3 Children, 1 Adult Dead After Boat Capsizes on Utah Lake

[beene]

SALT LAKE CITY — A summery day on a Utah lake turned deadly for a family and friends when high waves and violent winds kicked up and capsized their boat, throwing all seven people into the cold water.

Four died, including three children, as rescuers struggled to find the boaters for at least two hours in continued bad weather. The other three eventually were pulled from the choppy waters and hospitalized.

It happened Monday at Bear Lake, which spans more than 112 square miles in Utah and Idaho.

Utah doctor Lance Capener, 46, took the ski boat out with his wife, Kathy, 42, their two daughters and three of the girls' friends, authorities said. It was 80 degrees.

The group was reported missing at about 6 p.m., around the same time temperatures dropped and the National Weather Service tracked wind gusts of up to 51 mph in nearby Garden City. The windstorm that rolled in over nearby mountains produced giant waves that also ripped to pieces a floating plastic dock at a nearby Boy Scout camp.

All seven people on the boat wore lifejackets, but the water was 53 degrees Fahrenheit, posing a serious hypothermia risk, authorities said.

The boaters were in the water for at least two hours amid waves that reached 10 feet and frothed in the wind as rescuers searched for them, said Mike Wahlberg, Garden City fire chief. He called the conditions some of the worst he's seen and "about as extreme as it gets."

Rescuers reached the group and pulled them from the water, but Lance Capener died at the lake, said Utah State Parks Lt. Eric Stucki.

His daughters Kelsey Capener, 13, and Kilee Capener, 7, and their friend Sierra Hadley, 13, were flown to a Salt Lake City hospital but died early Tuesday.

Surviving members of the Capener family remembered the sisters as sweet and bubbly in a statement Tuesday.

Kathy Capener was hospitalized in the northern Utah city of Logan, along with family friends Tiffany Stoker and Tylinn Tilley, both 14 years old. The teens were released from the hospital Tuesday, Stucki said.

A few other boats were on the water at the time, but no other injuries or accidents were reported, Stucki said.

[Russ]

Sad

I was one of those people who once believed inland lakes are just lakes. Conditions and waves can be extremely dangerous with big storms. Bear Lake appears to have little protection or safe coves to ditch in when storms pop up. Just open deep lake to churn.

[kelseydo]

Bear Lake is indeed a a dangerous lake. Broad, long, shallow, almost no shelter other than running to the lee shore, and hypothermia is a risk all year long. All thunderstorms must be given due respect - I've had run-ins with them on land, sea, and air; don't like them much. One should never be fooled into thinking inland lakes are placid and safe. Local news is doing a good job of covering the sad, sad, sad event and I hope waking folks up to the dangers of boating.
Prayers for the families,
Dan

[Catigale]

50-50-50 rule from Coast a Guard

50 % fatality rate from 50 minutes in 50F water.

Here it was 2 hours before the powerboat was found. I believe it was still on the surface but the weather was too rough for the crew to get back on board. Winds reported at 51 mph.

[beene]

Very tragic story about a family boating trip gone horribly wrong.

I posted it to keep all of us aware of the dangers that we sometimes forget exist out on the water.

Be safe everyone

G

[NiceAft]

Very tragic story about a family boating trip gone horribly wrong.

I posted it to keep all of us aware of the dangers that we sometimes forget exist out on the water.

Be safe everyone

G

And for those who have not, or will not take any boating courses, your post is a notification as to what dangers do exist on the water. It is easy to become complacent.

Ray

[1st Sail]

What a sad loss. Events like this leaves me totally baffled. Like the lives lost last month in the Dauphin Island Regatta. I just don't get it. With that much open water, unobstructed view for 20+ miles, close proximity to cell coverage how are you not aware of the weather. I get this if you were in the open ocean but within sight of land and access to cellular weather info how does one not know of potential weather events. I'm sitting here on my laptop tracking weather and deciding not to go out as the risk of storms is 60%. I always wonder if it is inexperience or arrogance. The results seem to be the same, innocent lives lost.