Stupidity incarnated

[BurningChrome]

Reminds me of the time I was on a sailboat in the Bahamas...we were diving--had the dive flag up--and some idiot ran a power boat between a diver from our boat and the sailboat...the diver was, thankfully, deep enough to not be affected, but that's not the point. Crazy.

[rwidman]

I was once headed south on the AICW near Wrightsville Beach, NC at my usual 7 knots with a lot of other boat traffic going both ways when I spotted a guy towing two girls on a raft heading towards me at high speed. The channel there is pretty narrow and the depth on each side is just a couple feet so I couldn't move out of the channel. I stopped my boat and the guy continued straight at me. I blew my horn and he finally moved to my port side but of course the tube didn't, it continued straight towards me. At the last minute, the girls screamed and jumped off the tube. The tube barely missed my boat.

Stupidity can be found everywhere. There are no boating skill tests and no common sense requirements. Sitting still, I was almost involved in a boating accident.

A couple years later at the same spot, three guys on paddleboards decided to try to cross the river in traffic. One made it, one chickened out and the other ended up swimming in the water between two moving boats.

[stubones99]

If there was an IQ test before conception, the human race wouldn't exist today...

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by stubones99

If there was an IQ test before conception, the human race wouldn't exist today...

Or if birth control was made retroactive.

[TowLou]

Ya lucky. I get people like this all day long on my local lake. Had 4 boats come off plane from all 4 corners right next to me on labor day weekend. Created a 3 foot high rogue wake right infront of me bringing water over the bow of my lil bass boat.

Some people really just dont know better.

[Seevee]

Weekends are the worst. And mid afternoon and early evening the worst part of the weekend.

However, I'll be out later today, but might do all my boating out of the ICW to avoid traffic.

One of my pet peeves, is when some one just stops or slows a lot, to a crawl, and you can't figure out what they will do, and they won't talk on the radio. Had one of those the other day... I was ready to dock, and he came between me and the dock, slow as molasses. He finally turned into one of the slips and made a feeble attempt at docking, with the wind blowing him sideways and out of the slip. I just circled until it was over.

[psneeld]

Imagine being a professional captain of intracoastal tugs or assistance towing.

What would your opinion and actions be?

Dealing with way more boat than most drive here, and doing it day after day, mile after mile....

Then when a barge finally clips a recreational boat, not only does the USCG crucify the captain, a lot on here seem to want blood too..

Think long and hard on that one.

[BruceK]

Originally Posted by stubones99

If there was an IQ test before conception, the human race wouldn't exist today...

Right on, there is more care taken in breeding pedigree dogs than humans.

[Lou_tribal]

Originally Posted by koliver

The OP would not immediately think of calling the RCMP, as that sort of complaint would go to the SQ, Sûreté du Québec, the Provincial (National) Police force.

Well the issue is I would know what to say to the police patrol except that I saw a red lightning strike going like hell in the middle of a crowded area. With its speed and the water shower in his back I did not even had time to notice any mark on the hull.

Today on my way back had another example, maybe the brother of the other prick. Was about to cross the bridge just before my marina, a trawler in front was crossing too, he slowed down to reduce his wake (mine is very small even at my cruising amazing speed of 7 knots lol), when I saw the guy pointing something in front of him. Just had the time to turn my head to watch a 30 feet cruiser coming full speed between us 2, and of course right at the moment we were between the bridge piles... another example of a bright mind...

L

[rwidman]

Many of these issues would be taken care of by mandatory boater training and licensing.

I'm not talking about a six hour classroom safety course although that is a step in the right direction, I'm talking about the safety course and "X" number of hours on the water, in a boat, with an instructor.

[Group9]

My epiphany on towing kids was going down a local river, towing kids on an inflatable, and having a powerboater start "tailgating " the kids. I didn't know whether to speed up, slow down, swerve left or right, or shoot him. Finally, he did the passing and overtaking close by thing, oblivious to my threats of bodily harm as he passed by. We never towed in that river again.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by psneeld

Imagine being a professional captain of intracoastal tugs or assistance towing.

