Have you ever been in a boating accident?

[Gunn]

Wow, that is some story. Glad none of you were hurt.

Never been in a boat accident myself, but a friend has. Night time, drunk guys driving around at high speed while they were fishing. It was a rather brightly lit area of the Patuxent River and this guy hit their boat on the starboard bow side and launched right over top of them sitting in the rearward facing seats. My buddy said he vividly saw the registration sticker of the boat pass about a foot in front of his eyes...while he was sitting there. Boat was totaled, they were otherwise fine. DNR hauled off the drunk guys...

We had our first close encounter just three weeks ago while trolling in the Potomac River for some Bluefish. Wife was driving, I was sitting in the rearward seat. It was kind of rough out (~1-1/2ft. waves) I didn't see it, but a boat heads towards us, on a line towards our center port side. About 20 seconds before we'd intersect my wife says "this guys is going to hit us!". I look over and here he is, pounding the waves. She cuts towards him and he passes beside of us, probably 40 yards or so....in this huge river. As I stand up awaiting to gesture towards him, I see the driver and two other guys seated, in this yellow bowrider with tower. None ever look towards us. They are just bashing their way through the waves towards the shore....

Tom

 

[Vince_nj1]

I am not sure about the law, but...

I don't think this would apply if you felt endagered by his agression and then once on the boat, his attack. I may be wrong but if some guy is talking trash about me, and he is in need of assistance, I would not offer assistance. By inviting him abourd your vessel, you are opening up you and your crew for possible harm. You are responsible for your passengers safety first off.


MJK

My mood went from scared sh?t after we got hit to really pissed off when this idiot started calling us fags. But putting that aside, I couldnt believe this guys attitude - yelling at us while being in the water, at night, 1/4 mile from shore. I figured this guy was nuts and I didnt him on our boat. Even though there were 4 of us and only 1 of him, this guy was pretty big and there definetly was a concern about our safety. I wanted to maintain the upper hand until the police came. He wasnt going to die by spending a 10 minutes in the water.

Anyway, I thought it was a story worth sharing. Just goes to show.. you never know when something will happen.

 

[Wannafish]

Failure to render aid to persons in eminent danger make make you liable for any further injury.

The part you are missing is, "...If you can safely do so".
Good case can be made that he could not safely do so.

I would have done the same - well, maybe not try to run over him...:grin:

 

[mrsrobinson]

I forgot about a close incident with us about 4 years ago when we owned our 2400SCR Maxum. We had anchored out in a narrow spot on the river, maybe 50-100 yards wide, close to the shore. My wife's folks were visiting and were on the boat with us. I was in the water and I think my wife's dad was also, at the stern of the boat and the ladies were on the boat.

All of a sudden I heard a loud crushing noise from the bow area of the boat. I swam around the boat, towards the bow, and what do I see: A barge crushing thru down trees in the water headed right for our boat. They do this from time to time to clear out the river. I never knew this.

It was behind a bend in the river so I did not see it from the stern of the boat.

I swam, more like ran on top of the water, as fast as I could, jumped in the boat, fired it up and floored it. I assume I pulled the anchor but really cannot remember. I got her out of the way and the barge passed us. The Captain was yelling something, I am sure it was not have a nice day.

 

[fc3]

Boating for over 20 years and never had an incident with any of my boats or PWCs. That said, if someone was heading for me at a high rate of speed, I'd go balls to the wall 90 degrees from his course -- no wake zone or otherwise. Considering what happened to a neighbor this summer, nothing is too extreme in avoiding a collision and I never assume that the other guy isn't a 100% a**hole.

Regarding rendering assistance, some jerk karate man expert's wife hit my car on the Parkway two years ago. He got out of the passenger side, sneaked up behind me, and broke my jaw. Based on that experience, anyone one with even remotely a bad attitude can just f***ing drown and my conscience won't bother me in the least. The world will better off without those animals.

Best regards,
Frank

 

[wish2fish]

you guys are pretty tough for a bunch of *Deleted* from Bayonne! :grin:

Deleted by First Born due to CSR rule violation