In summary, some 133 incidents were reported last year and one breakdown is to look at the numbers by severity.
Number of Non-Injury Incidents 74
Fatal Incidents 8
Serious Injury 9
Moderate Injury 25
Minor Injury 17
Total 133
2016 didn’t start off well for boating and injury incidents on the lake, with the first fatality in January during and unseasonably warm weekend. The final breakdown of incidents for the year by description is as follows:
NEAR DROWNING 2
FIRE/EXPLOSION (NON FUEL) 1
FIRE/EXPLOSION (UNKNOWN ORIGIN) 4
COLLISION WITH FIXED OBJECT 18
COLLISION WITH WATERCRAFT 17
COLLISION WITH FLOATING OBJECT 1
COLLISION WITH DOCKED WATERCRAFT 8
CAPSIZING 3
GROUNDING 4
SWAMPING 1
DROWNING 6
PERSON(S) FALLS OVERBOARD 2
PERSON(S) IMPACTS WATERCRAFT 34
PERSON(S) DEPARTS WATERCRAFT VOLUNTARILY 1
PERSON(S) STRUCK BY PROP/WATER JET 4
PERSON(S) EJECTED FROM WATERCRAFT 9
TOWED WATERSPORT MISHAP 18
Total 133
It may be possible to analyze this data into more meaningful risk assessments but would need to be looked at on an incident by incident basis for extenuating circumstances such as time of day. Incidents involving "fixed objects" is a top category, but what were the objects? No wake buoys? Docks? Hit a no wake buoy and you might throw an outdrive, but hit a dock and serious damage and injury is likely.
As time goes on I'll keep these reports and start tracking them. With this kind of data we can begin to track trends, but at this time I see nothing to indicate the lake has become more, or less, dangerous than it has been in years past. As the 2017 season begins in earnest, here's hoping that everyone has a safe and fun summer!