Jeff

why are people out boating at night in these small boats? A while back we were coming from a dinner and a boat ride and were doing maybe 25mph and it was pitch black and all the sudden here was a jackass fishing in the middle of Sarasota Bay no lights in a 17-20 boat full of people. I swear this type of no effen common sense stuff is causing a lot of these disasters. We were in my parents 45 Sea Ray Express. I wanted to stop and biotch slap the owner for GP. Guys just expect this when your out at night. Oh, and we had been drinking at dinner and a couple on the way home. So I'm the bad guy here BULLSHIIT. jUST TIRED OF HERING ABOUT THIS CRAP WHEN IT IS USUALLY SOME DUMBASSS WITHOUT A CLUE.

dockrocker

Jeff,

Nice rant, however, both boats that were hit were displaying the appropriate lights, a fact note in the police reports. I suppose that if I hit another car on the freeway with my truck, it's not my fault because it was a compact car? Yeah, that makes sense...

dockrocker

Mr. Offshore, I'll take issue with your analogy. Running a smaller boat is no different than running a motorcycle on the highway. Should bikes be banned from using the freeway at night? While we're at it, should smaller cars be banned? Where do you draw the line?

In the Friday incident, the boat that was hit was an 18' bowrider; the boat that hit them was somewhere around 25'.

The argument that anyone in a "small" boat shouldn't be on the water at night is specious at best. From all accounts, both vessels were hit while displaying proper lighting and obeying all rules - that is the bottom line, not the size of the vessel. Not too long ago, a guy in a 60' Viking ran over a 25' center console off the east coast, killing 3 or 4 people. Maybe the center console shouldn't have been out there?

Sorry, I don't buy that kind of thinking at all.

Jeff

Dock, I was referring to our observations. And there are going to be accidents. The leaving the scene part is a big no no.

dockrocker

Jeff,

I'll agree with you - we see all sorts of idiots out here, fishing with no lights in a 14' jon boat. That still doesn't absolve the captain from any responsibility.

Suppose that instead of a boat, you were to hit an unlighted buoy or a log? The captain is still responsible. Most states have have ordinances that state something like the boat must be operated in a reasonable manner, reasonable meaning you're travelling at such a speed that you can avoid a collision. Troutly probably has more info on this sort of thing.

You're right though, there seems to be an unnatural attraction between boats and Darwin Award candidates....

Whiteknuckle

First of all, there is no excuse for leaving the scene of an accident, particulairy if someone is hurt, so I hope the boats that left the scene get prosecuted to the limit of the law. Lets hope that the injured parties fully recover.
However, just for the sake of discussion, lets talk about night boating on Lake St. Clair. Many, many times I have been out at night and have seen fisherman or sail boaters with less than adequate lighting or no lights at all. Sometime a small light off of one of these boats blends in perfectly with the shore lights and you don't even realize its a boat until you are right on top of it. The fisherman like to fish the edges of channels where there generally is a lot of boat traffic. Now, I live less than 150 yards off Anchor Bay of Lake St. Clair. I hear the boats perfectly. It is very common late at night to hear boats with open exhaust hauling ass out in the bay, I just don't mean 3000 RPM I mean hauling ass. Now, how much sense does that make given the fact that visability is so much less, and there may be boats out there with people that maybe are not smart enough to make their boat as visable as they should. I'm not picking on the boats with open exhaust as I'm one of those guys too. Its only that those are the boats that I hear. I don't hear dozens of cabin cruiser and fishing boats that probably are going way to fast for their line of sight. Whats my point? Everyone has to be extra careful at night no matter what your activity. You may be the bug, or you may be the windshield.

dockrocker

Whiteknuckle,

You're right - at this point, we just don't go out at night if we can avoid it. Just too many idiots out there to take the chance...

MERCMAN

thats bulls%it! if i lived there i would go to every marina personally and find that boat! i hate it when people do that kind of crap even if someones not hurt , i was standing outside my nightclub last weekend and a girl rode by and scraped another car , when she realized what she had done she hauled ass. i got her tag number and put it on the injured vehicle , theres no excuse for that kind of crap!

dockrocker

Mr. Offshore, I knew we were on the same page - it's the idiots that ruin it for everyone else!

I don't want to speak to the investigation - OSO member Gary864 is a St. Clair County sheriff in the marine division. I'm sure he'll pop in with an update. I know he's been busy this weekend, one of the big parties of the summer was Friday, and he ran a poker run on Saturday up here in Michigan. I got the feeling that they nabbed the SOB, but don't know for sure.

Hopefully, they'll nail the other bastard as well. I'll bring the rope...

PatriYacht

Well put MrOffshore, to think these a******s took off, possibly leaving someone dying in the water, just floors me.