Hey I can relate to BWI stuff: We spent last Saturday with our friends power boating offshore basically I think he was just trying to pound our brains out at 60-70 mph offshore in rough seas all day (3 ft rough chop), though I used to be a powerboat racer ( a long time ago), I'm not so much a fan anymore personally, especially since breaking my back a few years ago, very painful for me being out there but my wife and everyone else was having fun so I endured. The point being, the driver/owner was drinking pretty much all day (personally I don't drink at all, never have but that's just my preference). to make a long story short (too late), after we got back and on the way home, we were going down highway 41 in the left lane and they were in the right, The light in front of us turned red and the car in front of them stopped (probably a little too suddenly). Well with his truck and huge boat following to close behind the other car he ended up hitting the other car and getting a ticket. Of course his huge boat broke loose on the trailer and lunged forward, almost into the back of his truck. Needless to say his powerboat and trailer were heavily damaged ( a winch thru the hull can't be a good thing). Once all the tickets were written, and they were on their way home, the axle broke on their trailer and a trailer wheel fell off. (it was damaged in the crash apparently). He ended up dragging the trailer the rest of the way home. This brings up the question, how many other power boaters are out there speeding around the gulf at 60-100 mph plus in their big powerboats, and are they impaired enough to not see us kayakers and sailors, especially if this guy (who is a relative) can't even drive home without incident. This is the second time he has damaged his boat on the way home, last time about a year ago his boat fell off the trailer into the middle of a busy intersection where it sat for several hours while wreckers came and had to haul it out of the intersection. Now to be fair to the police and CG I was out during Superboat week here in Sarasota, Our best friends brother in law is one of the drivers so we always support them. I saw more police out on the water that weekend than I have ever seen before (at least a dozen police boats), and they stopped every single powerboat I saw out in the bay. They left all the superboats that were out practicing alone, and all of us sailboats, it appears they were racial profiling powerboaters ( LOL). Even though I would love to be out on race day both here and the world championships in Key West every year, my wife forbids me from going out on race day, after seeing some of the stuff I've now seen firsthand, I'm inclined to abide. She doesn't like me to go out on any major holiday weekend either, I think I will abide by that one too. She's Florida native, I'm just a transplant from the great white north and will bow to her experience. Just to clarify I didn't have any fear being near any of the 200mph plus boats out there (pro's), but all the 60-100mph wanabees do scare me a lot.
It just makes me wonder how big a problem this is. Bob
|