What would your opinion and actions be?

Dealing with way more boat than most drive here, and doing it day after day, mile after mile....

Then when a barge finally clips a recreational boat, not only does the USCG crucify the captain, a lot on here seem to want blood too..

Think long and hard on that one.

The worst thing I ever saw involving a barge happened on the Pascagoula River, during the Blessing of the Fleet, in 1986. A tugboat pushing a barge, about to go under the drawbridge, had a skiboat pull a skier right in front of his barge, at which point the skier fell. I thought for sure we were about to witness a young girl be killed. Instead, the tugboat captain managed to twist his rig and hit the dolphins of the drawbridge instead, taking out one whole side of them. The ski boat came around and picked up the skier and hauled ass, the marine police in pursuit. I never heard how it came out for any of them, but it was pretty scary to watch.

[psneeld]

Many pro mariners I am sure have nightmares from situations like that.

Others just let Darwin's theory run its course, they press on and like swerving for a deer running out in front of you is often the bad choice.

For supertankers and such, I have heard thatvpaying off a couple million in death benifits is cheaper than running one agrpund.

No good answers for sure.

[Blissboat]

Originally Posted by WesK

Many of these issues would be taken care of by mandatory boater training and licensing.

I'm not talking about a six hour classroom safety course although that is a step in the right direction, I'm talking about the safety course and "X" number of hours on the water, in a boat, with an instructor.

Second the motion!

[rwidman]

Apparently, I'm posting in invisible ink here!

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. WK. "Are you proposing more government intrusion into our lives? Are you proposing the government requiring boaters to have..." actual boating education?

Quoted from: http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s...tml#post595405 (Post #3)

[psneeld]

No grandfathering though, and those that fail lose their boating privledges until corrected.

I am 100 percent behind that, then every 5 years like pro captains, a review and recertification.

Where do I vote?

[Benthic2]

I am all for safer waterways....but the logistics of implementing that plan would be massive, and the costs would be considerable. The classroom portion would be a few hundred dollars, and then the on water training would upwards of $100/hour or so. So now every boater is going to have to spend ( wild guess here ) $1000 to get his operator ticket ?? Then we'll need something comparable to the Dept of Motor Vehicles to regulate it all.

and the kicker is.....we make kids go through that for getting their car liscense...and it doesn't eliminate bad drivers. I'm all for money well spent....I just don't know how we could ensure that it would be effective.

The acts of stupidity here are not education related...they are brain function related. Some people are just not wired to ask themselves: "What could go wrong here?" You've seen guys show up at meetings without a pen, hikers that don't have a flashlight, people in line at the checkout counter that forgot their wallet, people that try to buy plywood the day of the hurricane, etc.....my favorite is guys who pull their boats up on the beach.....spend all day 50 feet away from their boat....and not realize the tide went out and they are stuck. No amount of education will help these people.

[Lou_tribal]

Originally Posted by WesK

Apparently, I'm posting in invisible ink here!

Not at all, no invisible ink! Well no ink at all in fact welcome to the new world

L

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Group9

The worst thing I ever saw involving a barge happened on the Pascagoula River, during the Blessing of the Fleet, in 1986. A tugboat pushing a barge, about to go under the drawbridge, had a skiboat pull a skier right in front of his barge, at which point the skier fell...

One of my first memories on a boat is when my family went to Blue Springs. I would guess I was 3-4.

On the way back to the boat ramp at the end of the day there were two other boats zig zagging in the river. There was also a barge being pushed by a tug boat. BOTH of the runabouts zipped in very close to the bow of the barge, I am sure the "captains" were trying to scare the passengers on the boat.

One of the passengers was wearing a ball cap which flew off their head and went into the water. It was only a minute or so before the barge ran over that hat. If either one of the boats had miscalculated their distances or speed relative to each other or the barge it would not have been pretty. If either boat had stopped in front of the barge for some reason, they all would have died.

Later,
Dan