What Would You do When Somebody else Needed Your Help?
 

Boating can be an inherently dangerous sport as we all know. Sometimes, we are placed in situations where somebody else needs help – form someone knowledgeable. The question is, would you be able to help? Here’s what I did two weeks ago when somebody else needed help and nobody else around had the skills and / or resources needed to help the person in a timely manner.

My father always taught me to do the right thing when somebody else was in trouble. (I've taught my son the same thing.) The other day, I was coming back from our Boat Storage Yard in the marina pickup truck and saw something odd out on Canandaigua Lake near City Pier. When I got closer, it appeared to be a capsized sailboat. I drove past the marina and out onto the pier and saw that there was a man clinging to the 16’ sailboat and all sorts of people waving and yelling on the pier. The water and the air were about 50 degrees and the winds were 20-25 MPH, so this wasn't good.

I rushed back to the marina, grabbed the 23’ Center Counsel service boat with a Mercury 200 outboard and hauled ass out the channel. (I always wanted to do that.) I could hear sirens as I came around the pier and saw the Canandaigua Fire Department and Police were just getting there. I pulled up beside the boat and pulled the soaking wet guy into the service boat, then took him to a waiting ambulance on the pier. I asked for a volunteer to help me get the boat righted and a CPD Detective hopped in. We went back out to the overturned boat and I explained how we were going to right it without getting wet or hurt. (He had no idea what to do.) I moved the service boat so we could approach from upwind and we righted it with very little difficulty - except that the sails were still up. So I showed him how to hold position in the service boat and I climbed into the sailboat. I dropped both sails and secured everything. We then towed the boat back to the Public Launch Ramp and left it for the owner. The only bad part was that the owner told me he had tossed the anchor out to hold the boat in position. He did alright. Tying one end to the sailboat would have been a nice touch.

The detective stopped at the marina later and told the owners that I'd saved the guy's life. (I don't think it was quite that big.) He also thanked the marina for helping out since the nearest police boat would have taken 25 minutes to get manned and respond due to the time of year. So it was a good public relations day for the marina too. The guy stopped in about an hour later with his boat safely on the trailer and thanked me for helping him out. Yea, that felt pretty good.

So, would you do the same thing? I hope so.

Tom

Nice story, I have never done anything of that level but if it looks like someone needs help, stalled, or even just a hand at the dock, etc. I always offer, you never know when you might be on the other side of that coin, and we all know Lady Karma can be a B****

I've always thought that boaters had a responsibility to help others in trouble on the water.

In the summer of 2012 I was cruising along the center of a fairly narrow part of my lake when I saw a couple of little dots bobbing in the water in front of me. It was a woman and a child. I stopped to see what was going on and protect them from the boat traffic. The woman was pretty frantic and started pointing upstream. There was an empty jet ski a couple hundred yards up with a guy swimming after it. After a couple seconds it was obvious the ski was being blown faster than the guy could swim and it was going to hit the rocks. I hauled the lady and her kid aboard and took off after it. My buddy got up on the deck and dove after the ski while I tossed the guy a line and pulled him up on the swim platform. He seemed pretty embarrassed and his lady was beyond pissed. In fact I don't even remember him saying thanks, but at least I logged some good lake karma that day.

Never done anything on that level. In the boating world, I was coming in from a lazy cruise with a buddy 3 summers ago in my then Chaparral. Just an old 24ft 350sbc boat. Saw a388 Slingshot with the engine hatch up and thought "hell I should at least check". Turns out he had lost power steering and was stuck. He made a call while I waited around and it turned out he needed a tow. Pulled him about 3mi to his marina. That was Oneida lake. met some good guys through that afternoon. Prayer all 3mi that my alpha1 wouldn't blow to bits :thankyouthankyou:

Do you work at Seager?

Well I have never done anything quite as heroic as Too Stroked but I have towed in to dock my share of broken down boats in my day. But that's just what you are supposed to do! Right?? I have also had to be towed in myself a few times. But in answer to the original question, YES! I would try by best to help someone in distress. Not boating related but a few years back I witnessed an SUV traveling close to 80 MPH on I10 in front of me blow a tire and roll close to 8 times and landed upside down off the side of the road. A trucker behind me and myself stopped and helped extract the driver from the mangled vehicle. Unbelievably he had only minor injuries. While watching the vehicle roll so many times I and my passengers thought sure there would be fatalities. I guess the moral to this story is "Wear you seat belt", If he had not been wearing his I'm sure he would have been ejected and seriously hurt. Any way yes I will always try and help. I'm not one myself but I come from a long line of Firefighters. Both my Grandfather and Dad were and my Son is a Firefighter/Paramedic now. "Pay it Forward"

Nice work Tom!

