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Author Archive for Gary – Page 24

Propeller Safety Year in Review 2015

A brief review of the major propeller safety events in 2015 including safety meetings, accidents, legal cases, deaths of those involved in the movement, statistics, patents, articles published, public service announcements, anniversaries, regulations, and other related events.

Bean Pled Guilty in Barhanovich Criminal Case

Mark Barhanovich was killed 16 September 2012 when his 23 foot center console fishing boat struck a dredge pipe off Deer Island, Mississippi. The 225 horsepower Suzuki outboard motor broke off and flipped up into the boat, fatally striking him with its still rotating propeller. Mr. Barhanovich’s family settled a civil suit against the dredging […]

DJ Laz pleads No Contest

DJ Laz, South Florida radio personality, was operating the 42 foot boat involved in the fatal propeller strike of Ernesto Hernandez in May 2014. Ernesto and others nearby came to help push the large boat off a Nixon Beach sandbar near Key Biscayne during a Voli Vodka promotional event. On Wednesday November 4, 2015, DJ […]

Circle of Death Warning

It has long been known that if you take you hand off the tiller or steering wheel, many outboard powered boats will circle hard to the right due to propeller torque. The boating industry has had various name for it through the yeaers. In the 1980’s some called it the “Circling Phenomenon”. Some call it […]

New South Wales (NSW) proposes mandatory wearing of kill switch lanyards

New South Wales (NSW), an Australian state that includes Sydney, recently proposed an update to their Marine Safety Regulations. The update addresses many issues, including mandatory wear of kill switch lanyards on vessels of less than 4.8 meters (about 15.75 feet) equipped with a kill switch. The new proposed safety regulations are introduced by their […]

Charlie Hutton & Kali Gorzell : it’s been 3 years

Its now been three years since the tragic propeller fatalities of Charlie Hutton near the Isle of Wight in the U.K., and Kali Gorzell in Texas on Friday July 20, 2012. Both youth showed incredible promise, and both lives were snuffed out at a young age. Charlie, the promising field hockey player was taken at […]

Houseboat Propeller Fatality on Shuswap: Andrea Jacura

Andrea Mary Jacura, 22, was swimming in Shuswap Lake in southern British Columbia Canada on Friday 10 July, 2015. A popular houseboating lake, this young woman from Edmonton, Alberta Canada was near an area known as Neilson Beach at the Cinnemousun Narrows north of Sicamous. She was swimming behind a houseboat, the houseboat was reversed, […]

Boater Beware: A Cautionary Tale of Survival: Kill Switches: Simmons

WHNT 19 News (Huntsville Alabama) ran a great article titled, Boater Beware of a family recently ejected from a fishing boat, the boat circled, and struck both of them with the propeller. Jason Simmons, an elementary school principal, and his wife, Anna, were returning Sunday evening March 29, 2015 from a fishing trip on Wilson […]

Gabby DeSouza died

From time to time, some propeller accident victims stand out in our memories. The press typically does not cover most of them, or just provides the very basics of the accident and never returns to the story. Sometimes accident victims are covered a few times, and very rarely, the press falls in love with them […]

New Zealand Diving Charter Fined in death of Bruce Porter

Bruce Porter was a member of the Western Underwater Dive Club. Eleven club members, including Mr. Porter, booked a dive charter vessel tour in New Zealand on 7 February 2014. Mr. Porter was from England and settled in New Zealand on Aukland’s North Shore with his wife in 2008. While diving near the entrance to […]