About to go over Dam

[HangOutdoors]

Makes me nervous just seeing the picture from above.

Texas boat nearly goes over edge of dam, occupants rescued, officials say | Fox News

 

[Dave burke]

Yikes! How high is the dam?

 

[HangOutdoors]

No Idea, perhaps someone here boats around there.

 

[YamaHog]

I heard on the news that it's about a 36 ft. drop to concrete below. They are all very lucky! This happened on the Colorado River in Austin, TX. The name of the dam is Longhorn dam. What I was thinking when watching the story on the news, is how the hell did they get their boat that close to the dam!!? Supposedly the boat was a rental so maybe they were not familiar with boating rule & regulations, but on every body of water I've been on there are buoys and/or signs with "DANGER" spelled out in big letters that say "no boat traffic past this point, spillway/dam ahead". How they got to the state they were in is beyond me. Maybe somebody from TX that's been to this location can shed some more light as to how this could happen. Glad everybody made it out safe!

 

[HangOutdoors]

Well when you look at the image and short video, they seem kind of chill. AT 36ft, I would of been shitting myself.

 

[anmut]

Yeah, very relaxed for being near a three story drop to concrete. All the dams around here are roped off, it would be near impossible to go over/close to one with an outboard and not snag the safety cable. Now a jet boat...

 

[Babin Farms]

We have so many buoys and cables before the dams around here even if your not paying attention you'll know sunthin ain't right before your about to go over. My 10 & 11yr old kids know enough to steer clear of the dams, I would think a few adults would.......but then again, it's too much for grown ass adults to think for themselves anymore.
Takes me back to my favorite gif.

 

[anmut]

We have so many buoys and cables before the dams around here even if your not paying attention you'll know sunthin ain't right before your about to go over. My 10 & 11yr old kids know enough to steer clear of the dams, I would think a few adults would.......but then again, it's too much for grown ass adults to think for themselves anymore.

They look like a buncha newbies. Either that's a rental boat, or more likely, it looks like an older runabout that someone bought out of a barn, fired up and took the fam out on.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Still, one is almost hanging over the dam just laying back kind of.

 

[RobbieO]

That's pretty careless not having the approach to the dam roped off.

 

[YamaHog]

So apparently Lady Bird Lake where this happened in Austin is a no wake zone (the entire lake!), and only electric boat s are allowed.

What boats are and are not allowed on Lady Bird Lake

Only electric boats with low horsepower are allowed on the lake. Boats must also travel no faster than 4 mph.

www.kvue.com

 

[David Martin]

Ouch!!!! glad it ended well. Battery's get weak, strong current could end poorly.

 

[ZGhost]

Don’t be so quick to judge others, what if they had a problem, an engine issue, gas or battery issue, steering issue, and then they slowly drifted! It’s not always human’s fault, the machine breaks down guys. We’ve all been there, right?

That's pretty careless not having the approach to the dam roped off.

completely agree @RobbieO

 

[Babin Farms]

I’d normally be like you @ZGhost and understanding but after watching a news story on it and the fact they had no life jackets and admitted they weren’t even paying attention I have no issue with giving the grief. IMO they shouldn’t have even been out there. I’m glad no one was hurt but being ignorant or not aware of the rules/laws usually never turns out well.