Wanna see what can happen when you don't wear your kill switch in big water?? Near Cheasapeake Bay Bridge in May 2000. This was a restored '76 Excalibur............

that sux, those are great old boats. hope no one was hurt. but you are very correct . . .WEAR THOSE KILL SWITCHES!!! ... .


do you have any other info on the accident?

The guy actually wrote a little article about his misadventure for Chesapeake Bay magazine. He said he was running in moderate seas, not too fast, been out a hundred times, yada, yada, yada. Anyhow,he gets thrown out of the boat outside Annapolis harbor and the boat heads due east across the bay and hits the other shore. I think I remember that another boat (he may have been racing) stopped and picked him up. They chased after the boat but lost track of it. By the time they found it it had beached and apparently the engines kept running and caught the thing on fire. I remember thinking at the time that this guy was a poster child for kill switches. IIRC he was also not wearing a PFD so it could have been WAAAAYY worse.

It was mine. Boat ran great with 468 and ironically a Bravo drive from a burned up Baja I bought. Ran the hell out of boat for 4 years, and it was the second Day out in 2000, after watching BLUE ANGELS show from water for Naval Academy graduation. Dropped two friends off at Annapolis Harbor, and called my wife to tell her I'd be home in about 20 minutes.

Tried "proving my point" on way home with a 35 or 38 Cig with 800sc's. He was showing off his motors at the docks (I would've too). Blew by him and turned around to see if he was catching up. I love to run light and loose, and figured I was going to have to back down soon, as I was getting into some pretty big water at about 80. I dropped in a big hole and popped up all out of shape, hit hard, and next thing I knew I was head over heels cart-wheeling across the water. I came to the surface expecting to see my boat upside down, but instead heard a very sickening sound ---- the damn thing was taking off again!.... Boat was running about 50 -60 and was out of the water about half the time. The guy in the Cig pulled me out, but wouldn't follow the boat. He dropped me off with a DNR boat answering the call, who was out off gas - we had to go to get gas instead of go after the boat. Long story short, the Coast Guard found the boat about 8 miles away, sitting on a deserted beach and still runniing, dry, -- an hour later!! The water was to shallow to get thier big cutter in, so they dropped a man to walk in, but the boat went up in flames when he was about 60 yards away. Believe it or not that damn bravo drive survived with barely a scratch - prop too. I got lucky, no one was hurt - I cracked my thigh on the side of the boat on the way out and couldn't walk for a few days - Still have the paint embedded in my suit - won't come out.....

I am very glad you were and no one else was hurt! Boats and the Ocean demand respect at all Times . Always wear your PFD and the Operator of any power boat must always use some kind of kill switch and often check there functionality. Jo

insptech,

The magazine originally told the story I told DNR - That I was doing about 50, and DNR thought that was insane in that kind of water. No one in their right mind would have admitted to running balls out. The magazine almost a year later paid me $250 for my story, which took care of the $100 fine that DNR gave me. I figured then it was safe to tell the truth without additional fines from DNR, and thought people needed to hear it. I've pretty much raced every performance boat I come across, and I'm sure none of them thought it could happen to them either........ Nice picture of bay bridge in background - such a clear day it doesn't look like 10 miles away......

Glad you are ok.I hate to hear stories of people being ejected.I was washed overboard in a low speed stuffing incident on a 31 Chris Craft Stinger.Not fun.

Kill Switches are great but you NEED to have a second pair of caps and the other people in the boat NEED to know were they are!!! I am glad you make it out with a bad bruise and that your boat did not hit anything but a desserted beach.

Jon

damn I guess Now with my future repower I will need
to start wearing my kill switch lanyard

Thank God no one was seriously hurt