to ride the tour boat under Ponte Umberto – a bridge popular among the tourists.

She appears calm as the boat heads in the direction of the rather narrow bridge and is seen laughing as they inch closer and closer.

She bends her body while in a sitting position once the boat is beneath the bridge, with barely any space between the walls surrounding it.

・ READ MORE: Captivating ‘Blind Man Teaches Girl to See’ video has TIkTok users hooked

The boat, with its sides rubbing against the walls of the bridge, continues to move before coming to a halt. When the other person in the video says “We are getting stuck”, is when Mikaela realizes they aren’t moving further.

@mikaelasays Took the boat tour under the “iconic” bridge. Then we got stuck. #siracusa #italy #boattour #travel #fyp ♬ original sound – mikaela

TikTok user uses body weight to move the boat

The TikTok user moves from her original position and goes to the other end of the boat so her weight would propel it to move, which it did after a few attempts.

As the boat emerges from the other side, Mikaela breathes a sigh of relief and places her hands on her chest to feel her heart pounding from the claustrophobic boat journey. She’s captioned the video: “Took the boat tour under the “iconic” bridge. Then we got stuck.”

Fellow users have seconded Mikaela after seeing the terrifying video.

One user wrote: “I don’t have claustrophobia, but I will after watching this.”

“Me struggling to breathe after watching this,” said another.

“My body would instantly see if I fit on the sides to jump off,” said a third user when another commented: “I would have started crying… wouldn’t have even put myself under that.”

The post Scary moment when tour boat gets stuck under a bridge is claustrophobics' worst nightmare appeared first on HITC .

Scary moment when tour boat gets stuck under a bridge is claustrophobics' worst nightmare

Tour boat gets stuck under a low bridge

@mikaelasays/TikTok Marco Ossino/Shutterstock

‘I was terrified’: Traveler’s tour boat gets stuck under a low bridge

"struggling to breathe watching this.".

Photo of Tricia Crimmins

Tricia Crimmins

Posted on Dec 11, 2023   Updated on Dec 12, 2023, 7:28 am CST

After a traveler’s tour boat got stuck under a bridge, she had to redistribute her weight to get the boat to fit under the low opening.

In a TikTok posted on December 3, Mikaela (@mikaelasays) a woman visiting Siracusa, Italy, shows how the tour boat she was on got stuck under a low bridge. She then moved to the front of the boat to lower it with her weight, and then the boat began moving again.

“Took the boat tour under the ‘iconic’ bridge,” Mikaela wrote in her video’s caption. “Then we got stuck.”

On Monday, Mikaela’s video had over 4 million views on TikTok.

@mikaelasays Took the boat tour under the “iconic” bridge. Then we got stuck. #siracusa #italy #boattour #travel #fyp ♬ original sound – mikaela

Despite seeming calm and collected, even laughing during the boat’s claustrophobic journey, Mikaela shared in her video’s comment section that she found the experience anxiety-provoking.

“I had to do some breathing exercises right when this video ended,” Mikaela wrote. “I was terrified.”

Many commenters said it was nerve-wracking just watching her video.

“Struggling to breathe watching this,” one wrote.

“I started panicking for you,” another said.

“This is horrifying,” a commenter wrote. “I’d be laying on the floor of the boat.”

The bridge seen in Mikaela’s video is Siracusa’s Ponte Umbertino , which connects mainland Sicily to the island of Ortigia. Boat tours such as the one Mikaela went on are a popular tourist attraction, offering sightseeing, swimming, and views of the Ortigia Coastline.

The island, and its boat tours, have been popular on travel TikTok , with many drawn to the island for its natural beauty. Some have even shared their own experiences with boat tours crossing beneath Ponte Umbertino.

In a video from April, TikTok user @momohrcjrgw shared a similar video of a boat passing beneath the infamous bridge.

