Quote:
Originally Posted by Little Bear
I witnessed the ultimate captain bonehead move yesterday. It was about 5:30pm, and there was a boat pulling a waterskier heading NE between Little Bear Island and Long Island, right at Flashing Light #10. There was a bonehead driving a bowrider following right behind the waterskier - probably about 200' behind the skier.
The skier fell right next to FL #10 - probably 50' from the light itself. The guy following the skier never slowed down, but rather just swerved to avoid the skier and went between the skier and the FL. The skier apparently didn't know the boat was near him or coming up on him, because he never looked around. I thought for sure the clown in the bowrider was going to decapitate the skier. Thankfully, nobody got hurt and the bonehead just kept on going. A short time later the boat that was pulling the skier came back to the skier.
This is a true testament to the fact that the boater education course (and other "laws") are completely useless. About 2 hours before this, I took a jet ski ride over to Braun Bay, and witnessed Marine Patrol hassling some boats tied up near the shore. Yes, perhaps they were "breaking the law" but it seems to me that Marine Patrol resources would be better served enforcing more important (and potentially life saving) laws. They could hang out by East Cove and FL #10 on any given weekend day and empty their violation book in no time.
|
One could argue that water skiing in a narrow channel like that is pretty bone-headed too. There's not much room between FL10 and Long Island in that spot, especially if both boats are headed NE where it gets considerably narrower in a hurry.