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Thank you for sharing this, Daniel. If the dredge operator isn’t sinking the pipe correctly then that’s a major hazard everyone needs to know. I also hate to hear that anyone had a boating accident.
With that said, something doesn’t add up here. I’m willing to bet anyone calling buoys “cones” probably didn’t go through the marked boating lane.
I’ve navigated around just about every CPRA project on Louisiana’s coast, and I am going to say that a person is a ding-dong if he/she doesn’t come off plane for dredge pipes, floating or not.
I’m sure Nicole has a vast depth of maritime experience to pull from and probably thought it was totally okay to charge at full speed ahead at what amounts to a 24″ steel pipe designed to move tons of sediment through it. What could go wrong? Why not slow down? What’s the rush?
I’m glad to hear nothing more than the boat was injured, but if they’re behaving like that around dredge pipe then I can only imagine what they do around errant white poles, gas pipelines and well heads.
Or maybe they weren’t on plane, but I’d go to think that if they were idling, stood up, looked down in the water and watched that sonar, they’d know it was there.
With that said, every time I pass through the marked boating lane I’ve always observed the dredge pipe flat on the bottom. Every time. From Grand Isle to Venice to Slidell to LaPlace.
It sounds like to me they ran through the buoys marking the floating pipe, not the sunk portion.
Either way, if one isn’t sure, don’t go. Take another way. GED will help you find that (safe) other way).
If anyone has any questions about where to safely navigate, bring them up in a new discussion. Thank you.