@momohrcjrgw Scary boat ride in Ortigia Italy ♬ original sound – Magee farms

Two women can be seen laughing and crouching down as the boat squeezes through what seems like an impossibly low opening. Echoing sentiments shared in the comments of Mikaela’s video, one user wrote, “I’d be so claustrophobic.”

The Daily Dot has reached out to Mikaela via TikTok comment.

Tricia Crimmins is the IRL staff writer at the Daily Dot. She is also a New York-based comedian and an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Previously, she has written for Mashable, Complex Networks, and Moment magazine. She can be found on Twitter at @TriciaCrimmins.

Tricia Crimmins

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Boat gets stuck under a bridge at high tide in Great Yarmouth

  • Isobel Smith

The skipper of the vessel was left rather red faced after they got stuck under a bridge while travelling down the Norfolk Broads on Thursday

sailboat stuck under bridge

Credit: @mum2mogolipop

A boater had a rather embarrassing start to the day on Thursday after a vessel they had hired got stuck under a bridge at high tide.

The incident, which happened along the Norfolk Broads in Great Yarmouth, saw the boat become wedged under a footbridge at around 10am.

Related articles

  • Motorboat crashes into Richmond bridge

An RNLI lifeboat, police and the coastguard from Gorleston were all called to the scene to help the two crew onboard.

When they arrived, one crew had managed to get off safely and rescue crews then worked to get the second person off the vessel and placed a Broads Beat officer onboard.

As there was no danger to life, crews waited for authorisation from hire craft company Barnes Brinkcraft before attempting to recover the boat.

RNLI crewman Dave Kilpatrick said “The bridge is an old railway bridge that goes across the River Bure. You’ve got your main iron beams and you’ve got a couple of wooden beams as well, so if you look face on to the bridge you’ll think that you’ll get under it, but actually the bridge is almost three quarters of a foot lower because of the wooden beams.

The boat must have thought they’d just get through with the flood tide behind them and he went underneath and made contact with the wooden beam and because of the force of the tide that goes up the River Bure where he was, that pinned them against the wooden beam.”

After several attempts, she came free with some damage to the cabin roof and associated fixings.

The vessel was then secured on the River Bure before employees from the hire company came to assess the damage.

sailboat stuck under bridge

Towboat Goes Under Bridge

Series of photographs shows a towboat rolling under a bridge and emerging from the other side., david mikkelson, published march 5, 2002.

Claim:   Series of photographs shows a towboat rolling under a bridge and emerging from the other side.

Status:   True

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, 2002]

(The full series of photographs can be found on a variety of web site.)

Origins:   These are indeed real pictures of an incident that took place at Rooster Bridge on the Tombigbee River in southwest Alabama in 1979, as captured by a photographer for the Linden Democrat-Reporter .

As a poster on the message board at the RiverChat.com web site explained:

I'll try to be brief: April 28, 1979 — the CAHABA, Capt. Jimmy Wilkerson, was dropping 2 of his 4 barges through the east span of Rooster Bridge with intent of running around thru the lift span and catching them below. Pilot Earl Barnhart was on the tow helping the 2 deckhands take off safety wires, winch wires, etc. Wilkerson underestimated the current and got too close to the bridge, and

for some reason they had taken loose all rigging except the starboard. tow-knee wire. This wire pulled the starboard tow knee under the bridge, and when it broke, the towknee popped up and hung in the bridge steel. Now he's stuck, and the current laid the CAHABA onto the bridge, starboard side to. When the lower port deck went awash, the vessel rolled, went through the span, and came partially back up once it cleared. Capt. Wilkerson remained at the sticks; however, at one point he was straddled the starboard pilot house door frame, and the port front pilot house window blew out, filling the place with water.

The boat with the blue trim you see is the CATHY PARKER; she was waiting above for her turn. The CATHY radioed to the TALLAPOOSA, who was down the reach below Blacks Bluff, that something had happened to the CAHABA. Capt. Gary Grammer tied off the TALLAPOOSA's tow and light-boated to the CAHABA, where he pushed her out into a flooded corn field. The starboard 16-149 of the CAHABA was still running. The TALLAPOOSA then rescued the 3 crew members and secured the 2 loose CAHABA barges.

