Tragedy on Biscayne Bay: David's Blog on Point
 

Steve David provides a solid perspective and food for throught, http://boatermouth.com//index.php?vi...ntent&Itemid=8.

Sad but true. The part that really got me going last night was the barrage (sp?) of comments by people complaining about perf boats on the news sites and calling for "Driving tests and license requirements for these "maniacs". I was ready to blow but kept my comments to myself at this time

Matt, I agree with what you wrote. I was over half way through a blog for PBM on this topic when I spoke to Jason, who told me he had put up Steve’s blog on Powerboat. After reading it, I realized Steve summed it up quite eloquently utilizing his vast racing experience.

I will say this though, as I said on the other thread; there are no “accidents”, only “collisions”. Every collision I’ve read about over the past 10 years (and the countless traffic collisions I’ve personally been involved with investigating) has been ultimately avoidable. That makes it no accident.

Yes, it’s easy to sit here and Monday morning quarterback what happened with this (and the other wrecks) because we have the ability to do so. Not so with those less fortunate that have lost their lives - for they are unable to second guess their actions.

The point is, some may say using hindsight and second-guessing what happened to grasp for answers is wrong but I disagree. If you can’t learn from others mistakes then they just died in vein.

So I say – Learn from the mistakes, share the information and most importantly, be safe out there. We all feel immortal at times running at these high speeds across the water but unfortunately we’re reminded, every so often, that we are in-fact not.

It was a terrible accident or collision (I agree most collisions can be avoided but there are strange occurrences and acts of God that cause accidents). I agree that sanctioned racing provides better safety measures during an event but the amount of time racing is short comparatively to pleasure boating. There are also far more pleasure boats running everyday all year long. Proportionally we will never know the real numbers.
I do agree during actual races, racers are safer. However, a race boat is just as dangerous as a pleasure boat when out testing or cruising (unless they are high dollar teams and have support crews each time they go out).
I raced offshore for five years, almost got thrown a number of times, boat stuffed, and I broke a few things over those years. I got into pleasure boating because I could still get the rush of going fast but also take it easy when times require it.

im absolutely in favor of driving tests and legit licensing for boats. ive witnessed to many knuckleheads behind the wheel of boats, not just go fast boats that have NO clue how to act or react under normal circumstances let alone during a high speed mishap. i personally witness a guy taking delivery of a new to him, preowned 28 donzi, his boys untied him from the dock, and he then pushed the throttles forward, not the shifters...looked at the sales guy and says "hey buddy, somethings wrong...boat wont go forwards"...little over a week later saw the same guy at a local bar/rest on the water, partying like he had a limo outside waitin for him...then proceeded to hop in his boat ****faced, bounced it off of 2 pilings while leaving and laughin n high 5ing his buddies...

Bernie I agree 1000% in the context above. I was refering to people who know NOTHING screaming about the "maniac" hi-performance boaters. Imagine you and I getting in an accident together and people wanting to know why we didnt get a test to drive....