I've been on both sides of that table.

I was "that guy" one time, on a PWC. I was on my PWC many years ago, young, dumb, and stupid. 70 degree day in March, but water was only 59 degrees; and I went out alone on Lake Anna in VA. I was dressed for the air, not the water; with only the top half of a wetsuit on. I blew out a baseball sized chunk in the pump cavity on the PWC, and it sank to the handlebars. I could feel the air exit my lungs as I sank into the water with the ski. I was very lucky that an older couple were out for a cruise on their bass boat. They hauled me aboard, gave me a sandwich and a blanket, AND towed my sunken ski into a marina. I would not be here had it not been for them. Bless their hearts, I never saw them at the lake again.

On behalf of your sailboat guy as a person in similar peril, I say THANK YOU, again.



A couple years ago I stumbled upon a broken down boat in the middle of the night on Smith Mountain Lake in VA; NO lights, PITCH black night, and 3 drunk/high idiots aboard. They had blown their motor; and were content with sleeping it off in the middle of the lake. They rejected my offer to call for authorities to help them in (go figure). I called them anyway. They were a navigation hazard to other boaters. We almost ran them over ourselves.

Another time, attending a Wine Festival at SML as well; came across a Fountain 29 Single that adrift in the entrance to the cove of the festival (with swift breeze blowing in; LOTS of boats anchored/beached/docked). I pulled up along side, and they had blown the drive on the boat. Crew was exasperated, as their day was looking sour. Several boats had just cruised on by them. I towed them in, got them docked, and they enjoyed the festival; worried about the boat once the weekend was over. As a result, I made a friend (boat's owner) that has since bought me more drinks than I can count, and few meals as well; and we always have a blast every time we catch up.

I'm always willing to help out when anyone needs a hand weather it's on the boat or not. I learned this from years at the race track. You always help out someone in need because you never know when you'll be that person in need.

This summer I had to help one of my buddies out. I had just arrived at our usual raft up spot, just got all tied up and popped open my first drink. I'm not even two sips in and my phone starts ringing from my buddy that was supposed to meet up with us. He was achor down out in the channel with a dead engine. I untied and headed over to where he was and towed him about a mile back to the dock in some pretty good chop. Helped him load his boat up on the trailer then we all headed out on my boat for the day. Well, it turns out that karma was instant that day because we were pulling back in to the bay to raft up again my steering locked up tighter than a frogs a$$. Some guys around us lent me some tools but we could not get it fixed. Luckly the drives were locked straight forward and I decided to twin stick it and steer with the dual throttles back to the slip. As I got back to my slip several people came out to help slide me in.

Times like that are a good way to meet good people too.

.

I've towed twice and been towed twice. If another boater is in distress, my fun takes a back seat. I think that's how most boaters feel. I'm also always ready and willing to lend a hand at the ramp or at the dock to anyone who looks like they need it. I think that's one of the great things about boating. There is an inherent desire to help out a fellow boater, I think.

Great story Too Stroked

No, across the street a Sutter's.

Excellent point! The fist thing the USGG teaches folks in the Safe Boating Course up here is that if you're going to offer assistance, Make sure you have the skills and equipment to do it without becoming the next victim. A quick check as I was running for the service boat verified that I had both points well covered.

Great Job !! I think it's part of the responsibility of being a boater. Water kills and we need to always render aid when possible.

I have gone into the water 2x to save people. Once during a race in Miami and once when a Fountain crashed right next to me off of Ft. Lauderdale ejecting two. The first I don't ever really discuss and the second has an infamous pic floating around here from the aftermath.

I came up on a cat being towed in by a bass tracker during this years Tickfaw 200.
He was having a hard time because of the rough water from boat traffic, so I took over for him.
Most passing boats were courteous and slowed down, but there were those that think their boat doesn't make a wake at 70 knots.
They are wrong....
Please be nice and idle by when you come up on a boat being towed in - they are having a bad day already without having to worry about their cleats being torn off their boat.

