Debris from recent storms leads to risky conditions

'The Ohio is unsafe at the moment,' one boat salesman said.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Floating and submerged debris from spring storms has created risky conditions across Ohio as the boating season kicks off with the Memorial Day weekend.
"This is the worst I've seen this river," Dan Bracken said Thursday as he surveyed the Rocky River marina aftermath from recent storms. Boats and docks were knocked around like rubber ducks and the river was littered with tree limbs, tires and picnic tables.
Bracken, 58, has been boating on the Rocky River for 40 years. The river, which separates the suburban cities of Lakewood and Rocky River, empties into Lake Erie, Ohio's top boating destination.
Bracken was tying up his 23-foot boat to a dock as a nearby crane removed car-length pieces of tree trunks from the river.
Comments from Coast Guard
The scene is typical of what happens when storms create hazardous boating conditions, the Coast Guard said.
"With all the runoff, we've had an increase of what we call 'deadheads' or logs in the water," said Petty Officer Jason Gale at the Coast Guard station at Marblehead in the resort islands region of Lake Erie. Striking a "deadhead" can damage a boat and cause it to take on water and sink, Gale said.
Similar risks were evident on Ohio River when salesman Tracy Slayton of Stamper's Boat Barn along Caesar Creek Lake southeast of Dayton tested a boat on the river Wednesday.
"The Ohio is unsafe right at the moment. There's all kinds of stuff coming down the river," said Slayton, including utility poles, trees and pieces of houses.
Slayton said inexperienced boaters can be deceived by calm tributaries before heading into the Ohio River with its busy barge traffic.
"By the time they get to the river, if they don't know what they are doing, it's too late," he said by phone from his Warren County marina. "If they don't have a safe boat, that's how they drown."
Last year, at least 19 people died in boating accidents in Ohio, including one on the Ohio River and five on Lake Erie.
Denny Schalk, manager of the Four Seasons Marina in Cincinnati, said recent rains -- with more expected by the weekend -- could discourage boaters because of submerged debris.
"The biggest danger is in hitting something, like a log that's halfway under water. And if they hit something, they might not find somebody out there to help them," Schalk said.
The river level was about 38 feet Thursday and was expected to go to about 40 feet, Schalk said. The river is much safer for boating when it's about 30 feet, he said.
Half of the 1,200 boats docking at Meinke Marina near Toledo this summer already are in the water and more will come this weekend if the weather cooperates, said Sarah Meinke, whose parents own the marina. "Normally, this is a big, big weekend," she said.
Frank Jennings, a civilian and a recreation boating specialist with the Coast Guard in Cleveland, said rain-swollen water levels mean some previously visible hazards such as shoals might be submerged and out of sight.
He recommended that boaters have a marine radio, enough life jackets and avoid alcohol while on the water. Boaters on longer outings should leave behind their itinerary, Jennings said.