T boned by Cigarette in 1997
 

I was T-boned by a 39? Cigarette in 1997. I was running a 22 ft. rib (Nautica) with 9 people on board on Lake Erie. The individual running the Cigarette was coming out of a channel onto the lake. We had right of way as the channel was directly to our west and we were headed north. He proceeded to bring his boat up on plane and head towards us as if playing a game of "chicken". I held my course until it was apparent he was not going to yield to us and it was then that I decided to stop my boat and let him pass us. I backed off the throttle dropping the boat off plane and at that point he corrected course towards us again. At that point it was too late to get the boat back up on plane and out of the way and he hit us dead center on our port side. put four people in the water, ripped out my center console from the deck, the helm leaning post as well and bent the radar arch. $7000 dollars damage. I was ejected from the boat and injured but survived the accident with all my passengers as well. It was a miracle nobody was killed. Oh yeah, hit and run, his boat was sitting on top of mine as it drove the rib sideways but he only managed to get 24 feet on top of it. I was told he had to really gun his boat hard two or three times to get it off but I never saw it, I was still under water. When I surfaced all I got was a glance as the other operator gunned it and took off immediately while we still had people in the water, with no idea at that point what the injuries were or whether or not we still had all our people. Nice guy...my boat was inoperable at that point due to the console damage. Fortunately the radio still worked and with the mayday we put out ( and the apb the cops put out) he was eventually caught pulling his boat out about sixty miles away. He was prosecuted (felony conviction) and lost his boat (confiscated) largely because he didn't stay and assist. A bui is better than losing the boat. In hindsight I suppose there may have been other things I could have done to avoid the collision but no one expects to be run over on a day out. Remember this: in a crossing situation where the other party does not abide by the rules of the road your reaction to that is going to be your best guess because there is no telling what they are going to do... A lesson I learned hard.
One other thing, Nautica builds a great boat, that boat saved our asses, it did not sink... simply bailed all the water after the cigarette was off, never hurt the sponsons, it was rebuilt and ran again, just about anything else would have sunk!

I Have Been Thrown From Boats And I Have Had To Rescue Those Who Have Been Thrown. If You Are Involved In A Boating Accident And No One Went Into The Water.........consider Yourself And All Aboard........... " Lucky "

Some incredible and horrific stories here...thanks to those for sharing. Great reminders on how serious things can get on the water.

About 20 years ago (as teenager) I used to run consistently in friend's boats on St. Lawrence to drink (underage) with the gang and somehow manage to be piloted back by driver with no incidents...a miracle looking back.

2 years ago a fund raiser party let out at night and people were heading away from a lit port when somebody lost a hat and the driver yanked a u-turn and had his boat literally cut in half by a following boat. 2 men died who had been boating their entire lives...left families and children - extremely sad.

I gave up drinking a while back and try very hard not to boat at night. If I do, everybody in boat wears a lifejacket and I go slow with multiple lookouts (for the idiots who continue to boat at night without lights...)

As we all know, the enjoyment of boating has been under pressure from increased police and coast guard presence and while I feel resentment to the typical harassing (which happens plenty to me and others) I also see the value trying to keep the playing field safe and level.

Back in my younger cruiser days.
I was in the water at the end of the ski rope getting ready to take off to ski.
A speedboat at a high rate of speed was headed right for me.I thought he was going to turn. He never turned,I dove to the left, Thinking of the movies and dive under the boat (life perserver would never let me dive).

Luckily I went to the left since the end of the ski rope is where I was, got chopped up by the props. If I went to the right im sure I would be dead.
The boat hit my foot and just scraped/cut my foot.
The name of the boat was "Under the Influence" to top it all off.
Actually somebody here might know of the boat.

Anyways now I have speedboat.

my family and i went down on 35 chris craft on lake erie, labor day weekend 88, hit the cabin top off a 40 foot pacemaker that had sunk the night before, were in water almost three hours swimming for west sister but going nowhere, all lucky to have survived, was picked up by a stick boat right before dark

2002 I was on my Yamaha GP760. Had is for 3 days, was trying to spray the cars of I77 that were stopped at the rip rap for an accident a ways up. Boat po-po came and I took off went to turn and leave the back part of the cove and my dumbass let off the gas. Jet skis dont turn well that way. I went straight up the embankment in about the only place there is no rocks. Rode the bastard all the way to about 2' from the guard-rail. I was lucky. I will never forget the face on that man in the car that was stopped right where I was coming up. Spun the thing around cleaned out the grate and took my reckless driving ticket and went on my way.

I was later topped by the Baja that jumped the rip-rap and landed in the grass median inbetween N and S bound. Those guys are still jacked up.

[QUOTE=sleeper_dave;1897094] My Fountain suffered no structural damage, the Sea-Ray split along the hull and deck, cracked between the hullsides and bottom, and had structural damage more than 5 feet from any area I hit. QUOTE]

You have to remember that you speared the SeaRay with your 3ft long bow pulpit. If he'd have speared you with his at the seam the way you hit his boat, I suspect the results would have been the same.:Whatever:

[QUOTE=pathalla;2231478]I was T-boned by a 39? [QUOTE]

Holy Crap!!!!

If he'd have t-boned me, I agree, my boat would have suffered worse. The pictures I posted are gone now because that web hosting is gone, but I did have pictures up there of what that sea-ray was made of, and it was not pretty. And after the initial impact, my boat was sideways, the bottom of my boat hit his transom, and his transom still took the worst of it. Even in areas well away from the bow of my boat, where I hit him going essentially sideways, the damage was minimal as compared to the damage to the corresponding area on the sea-ray. His hull and deck were separated many feet from the point of impact, mine did not separate at all. That was a big factor in the overall level of damage.

So yes, the angle of impact makes a big difference, but that does not invalidate my point that the sea-ray was a piece of ****.

Hit a submerged object on the Hudson running a 35' Jag in the '91 OPT race , busted a gimbal , lost the steering , finished the race using throttles for steering .
How the bellow held I'll never know .
Sinking in the Hudson could be unhealthy .
Sinking off VA Beach is ok though , the water is much cleaner . It was the 1994 VA Beach Grand Prix in my 30' Rodeo Cat and earned us a two page spread in Powerboat magazine .