Houseboat tragedy

[heymagic]

I see on the news this morning a houseboat in BC tipping over. One girl dead, several injured. Seems like about 60 people on the boat and way to many on the upper deck. It just slowly rolled over, looks like it was in shallow water near land or more would have been lost. A birthday party someone will always remember.

Yikes.

Didn't hear. Was that just this morning? I wonder where the parent were in this? They were probably thinking they'd be safer out there away from their cars and drinking.

[heymagic]

It's been on Q13 news..a night time clip. Looks to be still in the marina.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1118412462643_58/?hub=Canada

[Randygh]

Does BC have a manditory boat operator education class requirement? I wonder if the houseboat's operator was drunk or just stupid, probably both? Indeed, its very sad some innocent person died due to stupidity.

[sunnydude2]

I think anybody can rent those boats out and haven't heard of any requirements for education up there.

[B3055]

B.C. does not have any mandatory boater education. Federally there is a boater certification program coming into effect, very similar to what is going on in Washington.
In order to rent a houseboat on the Interior lakes there is literally nothing required. You must watch a video and they hand you the keys. There were at last count 61 people on this boat, rated for 30 max.

J.C. Rathwell, who runs Executive Houseboats, told CTV that he heard that the captain was newly hired and hadn't been on the job long.

Sounds like they had a paid captain driving?

61 people... what huge load of folks. :(

[3788sam]

We used to have a cabin in Sicamous BC. Watching those rental house boats get around was some fun times.
Sad that someone lost their life but there aren't any checks once the boat leaves the docks.

[Kuredu]

The requirement for formal certification to operate a boat in Canada is being phased in over several years from September 15, 1999. You currently require a Pleasure Craft Operators Card (PCOC) if:

1. You were born AFTER April 1, 1983 (you are younger than 24-ish), OR
2. You craft is under 4m in length (13 ft), including all personal watercraft.

By 2009 ALL operators require certification. Currently the test is not very tough and does not include a practical element but there is talk of change.

It seems from the article (saw it last night on the local news as well) that the captain was supplied by the company, in which case they may as well shut down and leave - they're gone in any case. If the captain was not hired, he is in very big touble and the boat rental company will come off virtually scot-free.