NJ Boat Accident

[silverghost]

I just saw on the news that a 40 foot twin engine I/O express cruiser ran up on a New Jersey beach at speed~~~
Traveled over 100 feet up on the beach and landed in some beachfront homeowner's waterfront garden.
A crane will be needed to get it out of there.
It now looks like a beached whale.

And yes~
The owner/driver was dead drunk.
He was cited by the NJ marine Police.
D.U.I.
His Auto and Boat drivers licences will be pulled in NJ.

It could have been worse~
Nobody was hurt or killed.

[McGary911]

Looks like this one.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8201765

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011306190065

Formula express cruiser?

I used to live in a condo that was right on the Atlantic, and the Shark River inlet. One morning I woke up to see a 40+ foot sport fish on the beach right in front of my condo. They simply missed the inlet. There were photographers from the papers taking pics. The owner had hung a blanket over the transom to hide the boat's name (from his wife?).

I used to slip my 34' silverton in that river. We'd sometimes arrive after dark, and the inlet can be tricky. It's hard to recognize the inlet with all the background lights. We'd go to the buoy outside the inlet (that's where I had my gps programmed to lead me), sit there for a few minutes and get our bearings, and head in. There were a few times, that after 30 seconds, we'd realize we were initially looking at the wrong spot. This is with a familiar inlet. It just taught us how careful you have to be on the water.


The guy in the story was just plain drunk.

[silverghost]

Yepper~

That is the news story & boat that I was talking about in my initial thread post earlier this week.
You should have seen all the local TV news video footage.

[silverghost]

Now the BIG question ?

Since this guy was cited by the New Jersey Marine Police Unit with a D.U.I.
Both his Boat and Auto Driver's Licences are now suspended~

Will his boat's insurance company pay for re-floating his cruiser, pay for all his boat's damage repairs & actually cover the damage costs to this woman's garden & back yard ?

Or~
Since it was a D.U.I. ~
Will he actually have to pay out of his own pocket ?
He freely stated that he was drunk & it was totally his fault.

[zelatore]

Regarding the insurance coverage, I guess that depends on the policy. I don't have any experience (luckily!) with DUIs so I don't really know if it's common to deny claims if drinking was involved. I could see it going either way.

I do want to hand it to the reporters in the links above for not sensationalizing the story. They didn't make anybody look like a fool or try to make anything over-dramatic. The only thing I didn't like in the reporting was the patrolman who claimed speed was a common factor in boating accidents. I would question that. His other factors of inexperience and DUI I would certainly agree with, but I think law enforcement automatically blame speed for accidents when in fact that's typically a secondary issue at best. Sure, in a performance boat speed could be an issue, but what percentage of boats on the water are performance craft? Not much I'd wager. In this case for example, I'd bet they list speed as a factor when I suspect the boat was fully capable of taversing the inlet at the speed it was going - if the driver had been capable instead of drunk.

The reason I complain about this is that every time speed is listed as a factor in an accident it drives up insurance for all our boats/cars/motorcycles/etc. I'd rather lay the blame where it belongs instead of using the easy-out and just saying 'speed' was at fault.

[silverghost]

5-7 years ago my Father asked me if I wanted to go for a boat ride after dinner in Ocean City NJ .
It was a great day so I said yes .
Durng our ride we saw a twin outboard Grady~ White zoom past us about 8 feet abeam at very high speed driving erratically, in a no-wake safety zone with a bunch of highschool kids aboard with an adult driving.
They were screaming and having a ball .
My Dad remarked that they were crazy for driving that fast in this area.
And passing us at such a high speed ~~~so close to us.
We headed toward the OC 9th street bridge slowly..
Suddenly we heard a call on VHF CH 16 for the Coast Guard & NJ Marine Police.
Soon after this the Great Egg/Atlantic City NJ Coast Guard zoomed past us with lights flashing sirens blazing.
There was a VHF message for all boaters to assist at a boating accident at the Ocean City launching ramp area.
We cranked-up and headed back to assist.
Few other boats were out that night.
We were only the second boat to arrive just after the Coast Guard.
We did NOT witness the actual accident.
But we HEARD it !
It sounded like a giant explosion.
The Grady~White still full of kids as listing to port and taking on water and sitting in front of the boat ramps.
It bow had a large chunk out of it.
The local Ocean City Police just started to arrive on land.
There was a 24 foot Sonic Speed Boat sitting up on the marsh meadows just past the ramp in front of the big Condo development on the intercoastal waterway..
The Sonic had it's entire mid-section obliterated on both sides.
It looked like a bomb had gone off in the boat's mid section. The fiberglass was waving in the breeze.
There was all sorts of personal items floating in the water, baseball caps, shoes, life jackets etc.
What a sight~
It turns out the Grady~ White full of kids had T-Boned the Sonic at a very high speed and had actually driven completely through
the Sonic's mid section .
We were asked to assist in the rescue & recovery.
As time passed more rescue ambulance & Police workers arrived.
On person, the Sonic's Driver was found Dead on scene in the Sonic at first. he had been almost decapitated. Later a second woman was found totally crushed in the Sonic's bow section.
Three other passengers in the Sonic were said to be missing.
We saw no trace of them.
We helped search for them ,as did the Coast Guard & their Cape May NJ Chopper until dark.
They were not found unitil they floated to the surface approx. three days later.
We recovered lots of crash debris for the Coast Guard.
This was the worst boat accident scene I & my father had ever seen.
Five people in the Sonic were killed instantly.

Later the Sonic was blamed for this accident.
Why I will never know ?
How was this their fault ?
They had been T-Boned & run-though by the fast moving Grady~White fisherman.
The father had taken this large group of high school kids out for a fast graduation party ride.

There was a BIG investigation.
It was all over local & national TV news reports.

Sadly the 5 Sonic passengers were not at the Coast Guard Investigation hearing to tell their side of the sad story.
All five in the Sonic speed boat were now dead.

Many of the kids in the Grady~White were also hurt & in shock.
Some were trown foreward & actually out of the boat.

Dad & I never forgot that tragic day.
There is a make-shift memorial at side of the Ocean City NJ boat launch ramp to this very day.
All five killed were in the late 20s to early 30s.
What a sad waste of young lives.

Our Friends at Shamrock Towing later towed both boats to All Seasons Marina at 34th street.
Both boats were then impounded pending the results of the investigations..
We both later inspected these craft first hand at the marina.

Search for this Ocean City New Jersey Fatal Boating Accident on the web~
There are many threads about it still out there today.

As long as I live I will NEVER forget that violent boating accident scene !
It might have been Dad & I that were killed that very evening.
We just were lucky~ I guess ?

[Greg Guimond]

McGary, funny you mention the Shark River inlet. I once took the 16 from New York Harbor down through the Kills and out to the Atlantic. The destination was the Shark River for fuel, lunch and to "change my underwear". That inlet can be tricky and some yee haw's get a scare if they don't know what they are doing, especially at dusk with high winds.