ISU Rowing Team Drowning

mj4cy

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Rowing can be dangerous. In addition to what some here have said, if the boat capsizes quickly it can literally hold people underwater and drown them.

Not to mention I'd imagine if you've been rowing your body is already exhausted. Awful situation and I'm hoping while this is a tragedy people can be aware and learn for future situations if they're rowing.
 

Bader

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Not trying to be a jerk or second guesser or anything, but why didn't they swim to shore instead of treading water for an hour?
If the boat capsized in the middle of the lake it’s more than a quarter mile to shore in any direction. The winds yesterday would’ve made the lake very choppy as well
 
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1100011CS

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Stole this post from reddit. Did not know about the velcro straps.


ISU Crew alumnus, made a throwaway to kind of illuminate this for some of y'all since most people here have absolutely no clue what rowing crew is like.

When you get into the boat your feet are essentially put into shoes that have velcro straps over top with a pull cord. It was pretty windy on Sunday. I haven't found data that looked terribly reliable but it appears from what I can see that the wind was roughly 12~~ mph with gusts of up to 20 mph which would be considered unsafe rowing conditions. Anything above 12 knots( about 13.8 mph) and you don't wanna take the boat out. Above 10 knots can be kinda risky. Additionally the water must have been cold as hell. The ice allegedly just cleared in the last couple weeks on Little Wall. Even though it warmed up in the afternoon that water still would have been very cold.

As for how calm the water was, if there's gusts and the water is choppy it is HARD to keep that boat steady. It's not like riding in a motorboat. You're CLOSE to the water and you've got a giant oar, if you "crab" (get the oar stuck on a stroke) you can throw off the set of the boat and since you're so close it's easy to take on water. I've rowed on Little Wall and can confirm that it does have some pretty intense cross winds. Ideally you'd row on a river to avoid the situation but there's nowhere suitable to take a boat out closer to Ames. The two rowers who passed were new rowers. They very likely didn't know exactly how to react when the worst case scenario happened, or panicked. It's hard when you're strapped in. Just rowing is hard your first few times. If they were novices, they're more likely to not know how to control their oars, set the boat (keep it steady), how to react right away, etc. Just getting into a boat the first time is learning a whole new set of language in order to pilot it.

Once your boat flips it would also be very hard to get it over if you've got the oars in there without a good sense of how everything is working mechanically. If it's cold, add panic and shock to that.

All things considered, I don't think they should have been out there in the first place but hindsight is 20/20. Given the conditions and the circumstance I have a very easy time imagining how it could happen. Seen quite a few people saying what they SHOULD have done on these forums but all in all, please be kind. Two families lost their kids. Three students are going to be traumatized for the rest of their life over this. It's a sad day for my organization. It's a sad day for ISU.
 

Lewey24

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Not trying to be a jerk or second guesser or anything, but why didn't they swim to shore instead of treading water for an hour?
Combination of factors, one they were near the middle of the lake, and it’s a decently sized lake. The temperatures in the water were near freezing which causes shock and makes breathing more difficult. The water was a little rough because it was windy which makes it harder to swim.
 

ISU22CY

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Does Iowa State have an indoor practice facility for rowing? Guess I’m envisioning something you’d see in the movies with 2 people. I can’t recall one at my time there. Thoughts and prayers to everyone involved...terrible for the families that lost 2 young adults and we need to also keep the survivors in mind. They are going to be going through a very rough time with this.
 

ISUEmbassy

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If the boat capsized in the middle of the lake it’s more than a quarter mile to shore in any direction. The winds yesterday would’ve made the lake very choppy as well
Edit: was in the USA today article

Thought I read in one article that two of them did swim to shore
 
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ISUTex

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Combination of factors, one they were near the middle of the lake, and it’s a decently sized lake. The temperatures in the water were near freezing which causes shock and makes breathing more difficult. The water was a little rough because it was windy which makes it harder to swim.


gotcha. Horrible deal.
 
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Lewey24

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True, but do we know what the protocol is for them to go out rowing? Do they have to check with an advisor first or can the students take off with the boat using their own judgement?
I don’t have any knowledge of crew club and how their protocol works, but I’m part of another sports club at Iowa State and there is not a ton of oversight. I’ve been a member for over a year, I couldn’t tell you who our faculty advisor is and we don’t have a coach. My sport is significantly less dangerous, but I’m surprised how little oversight there is.
 

Isualum13

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Combination of factors, one they were near the middle of the lake, and it’s a decently sized lake. The temperatures in the water were near freezing which causes shock and makes breathing more difficult. The water was a little rough because it was windy which makes it harder to swim.
Not to mention hypothermia would set in quickly. I would be curious how many of those recovered had the beginning stages of hypothermia.

I would imagine they had some safety measures in place, albeit not great ones. Which may have affected their decision to not try and swim to shore. Also, it is possible they didn't want to start swimming until they had everyone accounted for. Although, now I see someone posted that it was reported two of them did swim.

They make PFDs that are supposedly untitrusive designed for rowers. I could understand why an experienced person wouldn't want to use one. But if it was me, I wouldn't let a newbie in the boat without one. In this scenario with the possible dangers involved, everyone would idealy have one on. But a calm day, I could understand why an experienced person wouldn't want to wear one, but hindsite is 20/20.

Hopefully PFDs will be a requirement for them going forward, as well as restrictions on the wind. Also a safety boat to be in the water nearby to immediately react.

I imagine this date had been planned out weeks in advance and all the students involved were very excited to get back in the boat and weren't going to let the wind ruin their plans.
 

GMackey32

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I live right by there. Drove by right around 9:10 and noticed they were out there and looked like they were just getting started based on their positioning and where their trailer was. Came back by just before noon and noticed there was a cop there at the south dock and a sheriff at the campground entrance, but didn't notice anything out of the norm going on at the lake. Knew it was pretty cold and windy, but figured they knew what they were doing (who am I to second guess what they are doing when I have no idea what their protocols are).
 

cycloner29

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Saw on the news at noon where they said the Ventura Fire Dept came down last night with a sonar device and went out after the wind had died down and they picked up on something. They marked where it thought the body be and divers came out this morning and found the body. Sounds like it was in the middle of the lake.
 

SCarolinaCy

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Register reports.............
Ames Municipal Airport had a temperature of 37 degrees at 8:53 a.m. Sunday, The wind was blowing about 20 to 25 mph from the northwest.
 
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