Accident on the Broads

[Mee-n-Mac]

Originally Posted by madrasahs

It's raining , so here goes: {snip}
Offshore boaters would still be happy if Lake Winnipesaukee was a mix of saltwater and ethylene glycol -- especially if that mixture caused those boats to gain 4 MPH.

Or to be more discerning, the way the messenger puts out his message (for me anyway). The snippet above is 1 example of the emotional drivel* you put forth to prop up your positions. Do you really think insulting all "offshore" operators is necessary ? Another is the cherry picking you do when finding boating accidents, presumably to show how bad the "bad boats" are. I just googled boating + accident and picked the 1'st 5 reports that listed boat size and were non-commercial. Here they are with boat size listed in () ;
http://www.kptv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1936820 (18' aluminum)

http://www.kxly.com/common/getStory.asp?id=37765 (22' )

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/news/updates/7166.html (18 ')

http://www.rbbi.com/folders/acc/lisland/lisland.htm (18')

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...d=455823&rfi=6 (16')

Not a 1 was an "offshore" nor "over-sized". Nor did you comment on the child that was killed when she fell out of her bowrider (too small a boat for your attention ?) although you did try to infer that the waves mentioned in 2 other accidents came from "too large" vessels (any evidence to support this ? Could be this is why the newspaper didn't state it as such). I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds this selective editting of accident reports as enlightening and as fair as the political ads we'll see on TV this year*. Don't get me wrong, I certainly support your "right" (wrong word but you get my meaning) to express your viewpoints, even when I disagree, but expect some arguments when your unbalanced claptrap* pegs somebodys BS meter.

With regard to this incident, we only have Sculpin's report of the happenings. I believe sharp turns, powering up & down and agressive were the key words. Since I have no idea of how close he was to other boaters, what the people in his boat were told, how fast he was actually going or his level of experience - I can't say he was reckless (from hyperdictionary: Inattentive to duty; careless; neglectful; indifferent.) as has been bandied about. He might well have been or maybe he just let his driving exceed his capabilities. Incompetence seems proven, reckless yet to come, perhaps.

As you mentioned above, it does seem possible that this may be another case of stepped hull hook-n-snag, as it appears last years flip was. So is this the boat or the driver ? I know your answer but I wonder if someone were to spin a vintage 911 (I think you have some experience with these) whilst cornering would you say this was the car or the driver ? Oh wait I recall your answer from last year from a similar discussion; the car is the driver as well. Silly me*. The rest of us go about thinking we're responsible for our actions, not trying to find fault with the devices we're operating. How very Old-Winni style of us*.

Lastly I would agree w/MAXUM (though I have less condemnation) in that I don't have much sympathy for the person at the helm. While I'm glad to hear nobody was hurt, it certainly seems he was testing the limits and found his.

*so how do you like my emotional, provocative, shoot from the lip style ? I could have phrased things differently, and still expressed the same views, but I wanted to make a point. Hope I did. I now return to my normal posting style.