I have towed three boats back to shore and one jet ski. None were capsized and that I don't know if I could handel but I would at least get the people back to safety. I live on the St. Lawrence river so one tow back was my cousin who called with a motor that wouldn't start after he got out. The best one was the jet ski. I was sitting on the deck and saw the jet ski buzzing around for awhile. It was getting late and sun was going down and they were just floating for awhile. I watched and after they drifted down from my house and did not start the JetSki I figured I better check because it was getting dark and not much boat traffic. I headed out and found them and it was the right decision because they had sucked the tow rope from a tube they were towing into the impeller. The funny part of the story is that one of the people on the JetSki was my assistants daughter. They made it back safely but my assistant was not pleased since the boy operating the jet ski was not in the best condition shall we say to be driving. The JetSki was taken without her knowing.
I have been towed back once after my temp. Alarm went off after just getting out for the first time of the season. My water pump went and I got to drift down stream until a fisherman brought me back to the dock. The lesson I learned from that is always drive upstream on your first outing!

Nice. I remember that place when it was Shepard marine. My dad dry docked there ( shepard, Ross now Sutters) until he passed a few years ago. Great place!!

Do not be at at bar when your buddy calls and asks for help while he is DOA under the Bay Bridge....nothing worst than having to sober up quickly knowing that you need to be there for your friend.... 'Waitress, I need a coke to go please"

I also agree.. Always at least stop to ask... you never know what they need.
Though we have joked when we see a big cat or expensive boat stopped with hatch up, "that's a $5k stop!" Then wave to see if they need help... admittedly, I was hatched up a few times with my 25ol when I first got it down here in the south as I was victim to "vapor lock" a couple times till I figured it out and fixed it. I called Eddie Young as soon as I bought my next boat with same engines to solve that problem before it happened again.

I do have a question along this topic??

myth or fact:

I have heard that if you offer a line to someone who needs a tow, you are responsible if something happens to them (pull eye out or break boat somehow) , on the other side, if you accept their rope, then you are released of any fault that occurs while your towing them??

Just thought I would ask..

A number of years ago a boat that just left the gas dock exploded tossing all the occupants into the water. We were nearby and ran over to the area and pulled three occupants into my friends boat. It's amazing how difficult it is to get someone into a boat without a ladder or swim platform. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt but the boat burned to the waterline and sunk in minutes.
ed

Good job Stroke. I been towed, helped, towed others, helped others, I never had to "save a life" fortunately, but always willing to land a hand. Often I get "stuck" helping boaters at the ramp, at times the boater is a rocky or no one around willing or has the know hoe "how to help". Towed in out several "pretty much sunken" cars, boats that were half full of water, etc. got a sail boat off a sand bar a few years ago, warm waters. lol... no immediate danger, but while most of us are ready to help, I also see boaters that just fly by and ignore the situation. I feel like getting their key and toss is in the water. Good job Too. Nice read. :)

It's great to hear about boaters helping boaters, and Tom that was beyond the call of boater help. You set a standard for boaters that should be followed. Not only was your help incredible but the part I like probably the most is your father passing this on to you and you to your son. The satisfaction and gratification you must of felt telling your son and hopefully your dad must of felt great. Cheers and good karma to you.

I don't post much on the site but follow and enjoy many of the discussions here. On this subject I was recently on the sour end. I hit a sand bar last Sunday and ended up outside the boat with my life jacket on. I have boated my entire life and love the water and pulled people in many times, karama must exsist in my situation. This was supposed to be last trip of the season ( as North Texas lakes are getting too low, as I found out the hard way) I wanted to make a couple good runs by myself low on fuel, cool water, and go home. Well on the last run I hit a sand bar at 70+ pretty scary in it's self then slowed down and notice the temp gauge creeping up and I knew I sucked up a bunch of silt. When I turned to see if water was coming from the exhaust I hit something else some how knocked my laynard off and rolled off the sun deck with the boat in gear idling now. It was one of the worst feelings ever, watching my pride and enjoy slowly idle away from you, then relize there is not another sole in site. Its 60 degrees and fully clothed in the middle of the lake and the water is just as cold. Luckily someone at a marina nearby heard me, knew I was in trouble and directed some bass fisherman to assist they wrangled the boat and shut it off and then picked me up. It feels like eternity when your in water by yourself (maybe only a 10 min ordeal total). This could have played out so much worse and my greatest fear was to never see my two young daughters or wife again. Or have the boat hit someone else. I thank god I used my head and put the Life Jacket on that day and I can't be more thankful enough for the guys that came to my rescue. The answer in my book will always be help a fellow man in need you never know when it is going to be you. Our sport gets a bad stigma sometimes due to the type of boats but most of the boaters I meet are great people and will assist whenever needed. Just wanted to share as this is still very fresh on my mind and still think how much worse it could have turned out. Like many have said before our toys can be replace but lives can't be.

