Yesterday, a severe storm blew through the SW Missouri tourist area around Branson bringing 60 mph winds. The storm caught an amphibious DUKW (known as a Duck) on Table Rock lake, capsizing the vehicle. There were 31 on board, 13 of which drowned and another 5 are still missing. More
I often joke around here that riding the ducks that tour the Wisconsin Dells is on my bucket list. I didn’t mean it literally. – Dr. Tar
this is a terrible, god awful tragedy
families were looking forward to this summer fun
i am at a loss for words
please god be with these folks who survived but are suffering greatly tonight and keep them strong
rip to those lost
This is an unspeakable tragedy, and made worse by the prospect that it was preventable. Those vehicles are not safe in high wind and chop, and there was a storm warning a little over a half hour before the disaster. To top it off, one of the survivors said he asked for a life vest and the “captain” told him all was OK and he didn’t need one (story from local Fox station here)
BTW, it is 17 dead now.
The life jackets are easy to get to, I would have ignored the captain and put one on. I also would have jumped off the boat after the first time it plunged under water. Those windows are just plastic that is rolled down, some are snapped others are attached with velcro.
I totally agree this was avoidable, these days it’s pretty darn easy to track storms and warnings had been issued before they went into the water.
I think the previous owners took safety a lot more serious than the new owners.
In a former life, I’ve spent lot of time on the water. Who the hell takes any small craft with no free board out when 60 mph winds are forecast? I’m familiar with Table Rock Lake. It can get some big water. Very sad.
They went out without life vests! I think I would have got up and left when I saw they didn’t provide any. Poor people.
These are the same as those old military boats. How did they fare in vietnam?
The water is unforgiving for those who don’t respect it. And even for those that do.
Either they were running the boat with a greenhorn who didn’t know how chop will toss you or was driven by an owner who wanted fares no matter what.
Sorry but there are plenty of tools out there nowadays.
It sucks to face big chop in a small boat. Damned scary.
There was fear and malaise during that. I’d have rather the dead not suffered that. Be at peace, rest, and know you were loved.
Look up “Seattle Duck Boats”. I would never get on one.
Lax over site, not real “Captains” of the boat.
Geoff – I would never get into one of those boats.
And this is coming from a person who once rode in a canoe between two islands with mean little creatures in the water beneath us.
I believe those are WWII vintage.
My prays go out to all involved.
Horrible thing to happen to good people
trying to have summer fun.
There was originally 32 on the SS Minnow, but they don’t talk about that much…
You would fair better in a kayak than a duck boat.
I suspect that industry is about to sink down to Davy Jones’ locker.
“These are the same as those old military boats. How did they fare in vietnam?”
It’s a WWII boat/thing. To my knowledge we never used them because they were to dangerous. I’ve been caught twice in huge water in a 21 foot bass boat. You need to get up on top of the swells and ride them back in. When you get back to your trailer you will have pinch marks in your seat.
Been on Lake Michigan numerous times with small craft advisory. Twice caught out with no warning where it got real bad. Lake Eire once where something like that blew up and we were lucky to make harbor. At least if they had put on their PDF’s they would have had a chance. Betting all who drown were not wearing them and for that the “Captain” is responsible. If he survived he will be second guessing himself for as long as he lives and that might not be long depending on how he deals with this.
The “free board” on those things is crap. Rather to be in a 21′ to 24′ deep V and they would have made harbor. Saw a fishing boat in the background in the video and they made it to shore. No business going out with storm warnings like they had. Some lawyers are going to have an easy one on this one, but that doesn’t bring back the dead.
The mention above of “previous owners” brings a huge question. How much experience in the “captains” piloting these things? Have also spend many years fishing the great lakes with nothing larger than a 24’er. When we went “deep” the weather radio was always on without changing channels. Even with that you always paid attention to the horizon and weather.
I’d say piss poor judgement even with not being there!
Anything built to perform more than one function never performs any of them well. Main reason there are no flying cars.
From what I’ve been told and I have ridden these numerous times, the original boats did not have canopies. Those were added for the convenience of tourists.
Ripleys just bought them out in December and took over in January of this year.
In years past if it was raining they wouldn’t take you up the hill to Table Rock and they certainly wouldn’t take you out with a t-storm and high winds warning.
