Officials warn boaters to slow down on St. Croix River following 2 seriously injured
By Mary Divine | [email protected] | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: July 9, 2019 at 4:45 pm | UPDATED: July 9, 2019 at 6:38 pm
Officials are renewing a call for boaters to pay attention to the waves their watercraft produce after two women were seriously injured in separate incidents on the St. Croix River over the past two weeks.
On the Fourth of July, a 53-year-old woman from Albion, Iowa, suffered a serious back injury about 6:40 p.m. while boating with her husband near the Allen S. King plant in Oak Park Heights. According to police reports, the couple’s boat struck “a large, rolling wave, approximately 6 feet high … tossing (her) up in the air and then back onto the chair, landing on her back.” The woman was taken by ambulance to Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater.
About a week earlier, on June 29, a 56-year-old Chippewa Falls, Wis., woman was also taken to Lakeview Hospital for treatment of injuries after the boat her husband was operating hit the wake of another boat about 10:30 p.m.
The woman was in the bow area of the boat, “which was operating at cruising speed, when the boat hit the wake of another boat causing it to become slightly airborne and causing the victim to be tossed into the air and land back in the boat,” the police report states.
In Minnesota, it’s illegal to operate a watercraft so that its wake endangers, harasses or interferes with any person or property. Failure to comply may result in a citation from law enforcement patrols on the water and fines up to $140, depending on the county.
BUSY RIVER MAKES ENFORCEMENT TOUGHER
Officers patrolling the St. Croix have a difficult time locating offenders when the river is busy with boat traffic, said Sgt. Kyle Schenck of the Washington County sheriff’s office.
“If you’ve been out on the St. Croix River, all you see are large wakes,” Schenck said. “It’s tough to track a wake down to a boat operator to assign blame to them when there are so many boats out there. They’re not being considerate of what their wake is doing to other people.”
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the damage large wakes on the river cause and to remind boaters of their responsibilities.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last month launched a campaign to raise awareness of the damage large wakes on the river cause and to remind boaters of their responsibilities after receiving a growing number of complaints about excessive wakes.
The waves can cause shoreline erosion, affect water quality, create a hazard for others on the water and damage property, said Lt. Adam Block, boating law administrator for the Minnesota DNR.
Block said the recent injury accidents on the St. Croix River “illustrate how critical it is that boaters pay attention to the waves their watercraft produce. A day on the water shouldn’t result in a trip to the hospital.”
Both women who were injured were picked up by ambulance at the Sunnyside Marina in Oak Park Heights.
BE AWARE OF YOUR BOAT’S WAKE
“Both injuries occurred because a large boat threw an excessive wake in the close proximity of a smaller boat,” said Rick Chapman, the marina’s general manager. “In each case, the smaller boat captain did the right thing and steered the boat into the wake rather than taking it sideways, which potentially could have swamped them.”
Posters stating “For Everyone’s Sake, Own Your Wake” have been posted around Sunnyside Marina, he said.
Chapman said he does not think boat operators are intentionally causing large wakes.
“It’s totally people not being aware,” he said. “Many are new boaters, and they are just totally unaware of what kind of wake that boat is going to create at what speed. We’re working to educate them.”
Just another example of why there should be a sarcasm font!