Be safe out there,
Michael

I've towed/been towed when safety wasn't an issue......just a day that sucked!

However, about 6 years ago we went to the local hangout on the first warm day in April. Warm air, kids could swim but the adults wanted no part of the cold water. Noticed a couple 1 boat over from us walking back and forth on the beach. Looking around the tree line and between boats for what seemed like 20 minutes. Told my wife I thought they were looking for a ball or dog but I was getting concerned. As they passed by again I asked what they were looking for......."a 11 year old girl".

There were 2 guys in a boat between mine and theirs. They heard her answer me (apparently they had been noticing the same thing I saw) and walked into 4 ft deep water behind the boats as I got off to do the same.......they found her in 15-20 seconds. Only problem was she had been missing for at least 20 minutes and had been on the bottom. We started CPR while rescue was called. 25-30 min later they showed up on a tug boat as it was the closest place rescue knew to come to where we were.

My oldest was 10 and all 3 of my boys were with us at the time. The girl was BLUE and we never got a sign of life from her. I read in the paper a few days later that she died.



fast forward ONE WEEKEND:
I'm on a camping trip with my boys and it's cold while were fishing on a dock at a lake. A young couple comes down, puts a 14 ft jon boat in the lake and loads a 3 yr old and an infant in the boat. I stop the lady and tell her to PLEASE put life jackets on the kids as I saw a girl die the weekend before. Her husband didn't seem pleased as I was insistant. Within 50 feet of leaving the dock the infant is screaming about the jacket so the mother takes if off to shut the kid up.........I was pissed.

25+ years ago on a warm summer night, me and a girl I was dating at the time were having a night-time ride up the hudson river. Just as we passed Indian point where the river bends to the right, the engine died and I realized we were out of gas. For some unknown reason, the anchor was not in the boat and after trying 30+ minutes to raise someone on the radio, we were still alone in the dark, shouting as loud as we could. I figured eventually we'd drift onto one of the river banks and just tie off until we could get some help. At this point, it was pitch black, had no gas, we're drifting and it got much worse. Since we were just ahead of the bend in the river, we were unable to see the freighter coming up river until it was about 100 yards away. We were square in the middle of the channel, we got our life jackets on were just about to start swimming when we heard a little outboard come up with a guy and his son and he pulled us into the shore out of harms way; gave me a few gallons of gas to get back to my marina and wouldn't take a nickel for the gas. That was a VERY long time ago and since then, any time I've ever come across anyone where there was even the slightest hint they might need help, I've stopped. Doing the right thing... it's a good way to live.

Never leave a man (or women) behind has been written in my DNA since I was a little kid.
Started boating off the coast of Maine. The way the current and wind works is if you break down and cant hook up and anchor you are on your way to England so no matter what if something don’t look right you go and investigate. Even as a little kid in a flat bottom plywood row boat with a 3hp motor I remember towing someone in.
Then there was the time a lobster boat caught fire and burst into flames about 100 yards off our dock when I was 10. My 70 year old grandmother did the rowing while I pulled the father and daughter crew on the boat burning my eyebrows off. Well, I pulled the father aboard, the daughter was a healthy Maine girl with coveralls full of water, I just held on.
The last time, I went past these folks in a river (I live in Maryland now) about 3pm on a late fall day last year. Stopped by (because things didn’t look right) and asked if they needed help (3 adults and 3 kids onboard). They told me they were broke down and waiting on a friend and they would be OK. So I went further down the river and played around for an hour or so and then started heading back to the public ramp I was using about 10 miles away. Going back up the river the boat is still there so I stop again and basically convince the guy to at least let me give them a tow until their buddy showed up because it was going to be dark and cold soon. So we hook him up and my little 19’ boat set up for top end speed is trying to tow this 24’ cuddy cabin and there is no one else on the water anywhere. I’m dragging him along and watching my gas gage get closer and closer the that dreaded “E” and really didn’t think we were going to make it. As we finally pull up to the pier and I start to slow down the nose of the boat drops and the motor starts to stumble but stayed running until we both got to the ramp. As we pull up the guy on the boat I’m towing yells over at the pier, “were in the hell have you been” to a guy on the pier. Pointing to a boat on the next pier he says, “been trying to get the boat started for hours and thinks he may have dropped his cell phone in the water”. Being it was twilight when we got to the ramp it would have been a long cold night for those folks if I didn’t insist that I couldn’t just leave them there.