Looking at the timeline, the duck that made it to shore left at 6 and the duck that sank left at 6:15. Due to the horrible traffic in Branson along with them pointing out landmarks it takes about 30 minutes to get to the ramp where they go into the lake. The other duck apparently had mechanical issues and they sent another duck holding them up about 20 minutes. The warning was out at 6:30, not to mention it wasn’t like anyone couldn’t look at radar and see the storm heading for them, Springfield had already been hit with the storm.
According to the locals Ripleys has changed a lot of things, fewer mechanics, more tours and increased ticket prices. I lean towards owners who want as many tours as possible and a stupid captain who thought they could beat the storm.
It’s pilot error. You ride the downside of the wave and then goose it to keep your bow high on the crest of the next wave. never let big waves hit your port or stern.
If your on a lake, even a big lake, you work your way for a catastrophic beaching and then picture who you might want to eat if rescue is a ways away…
@bad Brad.
19 ft mako center console 140 hp off the southern point of cape cod when it went to shit all of a sudden. You try to quarter the waves on the upswell but it tries to move you sideways on the way down and you leave your feet while cranking furiously to right your craft for the next wave.
A boat ride of 5 minutes on the way out turned into an hour of mortal combat on the way back.
I literally kissed the ground when we landed.
On my first trip on my new/ old 24’ with no radio to Catalina island with no clue about whether, coming back we had a storm blow us off course to about 15 miles south of San Pedro where we put in. It was a long haul. I never went out again without a radio and a weather report. Near death with my co owner, my wife who never trusted me outside the harbor again and finally our new insurance agent somehow tagged along. I wonder if he was thinking about his life insurance?
PHenry
On top of the two stories I was referencing above, had the entire fam damily on a house boat trip on Shasta in July once. Had a nasty ass storm come blowing down the middle of the lake well after dark. we were moored on an island. When the shit hit it tried to pinch my bass boat in between the house boat and some big ass rocks. I jumped into my boat while yelling over my shoulder to the wife “Fire this bitch up and throw her in hard reverse”.
Got the bass blaster out in the nick and managed to get a front nav light on so the wife could see where I was. It was pitch black and raining so hard the auto bilge pumps were running hard. We floated out there until the cell pasted. She found the spot lights on the house boat and we went back in and moored right where we came from. The wife rammed the houseboat up on the beach and we swapped places, she pulled off in the bass boat while I got the house boat staked in. After that she pulled the bass boat up and we tied it off. What a night. It was that night I found out I married a cool customer. We laughed our asses off the next morning.
@PHenry You are right about small boats in big water. I believe the most scared I’ve ever been is when I did something very stupid. I took my 1965 Fiberglide boat (a tiny little thing) with a 25 HP engine out into the Sabine River ship channel towards the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted to see where the jetties ended. Soon, ocean swells started rolling into the channel and by the time I realized I had done something very stupid, I turned and headed back. The swells were overtaking me and most of the time, all I could see was mountains of water around me. The boat couldn’t go as fast as the swells were rolling in and I was either trying to climb a mountain of water or trying to stay ahead of the mountain of water that was chasing me. I knew the gravity of the situation at that point and I was as scared as I’ve ever been. Thank God, I managed to go far enough up the channel which was several miles to get out of the effect of the swells. I learned a valuable lesson that day. To this day, I ask myself what the hell was I thinking.
These things are not boats. They are basically Deuce-and-a-halfs (2.5ton cargo trucks)with a water resistant shell, propeller, and rudder bolted on, striving to be marginally amphibious. They were rush developed by GMC for the D-Day landings, where they were used extensively. They were designed as a cheap, disposable, combat vehicle. A much better platform, the Amtrak amphibious assault vehicle, was used in Pacific Theater (the Marines still use evolutionary designs today).
The DUKWs may have been pulled out of mothballs for MacArthur’s Inchon amphib assault in the Korean Police Action. Pretty sure it was mostly Amtraks, though. All DUKWs were retired from U.S. inventories prior to Viet Nam, though I think other nations, notably France, may have used them there.
I would never ride in one in open water…hell, I’ll never ride in an APC, configured Amphib mode, again, either. The 150horse bilge pumps are the only reason the things float. Besides, with a toasty speed of 3-5 kts, they are most certainly ‘bullet magnets’. Fortunately the Army has wisely decided to leave Amphip Opns with the Devil Dogs…who know how to do it right!
TWD
If I remember correctly, several years ago, there was a similar Duck Boat issue in one of the lakes near Hot Springs, Arkansas.