A young couple’s idyllic wedding cruise was thrown into chaos when the boat’s captain became “disoriented” due to bad weather and crashed the boat headfirst into a breakwater.
Alex Buckman and Katrina Thompson departed with their 82 guests aboard the Vista Star from Duluth, Minnesota, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
Three hours later, the groom’s grandmother was dangling from the edge of a rescue boat after the captain defied warnings of stormy conditions and sailed into the open waters of Lake Superior.
“We couldn’t stop, he was going so fast,” said his daughter, Kristine Buckman. “We didn’t hit him, we just hit the side of the seawall.”
Bride Katrina Thompson and groom Alex Buckman posed for photographs as they boarded, little imagining that their guests would later be fighting for life jackets behind them.
Both passengers and rescuers struggled to stay afloat in the stormy waters of the lake.
The bride and groom had happily posed for photographs on the deck after boarding the boat that same evening as their guests arrived.
“It was a wedding, so we celebrated and had dinner, and as the night went on, things started to change,” said Buckman’s aunt, Beth Elstad. noticiasnorteñas.com.
The ship was to leave the port and head out onto the lake before returning to port under the aerial lift bridge, three miles to the north.
At 5:40 p.m., the Duluth Fire Department issued a warning about dangerous swimming conditions, and Elstad said guests assumed the boat would remain in port if conditions became too rough.
But at some point the ship left the port and entered open waters, where guests began to feel the effects of the five-foot waves.
Guests taking in the fresh air on deck watched in horror as the ship barreled toward the breakwater next to the Superior Point Inlet Lighthouse.
“We headed straight for that breakwater for several minutes,” said guest Ryan Wendlandt.
‘Myself and a few other passengers on the upper deck had seen it coming for quite some time, but assumed the captain must have seen it and was planning to turn around.
“We crashed into that wall without changing speed or making any effort to turn or avoid it. I’ll never understand how the captain didn’t see it coming.”
Guests were looking forward to an idyllic wedding cruise on the 92-foot Vista Star.
The happy couple looked radiant as they enjoyed congratulations from their friends.
But those friends were thrown across the dance floor by the impact of the head-on collision.
Video filmed on board shows guests thrown onto the dance floor and struggling to stay on their feet as the ship rocked from the impact.
“There was a sharp turn,” Elstad said. “One of the speakers who was in the corner fell with a glass on the table and almost hit one of the guests.
“That was the first clue and we were all wondering, ‘What’s going on? Are we going around in circles?'”
Guests said staff did little to help and screaming passengers were left to fend for themselves as they struggled to understand what was happening.
“Guests and my family members handed out life jackets,” Elstad said. “My family and guests were treated and evaluated for their injuries.
‘We were thinking, how do you choose who’s going to get out of here?
“That’s actually how I felt and no one should be in that situation. This was completely avoidable.”
The crew declared an emergency and a St. Louis County Rescue Squad boat quickly arrived on the scene.
Passengers told KBJR that the crew did not know how to open the hatch to see if the ship was sinking and that a colleague of the groom from Fraser Shipyards checked the ballast.
The ship’s winding path and impact against the breakwater were recorded by a guest.
The groom’s aunt, Beth Elstad, said the passengers were left to fend for themselves.
Shocking footage shows the rescue boat being hurled against the hull of the stricken vessel by waves before it bounces off as Buckman’s grandmother is hoisted precariously aboard before being taken to hospital with head and hip injuries.
Owner Justin Steinbach said the captain had sailed out onto the open lake before deciding to turn back due to the difficult conditions.
But as the ship turned, “it must have become disoriented in the entrance opening.”
“He ran too close to the rock retaining wall and that’s what we hit.”
He said the captain was baffled by the collision and rescue team members guided it back to port under their own power after confirming it was not taking on water, eventually allowing the traumatized passengers to disembark.
“Once the two captains got on board and took control, it was a lot smoother and less chaotic,” Kristine Buckman said.
“But probably half of the entire passenger list was vomiting out the back or front.”
‘That boat will need a good bath.’
Guests were determined not to let the chaotic scenes detract from the happy couple’s big day and posted messages of support on their social media pages in the days that followed.
“All those Gilligan’s Island jokes we made may have tempted fate,” Jenny Dillon wrote.
‘Katrina Thompson, this will be a day no one will ever forget! You started this union off with a bang! Literally.’
“Hitting the breakwater and having the Coast Guard come out to try to save us was definitely an unforgettable night,” Pez Dávila added.
The captain tested negative. drugs and alcohol, and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said they were not currently considering criminal charges.
Steinbach defended the crew of the boat he has owned for 13 years.
“Our goal has always been to create great experiences,” he said. fox21.
“It was an unfortunate experience. It’s something that happens, you know, in the marine world.
The festivities came to an abrupt end as the battered guests awaited rescue.
The boat’s owner, Justin Steinbach, said his captain “must have become disoriented at the opening.”
“We feel terribly sorry for what happened, but again, the way the crew responded to ensure the ship was safe, the crew was safe and, most importantly, the passengers were saved.”
His explanation did nothing to reassure the groom’s aunt.
“Listening to the ship owner say that safety is paramount and that they have procedures and protocols,” he said.
“No one was executed.”