Great Job.

Never saved any lives before but I think I saved some sanity once, I like everyone else that has commented has & will help if needed and have done so many times. This time we were in Okoboji visiting my brother & went to dinner, we were sat at a table overlooking west lake & looking over the menu when I heard a couple of guys trying to start their boat at the dock. It wouldn't even fire so I went down to see if it was something goofy like a landyard switch or something. These guys were pretty soused but things looked ok, I found a screwdriver in the bilge & removed the cap, the points set screw was missing so I dug around in the bilge & found the screw back by the drain plug. Reset the points with a matchbook, had the guy hit the key and the boat fired right up. As they were leaving & I was walking up the dock everyone at the place stood up & gave a standing ovation. I was told by the waitress that the guys were very disruptive & had been asked to leave and had been there for about an hour before we showed up. Got a free steak dinner for that. Randy

I think it has to do with being in Maine for those first years. We go up about once a year for family and vacations. It seems like every time I pull over on some not so traveled road when up there to put something in GPS or yell at a kid some one will always stop and ask if we are OK?
Where I live, Maryland you pull over on a not so traveled road and then some one pulls over to "check" on you, you better be prepared anything. Not that happens all the time but you first thought is, I wonder what their intentions are?

This reminds me of my first poker run. It was the ohio river poker run in 2006. It was our first year out with the boat and our first run we were so excited to be out there with everybody. We decided to follow the bigger boats so we could see some good action we were the slowest boat in the class. As we go through the first card stop we are getting back up to speed and we come around a bend to find two of my customers one in a 36 skater and the other in a 32 skater pulled off to the side with the guy in the 36 waving to us. We pulled over to find the 32 owner in the water. Now jeff is a big guy and I didn't think it was time to stop and swim. Barry on the 36 yelled to us his boat is running and his son is hurt. We got tied to the 32 shut it down and got Jeff loaded into the boat and proceeded to tow the 32 back to the dock while Barry took Jeff's son to the waiting ambulance at the dock. What we had found out was that he had come off of a wake wrong and was thrown from the boat. As we were towing boat back my brother sat in the skater talked to jeff gave him water and kept awake. As we got back to the waiting ambulance at the dock Jeff went into some sort of shock and passed out. I believe he was diabetic. It was very scary situation. We got everything settled up and went back to the run. We kinda lost interest in the rest of the run,but I felt we had done a good thing and That was more satisfying to me than finishing a stupid poker run. A couple of days later I got a call from Jeff at work thanking me and my brother for helping him out when a lot of people had just gone by. In this situation I helped a customer out and gained a good friend on the boating community.

Been on both ends, helped pull someone from the water before, towed many broken down boaters in, but only once have I been the one to be towed. We were out in my neighbors Baja when the boat just quit, (come to find out later it was a loose fuel pump wire). After waving our hands at several passing boaters, one finally stopped and started towing us to the marina. About 5 minutes into the tow, the boat pulling us stops, releases the line and said they had someplace else to be and that they called a tow boat for us that should be there in an hour. I kept my composure, but after going out of my way on many occasions to help out a stranded boater, I was amazed that these people that had started helping us, would suddenly stop. I'm glad to hear all the good stories on here, but I think there is a bit of a shift in the boating world and not everybody is as helpful as many of the members on this board.

My hats off to those that help when help is needed.

I stopped labor day weekend to tow a sailboat off the bar. People REALLY didn't know what they were doing.

