On October 22, at approx. 1:30 hrs., a 21’ Stump Jumper airboat (LA1586FY) along the Rigolets near Slidell Louisiana with 6 persons on board was attempting to cross from the south side of the Rigolets near beacon “3” to the north side of the Rigolets when the vessel encountered several waves generated by a tug and barge that passed approx. 300 yards to the north of the airboat. Witnesses stated that several 1 to 2 foot waves washed over the bow of the airboat, causing the airboat to take on water, swamp, capsize and sink in approx. 45’ of water. All 6 subjects were thrown into the water and were later rescued by a passing tugboat and brought to safe harbor. There was no evidence of alcohol use by any of the subjects (none of the subjects appeared to be impaired and there was no odor of an alcoholic beverage detected on any of the subjects). This type of vessel is not designed for use in deep open water and is not designed to negotiate large waves. It is also believed that the operator’s inexperience at operating this type of vessel contributed to the incident once the chain of events were set into motion by the first waves that the vessel encountered. On a dark night, it was probably impossible to see the waves coming that swamped the vessel.
SLIDELL                       