SILENT DEATH LURKS FOR PLEASURE BOATERS

SF Chronicle ^ | 7/18/03 | Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Damn - I knew that CO buildup was dangerous in the cabin, but this is a new one by me. It does make sense, though - CO being heavy and all.

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[tdadams]

Sounds like just another excuse for a liberal newspaper to put the kibosh on anything that's fun.

[alisasny]

Bottom line is the kid should have been wearing a vest. Really no excuse for that. The kid was only 11 and while perhaps a good swimmer could he swim all the way to shore with no vest? What if he hit his head and sunk?

[chris1]

This is another sick lawsuit. Everyone with a boat knows to stay far far away from the prop while it is running. Second, how old was this kid? If the father 27 y/o, the kid can't be more than 10 or 12, and he lets him do this without a life jacket??????

[x1stcav]

I've spent a big part of my life around boats, both power and sail, and I think this is another contrived product liability lawsuit. You're right, CO is heavier than air and most of the time boats are moving. Lastly, if you're on the ocean there is almost always wind blowing.

The only time I've felt dizzy in a marina was because of incipient AlCoHl poisoning.

[Piquaboy]

There is only one remedy. Confiscate all the boats.

[dennisw]

I find this hard to believe that CO can have any effect in the great outdoors. It has to be easier to be hit by a meteorite than to be killed by CO coming off a boat engine.

This is lawyer propelled OBVIOUSLY!

[pabianice]

BAN BOATS! If it saves just one child...

[clamper1797]

What an absolute pantload ...

[stainlessbanner]

45 deaths nationwide since 1990

How many wore life vests? How many were Coast Guard certified to operate a boat?

There's more to this story

[Space Wrangler]

It happens. And mostly to kids who want to body surf off the back of the swim paltform on the newer ski boats. I actually took part in an attempted rescue of a 13 y/o girl about 5 yrs ago who had succumbed to CO2 poisoning. Sadly, she wasn't recovered, and that one ended up being a fatality. It's not anywhere near as dangerous as this article lets on, but it is a problem none the less. The main thing to do is steer clear of the boats exhaust, which by the very nature of how boats discharge exhaust, menas to just stay away from the back of the boat while it's underway. If you do have to be at the back of the boat for some reason, wear a life jacket. It's not the CO2 that gets you, it just knocks you out. It's the falling in the water and unconsiously sucking in water while attepting to breathe that kills. I have heard of CO2 poisonings happen on houseboats and cruisers, but that is when there is a malfunction with the exhaust system. My houseboat has CO2 detectors throughout, but the way the boat is made renders it nearly inpossible for CO2 build-up to be a problem on my particular boat. The easy way to avoid 90-95% of these CO2 induced drownings, is to not allow any body surfing from the swim platform. And I'd rather see the boating community educate boaters about it instead of passing yet another law.

[N. Theknow]

Did this happen on a SUB?

Sport Utility Boat

[capt. norm]

"You're right, CO is heavier than air "

Sorry...it isn't heavier than air. It weighs slightly less (0.98) than air and although it is odorless, the combustion products that accompany it (tyical engine emission) can be easily detected by scent.

[FourPeas]

How tragic. It sounds more like a weird fluke than any sort of terrible danger for which anyone should be sued. I don't have a problem with the kid not wearing a life vest. At that age, I was a strong enough swimmer that I wouldn't have needed a vest to stay afloat for long, long periods of time -- as long as I wasn't poisoned with carbon monoxide.

[clamper1797]

carbon DI-oxide is heavier than air MON-oxide is not

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The CO situation is dangerous, but I can't believe that any responsible, rational minded boat owner (let alone a parent!) would allow this activity, as described, to be performed behind his boat.

"Honestly, I thought it was the safest thing I've done in my boat," said Sean McKune, 29, Farr's neighbor and the owner of the ski boat.

To me, this statement proves that Sean McKune is a fool and needs to attend some Power Squadron training.

Without the traditional tether to the person in the wake, the possiblity is very good that the surfer could go under and be dragged along under the water and not be able to surface. Long enough to drown even without help from the CO. Very much like being caught in an undertow.

[gridlock]

If you're two feet from the exhaust while the boat putt-putts along at low speed through a dead calm, I could see this happening. These boats put out an awful lot of exhaust.

Of course, this problem could be solved if people stopped doing really stupid things like hanging out two feet from the exhaust while the boat putt-putts along at low speed through a dead calm...

I will bet you dollars to donuts that this boat had prominently placed warnings about staying off the swim platform while the boat is in operation. If it had an even bigger warning, going into the ins and outs of Carbon Monoxide toxicology, do you think it would have changed a thing?

People do stupid things on boats every day. Sometimes it ends in tragedy.

[chris1]

This whole thing seems rather bizarre to me. Suing in this case is typical if many freeloading attorneys. This coming from an attorney myself.