Devils Lake Accident

LOV2HNT

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DEVILS LAKE, N.D. (Valley News Live) A 64-year-old man from Grand Forks has been pronounced dead after being pulled from Devils Lake.

It happened Monday afternoon around 4:00pm
Ramsey County Sheriff Steve Nelson says The man was launching his boat, when the boat came off his trailer and the wind started to push it away from the shore.
Nelson says the man jumped into the water and tried to swim to the boat, but it continued to float further away. The man eventually got tired and started to swim back to shore before he went under water.
Another boat was able to locate the man and pulled him from the water and brought him to shore.
The man was transported to the Devils Lake hospital where he died.
His name has not been released.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Ramsey County Sheriff's Department has confirmed a man died on Devils Lake.
The Sheriff's office says it happened sometime Monday, Aug. 6.
No other information was released.
Stay with Valley News Live as we continue to investigate.

Sad deal. Prayers to the family.
 


Bfishn

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Sad deal... I have a personal rule, Never jump in water to save your boat or dog. They can both stay above water way better than we can.
 


limit2winit

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or fishing rods, i was dumb and jumped after a loomis once and it almost cost me. didnt account for how windy it was before i jumped in..
 

Allen

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The damn ND wind has killed more people than it is properly given credit. Never, EVER, swim after something the wind has ahold of! I've known two people who have died going after something in the wind, a cheap Styrofoam cooler and an inflatable raft. Neither cost more than $5 at the time.
 


8andcounting

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Anybody with another boat would surly of helped.

Yup and even if you don't have help retrieving your boat and it gets wrecked that's what insurance is for . Insurance don't help u when your dead .
 

WormWiggler

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I often wondered about jumping in after dog ij you have on a life jacket, will it hold up the extra 100 lbs of dog?
 

Yoby

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About 5 yrs ago or more I did something like this. Was tossing a dummy in the water for my pup. Tossed it a bit too far and the pup didn't go. Swam out easy enough, but turned around with it and was catching the wind and waves.... Thought sure as hell I was going to die. Finally got shallow enough that I could bob. NEVER EVER AGAIN.
 

Rut2much

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Very sad deal to say the least.. He was one of my best friend's (my fishing partner) neighbors out at the lake and they'd become pretty close over the summers of whom I personally got to enjoy some cold ones and stories with as well.
He will be missed and my condolences go out to his friends out there, wife and family. RIP Dan.
 
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WormWiggler

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Co-worker perished retrieving a dog toy on Lake Tschida several years ago. Not sure of his swimming experience, but he was as in shape or better than most young men. Just takes a cramp... make good choices is something I say to my kids a lot.
 

shorthairsrus

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Sad --- but i probably would of done the same thing.

One never knows the limitations of ones own body --- even if you work out --- you may do the same swim everyday --you could end up with a cardiac event or breathe in water.


I dont wear a life jacket snorkeling. I have done some crazy stuff. if you cramp - -even in fresh water - just relax - you will float. Breath air when you can -- not when you want to. Its all in the mind. With that said anything can happen.
 

Brett58852

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As much as I love my Ulterra, it started a chain of poor decisions on my part a few weeks ago that could have ended in a similar situation.
When the boat doesn’t come back to the dock to pick you up and you see the wind blowing it out to the main part of Sakakawea, it’s a plain bad choice to strip and swim after it. A guy doesn’t realize how fast the boat it moving versus how fast an out of shape guy can swim.
Long story short....I caught up to the boat shortly after my lungs felt like they were bleeding, but I was too exhausted to pull myself up in the boat and I don’t have a ladder on my Ranger. 2nd poor choice: I swam the boat back to shore so I could get some leverage to climb in. Not only did my lungs hurt at this point, my heart was pounding out of my chest.
Now that I think back, it would have been nerve racking but a much more solid play to cut my losses and call a buddy with a boat to go help me retrieve it....regardless of whether it was still floating or washed up on the rocks somewhere.
 

Kurtr

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About 5 yrs ago or more I did something like this. Was tossing a dummy in the water for my pup. Tossed it a bit too far and the pup didn't go. Swam out easy enough, but turned around with it and was catching the wind and waves.... Thought sure as hell I was going to die. Finally got shallow enough that I could bob. NEVER EVER AGAIN.

That just happened here last week the guy didn’t make it back to shore
 

Fishmission

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As much as I love my Ulterra, it started a chain of poor decisions on my part a few weeks ago that could have ended in a similar situation.
When the boat doesn’t come back to the dock to pick you up and you see the wind blowing it out to the main part of Sakakawea, it’s a plain bad choice to strip and swim after it. A guy doesn’t realize how fast the boat it moving versus how fast an out of shape guy can swim.
Long story short....I caught up to the boat shortly after my lungs felt like they were bleeding, but I was too exhausted to pull myself up in the boat and I don’t have a ladder on my Ranger. 2nd poor choice: I swam the boat back to shore so I could get some leverage to climb in. Not only did my lungs hurt at this point, my heart was pounding out of my chest.
Now that I think back, it would have been nerve racking but a much more solid play to cut my losses and call a buddy with a boat to go help me retrieve it....regardless of whether it was still floating or washed up on the rocks somewhere.


A friend has the ulterrra. Only thing he dosent like is the first deploy of the day. Says it take a while to link up and get going.
 


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