Boating safety

I'm posting this message in the hopes it will help heighten the awareness of how dangerous boating can be. In this past weekend's Elk's tournament, we were running our boat which is a 27" Grady White north to our intended fishing destination. There was a dark blue hulled boat running about 100 feet off my starboard side, a relatively safe distance away. Since the sun was rising in the east, it somewhat obscured my vision of the boat so to be safe I decided to stay slightly behind this boat so he was at about 1:00 off my starboard side.

While running north between the MI and the SRI, a light blue or light green hulled center with I believe twin or maybe even trip outboards decides to run between my boat and the boat off my starboard. The boat in question has what looked to be two blue LED lights midship on it's port side and possibly it's starboard side, I remember seeing the port side of the vessel in question in the MI waiting for the flare to be fired and remember the LED lights on her side. The idiot running this boat had to be clocking I would guess 30 to 35 knots and instead of going around my boat or the boat running off my starboard, he decides to run straight between us and in doing so came within no more than 10 feet of us again clocking probably 35 knots! This again is at high speed and with wakes as you all know caused by the shot gun start. If either boat veered off course slightly, it would have been a disaster. I didn't get the boat's name but anyone who knows which boat I'm talking about I'd appreciate you sending me a a pm since I don't want this playing out on the board. But in general I will tell you there was absolutely no reason for the captain of that vessel to steer the course he did and in doing so put my crew as well as his crew in danger.

The shot gun start at the Elk's is dangerous enough, getting to the fishing grounds minutes sooner is not worth risking a boating accident or worse. There are more and more center consoles every year with trip / quad OB's. They're great looking boats and built for speed. Using that speed to pass within spitting distance at a high rate of speed is irresponsible and risking people's lives. It's a big ocean out there, nothing wrong with spreading out in a shot gun start. It's a fishing tournament, not a damn grand prix event! To the Captain of the boat I'm talking about, if you see this post slow the &$%^ down. You have no idea the danger you exposed my crew and your crew to. If either boat pitched for any reason, it would have been a complete disaster.

Dakota

[Dino]

Ah, Jersey. sigh.

[Capt. Debbie]

Should have been kicked out of the tournament for being reckless.

One less entry would be no big deal. Clearly this a-hole did this intentionally, so he should have be DQ'd by the Tournament. The State Police should be invited to watch these shot gun starts from now on.

It's supposed to be fun. A-hole was just showing off and risking people's lives.

Sadly I'm sure no one will followup as it's always some one else's job to stop guys like this. I'm sure this annus knows that no one will do anything too.

Maybe just do a post like this, wring our hands it's bad and then forget about it.

Originally Posted by dakota560

I'm posting this message in the hopes it will help heighten the awareness of how dangerous boating can be. In this past weekend's Elk's tournament, we were running our boat which is a 27" Grady White north to our intended fishing destination. There was a dark blue hulled boat running about 100 feet off my starboard side, a relatively safe distance away. Since the sun was rising in the east, it somewhat obscured my vision of the boat so to be safe I decided to stay slightly behind this boat so he was at about 1:00 off my starboard side.

While running north between the MI and the SRI, a light blue or light green hulled center with I believe twin or maybe even trip outboards decides to run between my boat and the boat off my starboard. The boat in question has what looked to be two blue LED lights midship on it's port side and possibly it's starboard side, I remember seeing the port side of the vessel in question in the MI waiting for the flare to be fired and remember the LED lights on her side. The idiot running this boat had to be clocking I would guess 30 to 35 knots and instead of going around my boat or the boat running off my starboard, he decides to run straight between us and in doing so came within no more than 10 feet of us again clocking probably 35 knots! This again is at high speed and with wakes as you all know caused by the shot gun start. If either boat veered off course slightly, it would have been a disaster. I didn't get the boat's name but anyone who knows which boat I'm talking about I'd appreciate you sending me a a pm since I don't want this playing out on the board. But in general I will tell you there was absolutely no reason for the captain of that vessel to steer the course he did and in doing so put my crew as well as his crew in danger.

The shot gun start at the Elk's is dangerous enough, getting to the fishing grounds minutes sooner is not worth risking a boating accident or worse. There are more and more center consoles every year with trip / quad OB's. They're great looking boats and built for speed. Using that speed to pass within spitting distance at a high rate of speed is irresponsible and risking people's lives. It's a big ocean out there, nothing wrong with spreading out in a shot gun start. It's a fishing tournament, not a damn grand prix event! To the Captain of the boat I'm talking about, if you see this post slow the &$%^ down. You have no idea the danger you exposed my crew and your crew to. If either boat pitched for any reason, it would have been a complete disaster.

Dakota

Capt. Frank,

Boat was going so fast and since I was forced to veer to my port side to avoid being hit, I was never able to catch the boat's name. I elected not to pursue them even if I could and opted to stay our course to our intended fishing destination. I was absolutely furious when it happened and it's probably best I never ended up along side the boat in question. As I said, I would still appreciate it if anyone knows the boat name so I can try connecting with the Captain the proper way. You're right, left unchecked, the operator of this vessel is an accident waiting to happen. If I did know the name, I would have reported them to the tournament officials. I'm not looking for a pound of flesh but the actions of this idiot were so flagrant I'm trying to avoid a similar situation and have someone else be hurt. I should point out there was no other boat traffic around to impair anyone's vision so the operator's decision to cut between the boat I was operating and the vessel running on my starboard side coming within 10 feet of us was completely intentional on his behalf. To add insult to injury, you could actually see the crew laughing as they passed and headed off in the distance! Never seen anything like this on the water and as I said thank God this didn't end up being a tragic accident.

Some people simply have no right operating a boat and these j^%k o*&'s fall into that category. I can only hope their reckless behavior doesn't eventually catch up with them and cost someone their life.

Dakota

[TomKaye]

Very Well Said Dakota. Both Posts.

Karma will catch up to those J.O.'s.
May they get skunked the rest of the season.
I hope and pray none of them on that boat are injured or worse,
nor does he injure anyone else.