The photographer was from the Linden, Alabama, Democrat , en route to Meridian, Mississippi, and happened to get caught as the CAHABA blew for a draw at the Rooster bridge. What kept these pictures out of circulation for so long (we believe) was that the President of Warrior & Gulf, owners of the CAHABA, bought the negatives immediately after they were published in the Linden Democrat . I have a copy of the original published version, although it's a little worse for wear after 23 years.

What righted the vessel? She had just topped off with fuel at Demopolis, 14 miles upstream. The CAHABA has one central fuel tank forward the engines; had that tank been 1/2 full, she might have never come back up.

Another message board yielded the following account:

It was either late 1978 or early 1979, I have forgotten exactly, but anyway, I am close on either... The river is the Tombigbee River and this happened to be the record high water ever for that area. The towboat you see coming down on the bridge is the Motor Vessel Cahaba owned by Warrior Gulf Navigation out of Mobile, Alabama. Warrior Gulf is a subsidiary of Pittsburg Steel. I know you are familiar with Birmingham's coal mines and steel mills, and this company would haul iron pellets up to Birmingport and off-load to make steel plate. On the return the barges were filled with coal for export at the McDuffie Coal Terminal at the mouth of the Mobile River and at the head of Mobile Bay.

The Bridge was the Old Rooster Bridge (since demolished and removed - I saw the explosion to tear it down also) located below Demopolis, Alabama. The land-side highway dead ends at the bluff, and you can still drive to this site and imagine how high the river had to be to get to the bottom of the bridge...

The pass or Channel Span of the bridge was located on the far West side of the river, or on the opposite bank from the photographer's standpoint. In normal river flow, we would drop down near the rock bluff and steer through the opening to pass southward with our tows of coal barges. Normal loads were six barges, each measuring 195' X 35' and loaded to a 10' draft. This allowed each barge to carry approximately 2,000 tons of coal (times six = 12,000 tons times 2000 pounds = 24 Million pounds of cargo.) The boat is 1800 Horsepower twin engine diesel built in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. It is named after one of the eight "friendly" Indian tribes. It is the Motor Vessel Cahaba. At the "sticks" or helm is Captain Jimmie Wilkerson, a long time river pilot and was my personal friend - since deceased.

The river current was so very treacherous that we were forced to drop down to the bridge in the slack(er) water on the left descending bank and when we got down to the bridge, we uncoupled the boat from the barges and let the barges drift down under the bridge. The bottom of the bridge would "shave" the coal stacked in the barges off to a level surface. The next step was to back the vessel upriver and then go over to the far West side and traverse the bridge's channel span with the boat, and run down and catch the barges. It was just too dangerous to try to bring the barges through the bridge span in the current.

Anyway, Jimmie dropped down properly and with the entire rest of the crew standing on the barges for safety, he began to reverse his engines to back away. His stern would have to be kept directly pointed into the current or the boat would travel sideways like a kite without it's tail. Captain Jim was a fine pilot, but he made a small mistake and his stern was caught in the current, twisted sideways and the river smashed him into the bridge sideways. Notice that the boat re-surfaced right side up on the down stream side. What luck you say? Nope, WGN ballasted all their vessels with three to four feet of cement in the bottom. The boat was like a little yellow rubber duckie, and came back up like a duckie oughta do. The boat suffered major cosmetic damages, but little flooding because of water tight doors, except in the pilothouse. Notice the picture where the boat is not quite righted and you can see water pouring out of the wheelhouse door. The chair washes out, and Jimmie told me he was holding on to the controls with all his might to keep from going out the drain and into the river.

He was very shook up and you can see him approach the tow of barges downriver. Well he didn't get it together quite soon enough and he smashed into the barges, causing further damage.

