27' Chris Craft capsizes on Lake Tahoe

[jhnmdahl]

I normally think of a boat that size on a lake, even as big as Tahoe, being relatively safe. See https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-toll-c ... 46648.html

edit - another story with more info on conditions that day: https://www.yahoo.com/news/lake-tahoe-b ... 00648.html

[Lifelongbtr]

It's a 27' boat, but not the amount of room you'd typically see in a 27' boat, 10 adults would be packed in, that's probably the max capacity. Also the freeboard is far less than an R series, especially in the back. More of a luxury cruiser.

[jhnmdahl]

I just looked up the Chris Craft launch 27 (guessing the 27' that capsized was similar), and it definitely feels like a calm days and sunny weather boat. Freeboard on my 210 looks higher, although I don't think I'd want to get caught in waves more than a couple feet with that either. No way I'd want to be on that Chris Craft with more than about six people, unless it was for a very quick ride somewhere.

[AsLan7]

Wow. That’s shocking how big those waves became. As a Great Lakes boating family we are always monitoring the weather conditions but this storm on Tahoe takes it to another level.

Be careful out there.

Thanks for the post gents.

[Lifelongbtr]

Some info from local news and a link someone sent me taken from camp Richardson.


"The boat took water on, stalled the engine," said Sam Singer, the family spokesperson. "The water that was being taken on caused the boat to capsize and the occupants were thrown into Lake Tahoe."

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15bY9B ... tid=wwXIfr

[jhnmdahl]

That video really drives home how difficult it can be for small boats in waves like that. I've always sort of wished my bilge pump had a "normal" mode and a half-horsepower "well crap" mode, although I don't know how well it could have saved those boats that day.

[Lifelongbtr]

Yeah, 6’ wave 6’ apart is a lot different than what you’d see on the ocean or probably Great Lakes where they’re spread out more. Can be unrelenting…I think they say wave patterns can be 10% of what you’d typically see in the ocean, who knows what they saw that day…