Monaco, Lake Tahoe, Disasters Can Strike Any One, Any Place, at Any Time!
Fellow Woody Boater Steve Hanst near Monaco - Photos by Bulle.
One minute you’re out on your Riva on the Water handing out Grey Poupon to the common people, and next thing ya know.. GLUG, KAPOW! Two stories on the last day of Disaster Week.. The above and below images happened on.. September 11, 2001. Yes, 10 years ago and the same day as the world trade center. The pic is fellow Woody Boater Steve Hanst trying to get it onto the beach in France near Monaco in Ron’s Ariston . To make it worse they were part of a Riva parade when they went down. According to Steve…”Later that same day I was awarded first place for the boat handling contest that was held the day before. Ron got an award for having the only boat that sank.” So.. there ya go, even in Monaco, Ship happens.
All part of the fun, I suppose.
Now we turn to Lake Tahoe and what could have been a very tragic accident, thankfully no deaths, but darn close.
Ouch, Not good! Not Funny.. Not right!
This happened July 3, 2007 when a Cobalt …below…trying to blast home before dark after some time at a bar with the music blaring and a bunch of people on board in the same condition.
The Cobalt
The driver was launched out of the boat and did have a cracked vertebrae. Our partner in Riva Forum and fellow Woody Boater, Eric was in the engine bay and also launched but unhurt. Eric did all of the right things to keep the boat afloat and rescue the driver. The pictures tell the story.. OUCH, When I was out on Lake Tahoe with Eric, he talked a little about this.. The Colbalt just missed him, he was messing with the motor in the engine compartment and that may have saved his life! DAMMMMMMM! The images for this part of the story were provided by several sources, this was a major event on the lake. The boat was later sold to another fellow Woody Boater who has since sold it. We are thankful that everyone is safe. Thanks for all your great images and stories on DISASTER WEEK!
Thank god this week is over!!! We have to get ready for next week….12″ of rain in the Gulf states and another Hurricane named after a mean Russian woman!!! Hopefully the Sea Gods will entice her to sstay with them!!!
Those crazy Russian women, Lets Send Mel Gibson after her!
we were supposed to boat 100 miles to cape cod this weekend…. I’m having second thoughts!!!
You may think you are headed to Cape Cod, but will end up in Nova Scotia!
That top pic looks like a Riva submarine! very low profile and prob. not so good in a chop!
And that Tahoe Riva! Talk about a deep v hull up close! What happened to the dumb ass’s in the Cobalt?
Well, the good part of the story was that we made it on time to the cocktail party at Monaco Yacht club for the awards. And actually, my award was “a good customer” trophy. And a word to the wise, don’t sink in France on Sundays. The salvage people are off.
In line with you’re disaster week, I am sorry to report that “H” Smith in our Blue Ridge Chapter reported hitting an object or large wave last Saturday causing his boat, Retrospective, to take on water and nearly sink. A nearby boater towed him to shore preventing a total disaster. “H”s boat just received 9 pages of coverage in the recent Classic Boating magazine. His Hacker influenced gentleman’s racer was his first boat and did an awesome build. He is not timid in the use of the “go” pedal as he has a race car prep business.