How could this have happened?
First let me say that you people who keep bring up the 150' headway speed thing are really ignorant. Do you honestly think that if someone knew they were heading for an island they would not have taken action to avoid hitting it?
Even though someone sells a particular model of boat doesn’t automatically mean they know everything about every boat in that model line.
Now lets say the operator was on a brand new boat, one that they had just purchased and were out on for the first time, one they were not totally familiar with and therefore were not using GPS but rather relying on there life long knowledge of the lake to guide them.
Now for all you boaters, where do you keep your right hand when operating your boat?
Not sure but I believe 90% would say that it was resting on the controls.
What direction propels the boat forward?
If I was operating a boat and it came to a stop unexpectedly there might be a good chance I would push the throttles full forward thus adding to the boats forward momentum.
Granted this is only hypothetical but a scenario that very well could have played out this past weekend.
So please have a little respect for those who were involved and let the facts come out before you show so much disrespect for the families by assuming the people involved had to have done something wrong.
We take our lives in our hands each and every day. To say that someone should not have been boating in those conditions is ridiculous. Who are you to say what optimum conditions to boat in are? As for the GPS, anyone who is a real boater knows that GPS is only a backup system. If you cannot navigate a body of water without a GPS then you do not belong out on it.
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