Whenever we take our grandson out we watch him like a hawk.
He has this habit of heading for the swim platform as soon as we are in our usual anchorage. We haven't dropped anchor or shut down the engine yet and he's heading for the water. We catch him and pull him back before he gets half way across the sun pad. Scares the livin' chit out of us.
He hasn't done it this year. Maybe our lecturing is finally sinking in.

Awful. No embarking/disembarking when engines are in operation, no moving around at all at speed. When the boat is on plane, you stay in your seat. With your PFD on your back, simple as that...

Horrible. Hopefully incidents like this can remind us about safety everytime we step foot on our vessels. We take alot for granted until it happens to us.

This accident happened right in front of us this past Sunday in Michigan City, Indiana. We have a townhouse in this complex and the association has a private beach on Lake Michigan. Alot of the boaters who have townhouses/condos there back their boats up over the sandbar in about 3' of water and hang out there all day. We had just come back in from running up the coast past New Buffalo, MI when they were pulling in. The boat is a Powerquest Viper named OO LA LA, 30-35', that is always around the Michigan City area.

We talked to several people in the association that knew the boat owner as well as the little girl and was told that they had also just come back from a run up the coat but that they had trouble with one of the engines and that it took them 3 hours to get back on one engine. Appearantly, the boat operator wanted to take the boat back to the marina and put it away, which is just around the jetty from us and a short trip up the canal. But the passengers were so eager to get off the boat they convinced the driver to let them off at the beach infront of our condos. It looked like people started getting off the boat before the driver had a chance to finish backing it in over the sandbar and shut the engine down. The young girl who got killed was appearently a weekend guest and her parents were not there. I was told that the mother of the young girl that got killed was the best friend of the boat operators wife. What a terrible phone call to have to make and recieve.

This past weekend was our first time out on my 35' Cigarette since buying it late last summer and we had a great time all weekend until this tragic accident happened. It really makes you realize how careful you have to be at all times, especially with children and those who may not know the routines of boating.

Here's the article from the Michigan City, Indiana newspaper:
http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/artic...28/news/n1.txt

Been there, done that, and got a lot of scars to prove it !!

update to this story is the S.O.B. was drunk!

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/3472523/detail.html

that sucks; I have a 10 yr old girl and 3weeks ago I was cutting my 86yr old neighbor's lawn;after woulds wewent to cross the street to our house and I said to my little one woew with my hand out, she thougth I said go and ran out in front of a speeding car(young kid)driving so I PUSHED MY LAWN MOWER AND MYSELF IN BETWEEN HER AND THE CAR FIGURINGIF GOING TO HIT SOMEONE IT'LL BE ME HE LOCKED THEM UP MISSED ME BY A FOOT AND MY KID BY10FEET,I thougth I was going to see my little one get hit for sure after telling thedriver to slow the f%CK DOWN I told my daugther no matter who your with always look both ways yourself I keep seeing her flying in air in my head I NEVER let her walk anywhere with out supervison WE live in small town and I was abducted when I was 5yrs old so we keep a eye out for the kids I FEEL SO SAD FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED GOD BLESS

I just found out this little girl lived down the street from me. She use to ride her bike past my house all the time. What a shame.

I think we all have had some sort off close call on the water. Fortunately for most of us we are able to say, man did I luck out.

Can you imagine having to live with that for the rest of your life?

We are not asking you to prove anything. And your point is... you were negligent right?

Just the other night there was a collision between two boats. A woman was sitting in the forward section of a Boston Whaler when another boat ran over them (T-boned). The woman was thrown forward (I assume) off the boat into the water and was run over. An arm and a hand was severely injured. Local news showed the boat and motor. The hat the lady was wearing was still tangled in the prop.