How not to do it...

[John Bell]

We went fishing in the rain this morning. On the way back to the ramp, my son and I ran across this scene:

http://jmbell.home.mindspring.com/images/wbf/Dsc00268.jpg

Aboard was a man and his dog. Sensing a good story, I had to ask what happened. Basically was running around in the dark last night, going to too fast (around 30 when they hit, he told me) on an unfamiliar lake. Luckily, no one was hurt. They had managed to wrestle the bow around to where it was facing open water. The driver was waiting for his brother in law to bring a boat to try to pull it off. The guy wasn't really in the mood to talk about it, and didn't seem to appreciate the photography, so after finding out that he'd be OK, we left.

Why do situations like this always involve a brother-in-law? :D

[Ken Hutchins]

Well I know it wasn't my B-I-L he doesn't have enough matter between the ears to find his way to Georgia.

[B. Burnside]

Lake, you say? Ewwwww... No tides.

Is that a nav beacon behind the boat?

[Bruce Taylor]

Sometimes, on a moonless night, I'll hear a big powerboat charging upriver in the dark, and of course I think of all the floating docks and dive platforms and deadheads and beaverlodges and jagged, sunken boulders between here and the boat ramp and I know it's just a matter of time...

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

The dog is saying "Hey, it wasn't my fault!!" :D

[John Bell]

Originally posted by B. Burnside:
Lake, you say? Ewwwww... No tides.

Is that a nav beacon behind the boat?The water will come up in few weeks to full pool.

The marker says "Reef". :D :D

[Dave Fleming]

Is that a nav beacon behind the boat? Nah that is a No Parking sign!

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

A girl I know was in a boat that drove up on one of the juniper covered rocks that still count as a thousand island. The police were not amused, and the captain was hauled away for drinking.

Two years ago a fella drove his 25 foot searay into (onto) the granite breakwater at the public marina in Kingston. Tore the whole bottom out of the boat. He hadn't paid his insurance, and the boat was still being paid for. Oops.

[John Bell]

Peter, I was just thinking how lucky this guy was that no one got hurt. On this same lake last year, a retired gentleman I know from church was out in his 20' runabout on a weekday where he hit a floating wave barrier at a marina at about 20 mph. When the boat suddenly stopped, he caught the top of the windshield right in his gut causing some severe internal injuries. He also suffered severe facial lacerations, lost a few teeth, and broke his arm. He spent the better part of two weeks in the hospital and is still in rehab today, nine months after his accident.

Doug was a very experienced boater, and quite familiar with the lake. Ironically, it was probably his familiarity that led to his accident. The wave barrier was newly placed, and he hit it dead on the end parallel to the barrier. He says that he was just not paying attention as well as he should have. He was lucky that even though his accident was on a weekday morning there was a quick rescue and transport to a trauma center. Thinking about the events of last night, I have to wonder how those boaters were resuced. If one of them had been as badly injured as Doug, on that remote shore, late on a cool rainy Friday night, they may not have made it. I guess God really does look after drunks and fools.

[Mike DeHart]

I came upon a similar scene in a cove on the Delaware River a few years ago with the guy desperately trying to push his boat back to a falling tide. My friend and I stopped and helped him push, but we were making little progress as the tide would drop nearly as fast as we could push the boat across the sand. I asked how he got high-n-dry, since the tide was much closer to high than low. He told us that he anchored in the cove for a swim. His anchor didn't hold and he had to swim after the boat. Being PO'd, he then ran the boat full speed onto the sand. My friend and I immediately walked away and left.