Near Miss
 

I need to vent. I was heading over to the sandbar at West Alton on Saturday. Stopped about 200 ft off the SE corner of Sleepers Island to pull the tube in the boat and get the anchors ready. As I'm sitting there dead in the water with my engine off, my uncle noticed a boat about 500 yrds to our stern heading straight for us. There were 2 other boats to his starboard side racing with him. I told my Uncle they would change their course & pass to our port as there wasn't enough room to pass between our starboard side & the island. As they got closer, I began to panic. The captain of the boat heading towards us was sitting on the port gunwale facing towards sleeper island & he was yelling & waving at the other two boats. He couldn't see us because he wasn't looking straight ahead, he was looking to his port. He was now about 50 yds off my stern & about 30 ft to starboard. I began blowing my horn & screaming at him. As he passed me he turned his head & looked at me with a blank look. It was pure luck that he didn't hit us. The other two boats passed between him & sleepers, so I know they were within 50-100 ft of the island. They were all traveling between 20-30 mph. They were all wooden racers that we had seen at the Alton Docks earlier that day for the Antique Boat Show. The boat that almost collided with us was a 1925 Dodge. There were a couple of them there, but this one was had the darkest wood color. I can't remember the name of the boat, but I will remember the captain if I see him again. All's well that ends well, but it could have ended much worse if not for a little luck. I don't know if it was stupidity or ignorance, but it was scary.:eek:

Sounds like a little of both.
 

The captain of the boat is responsible for all those aboard as well as navigation.
It is hard to believe that someone would be looking away for that length of time and then after all that not at least stop and say they were sorry.
Good thing you did not have people on the tube in the water it sounds like the distance would have been about right for a close call there as well.

Nice, all I got to say is nice

Its a 1925 boat, so they are grandfathered in, they only have to follow the rules in place in 1925.:D:D

Had a similar experience with two people aboard a PWC in Alton by Sandy Point. Both driver and passenger were looking sideways and pointing while talking to each other. We were anchored and in the water too. Only a loud whistle on my part prevented a collision. It is hard for me to estimate speed but they were on plane, probably 15-20MPH or so.

Amazing that folks would travel along for any stretch of water without looking forward.

I had a similar experience with the Millie B off Wolfeboro Neck a few weeks ago.....I'm the Stand-on, he's the Give-way, but I notice he is turned 90degrees facing directly to port to talk with his riders, and is not looking at all where he is going or to his starboard!

I was tempted to get extra close and blast him with the air-horn, but I played nice.

Topwater, I don't know where your post went but this is my response to it:

Lets face it Topwater if those “wooden racers” were traveling over 45 MPH they might have collided with the OP’s vessel, but because they weren’t everyone came out of the incident OK.

If you want to continue to harass me then that’s fine, keep it up, I’m a big boy.



This is what I am responding to:

"These near misses are impossible!!! Everyone knows that accidents do not happen when your traveling under 45MPH. Either these incidents are a fabrications or you have mis-judged the speed in which the other vessel was going. Just ask Rusty ( AKA Bob ), he and his crew will tell you just that."

Count me among those that have been involved in a "situation" with the Millie B. Not sure if it is the same captain but the guy driving that day, a couple of years ago, was clueless. I was baffled to see him not give way and break the safe passage law on a few occasions.

There are three drivers that I know of on the Millie B.

I think there names are: Moe, Larry, and Curly.

sgold44, I don't dispute your version, but how do you know it was a 1925 Dodge? You could see the drivers face clearly but couldn't make out the names of the three boats? If they were the "racers" from the Alton Boat Show, the gold leaf script on both sides is about 18" high and 4 feet long. They also have large class letters and numbers on both sides towards the bow. To bad you didn't get them.

Millie B
 

I have occasionally witness the Millie B taking off from the dock to high speed within 150 feet. At first I thought they were pulling a water skier!

I guess it is a commercial boat as it carries passenger for hire. And the Millie B can do that. As far as I am concern commercial or private, both must obey the current laws. The MP officers off of Wolfeboro certainly don't think so.

Rocky,
 

Rocky,
I was at the Alton docks prior to heading over to the sand bar. I was admiring the 1925 Dodge & thought it should win the show. I also saw the captain sitting in the boat at the Alton docks. There is no question which boat it was. Unfortunately I didn't noticed the name of the boat, & the incident happened so quickly that I didn't catch the name or the Reg # as it passed me. I've been researching the 1925 Dodge boats on google since the incident, & i have a pretty good idea of the name, but I won't name names or make accusations until im 100% positive.