Don Shift Sends: SHTF Lessons From a Ruined Girls’ Boat Trip

Let’s take a lesson about emergencies and preparedness from a boat fire/sinking this weekend. What does a ruined vacation mean for you when SHTF comes because of The Happening?

A buddy and I spent Memorial Day at the lake. Hundreds of thousands of American boaters had the same idea. Mid-morning, we observed a plume of white smoke on the water. Not a big deal, lots of boats throw up spray and might, to the government’s dismay, throw up a lot of exhaust from time to time. This continued. At first we thought someone was grilling breakfast, but it dawned on us that the volume of smoke in the middle of the lake was excessive and unusual. A small powerboat was having an engine fire.

The boat was about a half-mile from us and all we could see with the naked eye was a column of white smoke about 20 feet high and 3-4 people aboard. Two moved forward to the bow and another was in the stern. Using a camcorder (it’s like having a binocular/telescope that can record) we were able to see two females in the bow, lifejackets on, trying to say out of the smoke. A third person was bailing water onto the engine.

The fire was suppressed relatively quickly without too much apparent effort. The onboard fire extinguisher and bucket must have worked. We never saw black smoke. The fire was over in less than five minutes, but now the boat was dead in the water. We speculated that it had been something minor and the parties overreacted. Since the boat was not far from the marina, we assumed the tow boat or the Rangers would be on the way presently.

Another five minutes passed. The beached boaters to our left were taking their time getting their boat ready to assist. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes after they noticed that the “captain” finally decided to start unmooring. Yours truly and his companion were tailgating in on the shore because the latter’s boat was broken…again. Since my buddy was retired from the Navy, we would have already been rendering aid if we were afloat.

About the time that our “neighbors” were firing up the engine, the stranded boaters were flagging down passing boats. Several went by clueless to the girls waving their arms. We noticed that one person was in the water swimming with a lifejacket on trying to tow the boat to shore while a second person paddled. The passing boat saw, stopped, turned and towed the boat to shore and beached it not far from us.

We discovered that the boat had been “manned” by three girls from Southern California having a girl’s trip to the lake in someone’s borrowed/rented boat. An unknown engine problem occurred, a fire resulted, and the fire burned through the fiberglass hull, causing it to take on water. It sank, stern first, at the shoreline, not long after it was beached.

The girls had no marine radio. The boat did not have one and they didn’t have a handheld radio either. They had been totally unable to call for help. I’m not sure of the signal propagation in that area of the lake, but they probably did have cell service, so 911 was potentially an option. Instead, they didn’t know any better than to attempt self-rescue and wait for a good Samaritan.

What lessons can we draw from this?

1. Normalcy bias and inaction in emergencies. My buddy and I didn’t process the smoke immediately because we were distracted (no comment on beer’s involvement) and smoke/dust/spray is not unusual. The smoke was also not black, which is indicative of materials or liquid fuels being consumed. Typically white smoke is usually steam or a sign that the fire is under control. Our neighbors with the boat were watching as long as we were, but were in a position to help (they had a boat; we had pickups). However, they seemed to not want to unbeach the boat and ride to the rescue, although they had binoculars, knew full well what was going on, and didn’t even radio it in. They were slow to act until they saw that the boat was in real trouble (when they were paddling for shore).
2. Communications are often a matter of survival. A mayday call on Ch. 16 would have made a difference for sure. The rescue boaters who performed the tow did call the Rangers (who responded after about half-an-hour from across the lake). Being Memorial Day, there were tons of people out who could have heard a mayday and responded. I can understand girls boating alone for the first time not having a personal marine radio or even one being in some cheapskate’s boat, but marine radios are probably the Number One lifesaver of mariners in history.
3. You can’t depend on other people. My buddy and I were unable to do little more than watch. Had we understood earlier that the girls didn’t have a radio, or if help was not forthcoming, we could have gotten a better line of sight than our “campsite” and called 911. The boaters next to us were reluctant to unmoor (maybe they’d been drinking already) or simply didn’t want to bother since there were no visible flames and the boat was afloat. Despite often being accused of misogyny, the girls were smart and decided to self-rescue with their paddleboard paddle and the strongest swimmer pulling the boat to shore.
4. Survival depends on mentality. The ladies were first-time boaters (alone) and had no concept of emergencies. To them, boating was little different than driving. What could go wrong if they weren’t foolish? They had no conception of the need for an emergency radio or that an engine could catch on fire mid-lake, melt through the hull, and start flooding. Even so, they weren’t stupid or frozen in fear. The fire was put out, the uninvolved pair got away from the fire, and they began to self-rescue.
5. If you have an engine fire, don’t open the compartment. This goes for a boat or car. Don’t open the hatch or hood. This will allow the fire much greater oxygen and might flash in your face. Open the hood/hatch just enough to get a fire extinguisher nozzle in there and empty it. If the fire is suppressed, leave it shut. If you need to add water, try to do it without opening the compartment back up and if you do, have LOTS of water ready. Ideally you’d want a hose spraying when you open it and to douse the engine.

Would a mixed-sex or all-male group fared better, all things considered? I think it slightly more likely that a man would have a better understanding of the risks and have a radio aboard. Guys tend to be more mechanical and technical, which would put them in a better position to think “I need a radio” or “That radio looks cool” and have one. Women, especially unexperienced ones who let their boyfriends/dads do all the boating before now, might not understand the importance of a radio. Not a sexist thing, but you don’t know what you don’t know. An emergency is a bad time to for the good idea fairy to make an appearance when she should have shown up yesterday.

Imagine if they had even a Baofeng (not waterproof) in a dry bag they could have pulled out. You know you can jailbreak them and plug in Channel 16 (156.8 MHz), right? As NC Scout says in The Guerilla’s Guide to the Baofeng Radio, you need alternate forms of communications that aren’t electronics. What if it was night? Would they be seen waving their hands an a paddle? It’s not just comms; alternate meeting places, travel procedures, supplies, etc.

In conclusion, SHTF will happen one way or another. It could be a mundane boating accident or it could be the figurative end of the world. People aren’t going to make it because they are ignorant, they are stupid, they are unprepared, because they have no help, or all of the above. People will not notice something is wrong until too late, they may not react at all, or they may react inappropriately. You cannot expect anyone to have the tools (mental and physical) to properly respond to emergent events. You also need to plan to be on yourself. As Matt Graham’s Killhouse Rules say:

• Nobody is coming to save you.
• Everything is your responsibility.
• Save who needs to be saved.

About the author: Don Shift is a veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and author of the Suburban Defense/Rural Home Defense series, a cop’s guides to surviving riots, civil war, or SHTF. Visit www.donshift.com or follow @donshift3 on Twitter.