PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The United States Coast Guard prematurely shut down the Red Bull Flugtag event at Tom McCall Waterfront Park Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday outraged boaters told KOIN 6 News what happened on the river was unacceptable.
“I’m not here to say we want to shut the Portland Spirit down, but what happened yesterday was really wrong,” parent Aspen Hunter said.
Around 3 p.m., the Coast Guard reportedly received notification from the Portland Spirit — a passenger cruise ship on the Willamette River — claiming it was unable to pass through because of boat traffic from the Redbull Flugtag event.
The event’s permit was subsequently revoked. Coast Guard Petty First Class Officer George Degener claimed it was Red Bull’s responsibility to make sure they didn’t disrupt commercial river traffic.
The Coast Guard said Monday they saw more than 500 recreational vessels on the river. Event organizers on their permit application said they expected 100 vessels.
Lt. Nick Jarmer, a spokesperson with Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, told KOIN 6 News there was at least one incident of the Portland Spirit coming into contact with another vessel. He described the incident as a minor “transfer of paint” between boats, and no injuries were reported.
But it was a different story on the water, where one family said they had to pull their children out of the pathway of the ship.
“We were trying to get the driver to stop, it wasn’t, it was just running into everything like it didn’t care,” 9-year-old Dylan Hunter said.Warning: Video contains some inappropriate language:
Dylan and his 6-year-old brother Gavin were on a floating play island when the Portland Spirit headed right in their direction.
“Me and my brother couldn’t reach the boat while we were on this thing where we could relax and stuff,” Dylan explained.
Thankfully, family friend Rachel Fisher sprung into action.
“We had about 60 seconds to pull 2 anchors and tie 4 lines,” Fisher said. “We had a fun island, we had kids in the water.”
A video posted on YouTube shows Fisher using her feet to push the Portland Spirit away from her family.
“I tried to help too,” Dylan said. “We almost got hit and people were crying.”
Dylan and Gavin’s mom said they weren’t breaking any rules by being on the river that day. She said the Coast Guard even told them to anchor in that spot.
The Portland Spirit provided KOIN 6 News with the following statement:
A woman who was on the Portland Spirit on Saturday told KOIN 6 News the incident got nasty fast, and she hadn’t seen anything quite like it before.
“Imagine you’re on a trip and all of a sudden you just get attacked from nowhere,” passenger Adrienne said. “The boaters decided to barricade us in. They just became very aggressive and they were shooting us with water soakers, throwing water balloons.”
Adrienne said the boaters swore at passengers on the ship and flipped them off as the vessel made its way through the crowded riverway.
“You just don’t pay as much money as we paid for a nice trip on the Portland Spirit to get wet and be soaked by a bunch of angry people,” she said.
Late Saturday, the President of the Portland Spirit, Dan Yates, provided more information about the reported collision:“My Captain and lookouts saw people in their anchored vessels, fender off the Spirit with their hands. The Spirit was making almost no way and at 360 tons cannot stop that quickly. As far as we know no boats struck the Spirit, but several people pushed their boats away from the Spirit. We are sorry the event organizers failed to keep the channel clear like they have in their two previous visits to Portland.The Portland Spirit did not ask for the event to be canceled, but is clear to everyone the required navigation channel was not kept open as required by their permit.”
On Monday, the Coast Guard said it is investigating whether the Portland Spirit’s captain should have his license suspended or revoked due to the incident.
The Hunter family said they wanted to know why law enforcement didn’t lead the Portland Spirit to clear obstructing boats in a safe manner.
According to Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, the Coast Guard did surround the ship as it came through during its second pass.KOIN 6 News reporters Brent Weisberg, Chris Woodard and Cole Miller contributed to this report.