Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Sudden wind switch brings near disaster to sailboat



The usual Wednesday night sailboats races turned into near disaster as the temperatures dropped from 80 F to 48F in 20 minutes just as the sailboats entered the big lake. 10 minutes later a sailboat was swept into the Lift Bridge as it attempted to make safe harbor.

Fortunately, it turned out OK with help from bystanders along the canal.

5 comments:

  1. Wonder why they didn't lift the bridge a few feet to give the sailboat a chance?

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    1. Traffic on the bridge and too short of notice because of the sudden wind shift.

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  2. The bridge needs a good amount of time to clear the roadway/sidewalks and lift. The bridge didn't have any time to react. I was on one of the boats tonight and it was a pretty wild ride when the front hit.

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  3. It sure could of been worse. You guys dodged a bullet!!

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  4. Me thinks there was plenty of time for the bridge to see that the boat was in trouble and it also looks like there were no cars going across at the time. Send that yard bill for the dismasting to the City of Duluth Bridge Authority (or whatever its called) :( -Ri boatgal

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