Luckily about 2 minutes into the tow the Boat US guy just happened to be driving by and insisted on finishing the job. He's a friend of the family and I rand into him the following week where he mentioned that he had pulled over becaues he didn't want me to damage anything. Then we had a laugh because about 6 hours later he got a call from the same people who were stuck on ANOTHER sand bar about 10 miles away. Poor people.

It's like a funeral - you better go to other people's otherwise noone will come to yours!

Sydwayz, I'm just curious about the drunks in the channel......did they get arrested? Were they being a-holes toward you? Did you offer to tow them to shore? I understand they needed to be out of the channel, but I just don't think I could have called the cops on them unless they weren't willing to let you help get them out of the channel. Just my opinion and there is probably more to the story.....

First of all I want to say thanks to all of you who have gone out of their way to help someone in need. I have been around boats and boating most of my life and finally picked up my first boat last spring. We decided to go out on a Friday night and just enjoy a quite evening on the lake. Made a couple runs up and down the lake and decided to pull into a cove to get out and let our son swim. There were not many people at the lake that night and we never dropped anchor. We decide it is time to go ahead and take off so we can get out before dark. We all climb into the boat get situated and I hit the key, motor just cranks and cranks (502 vapor lock) we were a god ways back in the cove and all of the passing boats were only pushing us closer to the rocky shore and at this point the anchor is not going to help. Luckily for us someone passing saw the hatch up and came back to see if we needed help, and gave us a tow back to the dock.

I have stopped at numerous car accidents to see if there is anything I can do. I believe that we owe it to our fellow man to be there in their time of need because at some point we are all going to be in a position that we need help from someone that we don't know.

I try to offer help anytime, with the bad "reputation" sport boats have in SOME peoples eyes it's nice to be the good guy (-:

Reminds me of the neighbourhood guy with the loud Harley and Tattoo's who is the FIRST guy to shovel an elderly neighbours driveway, or lend you a hand moving furniture (-:

Tow was discussed, but they were too far gone to comprehend what was happening. I had a sick passenger on my boat that I was getting back to homebase; and the only thing they wanted was a tow all the way up the lake. I didn't call the cops, rather Marine Fire and Rescue. I didn't want to see them get in trouble, but I also didn't want to see anyone get killed either.

One of the many tows I've done over the years. I never leave a boat behind even it it puts a major crimp in the day's plans (this was on the Illinois river about 7 miles downstream of Pekin where they launched their boat). I had to tell them to stop posing for photos and move to the back of the boat to make it easier to tow!

For a while there was a new (low) class of boater started to show up. You know the guy that has more money than brains or the family guy that thinks that if they can drive a car what's the difference (no clue). One thing about this 5 year long recession is it has started to wean them out. IMHO the me/entitled generation (no matter how old you are) never belongs behind the wheel of a boat. We all have responsibility’s out there if you want to do them or not.
There is hope too. I was testing a 1.31 drive in the basin out in front of our neighborhood ramp this spring and broke a vertical shaft. Boat was not going to move under its own power, period. My 40 year old classic with a built, screaming 496 was getting the drag of shame the 1/4 mile or so by two pre-teen boys on a 20 year old jet ski. Now that's humbling. I also gave them 20 bucks. If only for the money alone, from now they will stop at every boat they even think needs a tow.

For those of you that have offered pats on the back, I humbly thank you. To those of you that have done similar things in the belief that someday maybe that person will help you - good on you! For those of you that read this and might remember it someday - and actually stop to get involved - GREAT! That's all I could ever hope for.

Great story.

The world needs more people like you.

Cashbar was in my boat when the Fountain flipped, he went right into action.

These are the type of people you want in a foxhole with you.

I have had nothing on the water other than a couple broke down tow ins and pulled 2 run aground sail boats out.but I was eating lunch at a friendly's with my now ex wife and i kept hearing this person coughing I look back and a young girl 4-6 years of age seemed be choking and mother was standing next to her with a frightened look on her face but wasn't really doing anything, i asked her do you need a hand and she say uh huh. so i had to grab the kid with one arm while i was pushing up on her chest / stomach area with the other because she was to small to do the hymlic maneuver on i gues it worked well enough that food she was choking on came out far enough that i could stick my finger in her mouth to pull the rest of it out. the funny part the story is the mother iguess was embarrassed or frightened that she crab the kid and left, the waitress that was waiting on them came back to the table and asked paramedic??? i said nope mechanic!!

^nope mechanic lol nice