I next saw Jimmie about a month after this and we had a cup of coffee together and talked about the incident. He was smoking a Camel Non-filter but didn't even need an ashtray beacuse his hands were still shaking too much for the ash to build up to any degree.

How do I know all this? I was on the boat that went through the bridge immediately before the Cahaba. The Motor Vessel James E. Philpott made the bridge and was headed south at close to 15 MPH. For all you who don't understand, that is very fast on a commercial towboat with that much tonnage.

Glad to pass this on to everybody... Captain Michael L. Smith

Last updated:   18 September 2006

  Sources:     Associated Press.   "KDOT Engineer Says Bill for Damaged Bridge Will Go to Driver's Company."     The Kansas City Star.   23 March 2006. -->

By David Mikkelson

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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  • Stupid Human Tricks While Boating/Fishing

Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today.

  • Thread starter Fun Times
  • Start date Nov 11, 2009

Fun Times

  • Nov 11, 2009

Bifflefan

boat teck said: bridge suffered minor cosmetic damage. The boat left with scratch marks on the roof. Click to expand...

kenmyfam

Supreme Mariner

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. OOPS, let the tires down  

Senior Chief Petty Officer

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. gotta laugh at some of the comments on that article. stuff about the cops patrolling too far out of jurisdiction with the boat.  

Thad

Lieutenant Junior Grade

  • Nov 12, 2009

wizbang 13

Seaman Apprentice

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. Good place for it !  

gonefishie

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. Wish the pic was bigger. Y'all reckon the trailer is a flat bed or an actual trailer made for that boat? sure would like to see what kind of tow truck it was.  

tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

Honorary moderator emeritus.

  • Nov 16, 2009

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. is was a semi. there are several pictures there. looks like it was new boat being delivered. truckers insurance is out a lot of $$$$.  

lckstckn2smknbrls

  • Nov 19, 2009

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. Here in the midwest with a couple of resurfacings of the road the bridge height signs can be off.  

Gary H NC

Fleet Admiral

lckstckn2smknbrls said: Here in the midwest with a couple of resurfacings of the road the bridge height signs can be off. Click to expand...
  • Nov 20, 2009
boat teck said: That is what most of the people are thinking happened, But do not know for sure. Click to expand...

Petty Officer 1st Class

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. should have let the air out of the tires! (old Boy scout trick).  

Gary H NC said: The pilot truck should have had that fiberglass rod set just above the height of the load he was escorting.If the rod hits then the big truck stops... Someone was not doing their job. Click to expand...
  • Nov 21, 2009
boat teck said: That is a good idea, Do most of the big load trucks require this rod or is it a option? Just curious, Thank's Click to expand...

jay_merrill

jay_merrill

Vice admiral.

  • Dec 4, 2009

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. By the looks of the photo, the trailer is a "low boy" - a "big truck" type trailer, with smaller rims than a standard flatbed. Luckily, it doesn't look like the cabin structure was heavily damaged. If anything, it looks like he might have knocked the radar and a few antennas off. ???  

  • Dec 8, 2009

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. Speaking of antenna, I watch this gargantuan of a boat knocked his off a few years ago. I was fishing near a causeway and this giant approached the bridge from the main lake heading toward the idle zone. My partner and I was commenting on the size of the boat when I noticed the antenna on it. It was huge and obviously not going to clear the bottom of the bridge. It looked like a fishing rod made for sperm whale or something. Peoples were gawking and pointing but the operator was oblivious. He started to go under the bridge and I said sheet, the cabin won't make it either then loud scraping noise, then snap. The top third of the antena went into the water. We were speechless as that boat kept on going.  

Lieutenant Commander

  • Dec 9, 2009

Re: Boat stuck under freeway bridge was to start sea trials today. "once the boat collided with the leading edge of the overpass, it was able to keep going through but was held there as Caltrans investigated the scope of damage." The above was in the article. I am surprised they stopped and notified Caltran at all unless they got reported to Caltran before they could get away. The pilot truck might have had trouble communicating with the trucker at a most inopportune time.  

IMAGES

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