Waves swamp eight dragon boats
<p>A boat and crew from Flathead Lake Lodge look for swimmers after several dragon boats capsized Friday afternoon on Flathead Lake in Bigfork. The boats were training for the weekend races when waves capsized eight of nine boats in the bay between Wayfarers State Park and Bigfork Bay. </p>
Eight out of nine dragon boats that were being used for practice swamped or capsized Friday afternoon in the choppy waters of Flathead Lake off Wayfarers State Park, prompting an emergency response to get boaters safely to shore.
“They got crossways and swamped. Everybody was wearing life jackets. They were all fished out of the water and they are all right,” Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.
The incident happened at around 3 p.m. and it took about an hour for several responding boats to get the people to shore.
The 46-foot long, shallow canoes were on the water in preparation for the Montana Dragon Boat Festival today and Sunday at Flathead Lake Lodge. Each vessel typically carries 20 paddlers, a drummer and a person steering at the stern.
Lyle Scott, the ranger at Wayfarers State Park, said the nine boats on the water had an average of about 15 people on board because full crews weren’t available for practice.
Only one boat was paddled back to the Flathead Lake Lodge, where the event will be held, and the remaining eight had to be towed by boats, Scott said.
The boats encountered frequent one- to two-foot swells and took on water until they swamped or capsized.
A personal watercraft, a fishing boat, some boats from Flathead Lake Lodge and a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks boat were involved in getting the dragon boats and paddlers back to shore.
Slightly better weather conditions are expected for today’s races, which will involve more than 1,000 participants on 93 teams.
The National Weather Service predicts a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms today. Skies should be partly sunny with a high near 71 with west and southwest winds of 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon.
“It could be interesting down there tomorrow,” Curry said Friday about the effects weather could have on the races. Curry said he will be patrolling the area in a sheriff’s boat starting at 7:30 a.m.
Race organizers have said they have contingency plans to delay or suspend dragon-boat racing in the event of lightning or waves.