On the Rocks

I thought it was somewhere around Port Ludlow. Just couldn't remember. Thanks.

FootballFan said:

https://www.thehulltruth.com/florida-georgia/912398-incident-vessel-bonkers-key-west.html

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There does appear to be a strong feeling there from some who were present and others familiar that there were throttle control or similar issues and a statement attributed to the owner said the same. Now, none of that verifiable yet, but was informative discussion.

Appears a turn to port would have been indicated.

ktdtx said:

Appears a turn to port would have been indicated.

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Actually they were headed toward a dock on the port side so had to turn to starboard, just not as far.

I owned a similar sized Queenship with DDEC controls. You could set throttle on bridge control then go to the pilothouse and "match" throttle settings and then switch to the pilot house controls. The boat would continue without a hiccup. I never used that feature at full cruise speed though but never had any problems with the system. I had Mathers Microcommander controls in another boat. They were much less predictable handing off control from one station to another.

Even DDECs have a run away shut off mechanism which closes off air supply to engine. On our boat the shutdown mechanism was cable operated from the pilothouse helm station. The operator either did not know about the Detroit emergency shutdown or the boat had a different engine package.

JDCAVE said:

Looks like he’s “up on the hard”?

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I would like to apologize for this flippant comment. As I read through the material posted on "the other" forum, I realize that it's definitely a case of "there but for the grace of God go I". I too have electronic controls (installed by PO) and it could (have) happened to me. The only difference is I have one engine and max speed is probably less.

Jim

JDCAVE said:

I would like to apologize for this flippant comment. As I read through the material posted on "the other" forum, I realize that it's definitely a case of "there but for the grace of God go I". I too have electronic controls (installed by PO) and it could (have) happened to me. The only difference is I have one engine and max speed is probably less.

Jim

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It's hard to know, many times. We all see a boat like that and assume initially the operator just screwed up. Even upon hearing "throttle control problem" we remain somewhat skeptical but the more we read and see, the more the story fits. It reminds me a bit of the Toyota Camry owner who blamed the wreck on the accelerator. I wonder how many times police have heard that story. The accelerator stuck or the car just took off or my brakes failed me. Well, after the next Camry owner, then the next, then the next, reported the same, only then did we really believe there was a serious problem.

It would be interesting to hear directly from the operator but I'm sure they have other things to deal with and worry about than the audience of curiosity. I'm just thankful anytime there is an accident and no one seriously hurt. I know many look upon that day as him really having bad luck. I look upon it as a lot of people having very good luck because so much worse could have happened.

Now, we all see the photo and immediately it's like a contest for our brains to assign a humorous caption to it. I don't see anything so wrong with that once we know everyone is ok. In fact, if I was on the boat or even the operator I'd probably be doing the same now that it's all over.

For what it's worth, thought some might be interested in this shot I took of Bonkers on the hard. Hard to tell too much from my vantage point on the dinghy but there are some obvious bottom repairs. Don't know if running gear was already dealt with but if not it appears to be in remarkably good shape for what that boat endured.

Maybe a coincidence but i saw Glendinning marine controls at an emc lab last week.