Scary night last night...

[Fish boy]

Got home late from a super bowl party and about 2 minutes after I walked in the door, I heard a loud crash and sudden high rpm winding out of what sounded like outboards.

Ran out to the balcony and heard screaming by several people and cries for help. Could barely make out what appeared to be 2-3 people in the water, A boat against the docks, and another boat circling back. BTW, the second boat came back, had to have heard the cries for help and seen the people in the water, and took off full throttle in the other direction.

Grabbed my cell phone and ran down the firestairs to the dock. Saw 3 people in the water, a damaged 28 Baja with the centerconsole ripped from the deck and tipped back 90 degrees on top of at least one person.

Got a line to the boat and began helping them get the girls out of the water and on to the dock, and then the rest of the people out of the boat.

Although the details are a little sketchy, it appears the second boat forced the Baja into a row of docks that line my complex. Might explain why he did not want to stick around, but can never explain why he actually left without helping IMHO.

Fortunately, no one was killed, and the 13-14 people on board are truly blessed to be alive. 2 things kept all from being killed: High tide- the boat chopped through the docks rather than going under them which surely would have been fatal for all. Second, form the sound the motor made, it sounds like the lower unit was torn off the starboard motor which would have caused a sharp right turn (combined LU grab the pole and left motor still going ping ponged them towards right rather than continuing straight). I drove the driver home and he said he was really lucky it suddenly jerked back out into open water. The reason this is so lucky is that when you look at the pics, they crashed through 5 unoccupied docks, the 6th and 7th and larger metal boat lifts on them with boats- had they not suddenly turned back t0o sea, there would have been non hope for anyone in the boat.

Here are the pics (None of the boat, did not have the heart under the circumstances to add insult to injury.

First one is where the boat entered the docks running parallel to the seawall

[Fish boy]

a couple more of the docks. Notice the large Piling in the middle of most of the docks...

[Fish boy]

hard to see here, but there is a middle piling that is completely pushed over. I am guessing this might be the one that took off the LU given its proximity to where the biat jerked starboard back towards open water.

[Fish boy]

View from the othr direction (boat coming towards the camera)

[Fish boy]

Aireal view. Notice the two boats on the lifts? All the docks to the right of the tweo boats were destroyed, and the next thing they would have hit would have been these two boats had their boat suddenly not jerked back towards the open water.

If you look at the number of pilings to the right of the boats, that will give you a perspective on the distance the Baja traveled (hit all of the docks along the seawall).

Also the fox news helicopter that has been circling for the past 45 minutes.

[ChromeGorilla]

Dang Fish...bet you were up late.... any news on the azzhole that left the scene?

[Fish boy]

Dang Fish...bet you were up late.... any news on the azzhole that left the scene?

Definitely late night. I drove as many people as my car could fit wherever they needed to go. No word as far as I know on thew azzhull, but hopefull the police will figure something out. The drvier said he did not know the guy, but would definitely recognize the boat again when he saw it. I believe this guy will have a very hammurabi type discussion at that time with the drive of the second boat.

[Lenny]

Fish, is that "no wake" territory or whatever you want?

Unbelievable story. Jerks. Reminds me of the fellas that were punching and "drowning" people at Lake Havasu last summer. Hopefully they were eventually found as well.

[Fish boy]

yep, it is a no wake zone. It is also called "blind pass" since the lack of markings until you get to the intercoastal waterway. Pretty much a locals pass and a shortcut inland. Did nothear about Havasu dude beating people... WTF is wrong with people???

[onesubdrvr]

Well,

Thankfully there were no injuries!! Unfortunately although night time boating is absolutely beautiful, it is also very dangerous. My question is, the guy in the Baja, how fast was he going to cause that type of damage. Obviously it was the other guys fault, but I'm wondering if damage would have been worse had he been going slower (plowed into by other boat), or less (still able to evade, but with less damage to the docks?)....

All that said,
THANK GOD EVERYONE WAS SAFE!!

Wayne

[Fish boy]

Well,

Thankfully there were no injuries!! Unfortunately although night time boating is absolutely beautiful, it is also very dangerous. My question is, the guy in the Baja, how fast was he going to cause that type of damage. Obviously it was the other guys fault, but I'm wondering if damage would have been worse had he been going slower (plowed into by other boat), or less (still able to evade, but with less damage to the docks?)....

All that said,
THANK GOD EVERYONE WAS SAFE!!

Wayne

Wayne, I think you hit the nail on the head- THANK GOD EVERYONE WAS SAFE! had the boat not cut through the docks on the hull (and fortunately, the Baja Hull was very solid) everyone of the people on board woudl have had some sort of impact with the dock at waist to head high at whatever speed they were traveling. Also bad had they continued straight (rather than turn right).

Long and short of it is that this very easily could have been fatal to all or most onboard, but somehow all survived. I am still befuttled as to how a 28' boat got turned 90 degrees in those narrow slips and pilings just beore impact with the metal beams of the boat lifts. They were truly blessed last night- I can see how everyone could have died, but still cannot figure out how everyone lived.

[MOP]

There is some Evil Garbage behind some wheels, super glad the people made out OK.

Phil

[ChromeGorilla]

Out at Havasu there were some azzhulls who were drunk and assaulted a few people and injured them pretty bad. I believe they even knocked a girl out in the water by punching her in the head. I read about it last year on another forum (cant remember which one) the forum member was asking the boards help to try and identify the jaggggofs who did this. It was his neice or friends daughter that got assaulted. Was pretty scary story. The board had a virtual lynch mob if they ever identifed those guys....

[gcarter]

Fish, these people were fortunate indeed!
Do any of you remember about 10-12 years ago when three ball players on spring training went boating drunk at dusk and ran into a dock at full speed. Two were killed instantly, a third was injured badly and I think lost a season.
I imagine if they could have made different decisions, they would have!
That accident happened about 30 miles south of here.

[Fish boy]

George, yes I remeber the ball players. I know the one that survived well. He lost more than a season, he lost his career. He sells real estate now.

here is a link to local news. Turns out the driver was a deputy with the Pinellas county sheriff's office.

news story