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interesting happenstance on the water....
212rowboat
Member Posts: 2,591 ✭✭✭✭✭
so a strange thing happened a week or so ago....
I live on a residential road leading to one of the more popular area launches.... Mid day last Saturday a 2 ton decked out chevy truck pulling a tricked out bright green (either wrapped or painted) 33 or so foot fountain was HAULIN BUTT well in excess of 60mph, and in a 25mph zone...
you have to have a pass to use the ramp, but a lot of people splash and dash... I'd never seen this truck or boat, so I knew that was what was about to happen... I watched him line up on the ramp (there was no wait at this point), and he/they must have been pretty proficient at launching, because by the time I'd mowed the line facing them twice, with my back to them still mowing they zipped back past, sans boat, still excess of 60mph... I made a mental note of the tags and description because I intended to call or stop by the police and tell them about it... children, animals, walkers/runners/bikers ought not have to worry about these things.... the windows were too dark tinted and the truck too fast to get a look at the drivers.... turns out, however, they just parked across the highway at a lowes.... and where they got caught later- but not for their speeding...
it was three well-to-do teenagers in daddy's purchased toys... they apparently went about harassing boaters out on the water- turning donuts around them, not allowing them to escape, and almost capsizing several... the other boats would pick a line as the story was told, and almost get on step when they would make a B line straight to intercept, which would cause the others to pull back hard, swerve one way or the other, or straight up reverse to keep from getting hit... the teenagers were laughing uncontrollably at themselves, sometimes passing within feet of these boats- after they were done playing with one boat, they would high tail it toward another and do it all over again... apparently the fountain was a lot faster than a friend of a friends boat who went after them- and his boat isn't slow...
they apparently did this over and over over the next few hours all up and down the sound- where is the coast guard when you need them? apparently they went up the sound to next city up and did it there for the last bit of their tour, and then road a solid WOT all the way back to the launch dusting anyone in their way.... a 33'+ boat in excess of 70mph with children at the helm is about as dangerous as it sounds, apparently...
turns out I wasn't the only one who took offense to their on-land driving... someone else had alerted the police... the police were watching the truck, parked across the highway at lowes, and well aware of the reports coming in off the water. they could have picked up the driver(s) of the car and truck when one dropped off the other, or, they could have nabbed them at the launch... but they waited... waited until the boat was retrieved and it barreled back through the neighborhood... then the state got them, held them for the coast guard (who had collected videos made by harassed boaters), and they had the entire planet of misdeeds thrown at them... I don't know how I feel about that... I know doing it the way they did maximized the charges, but what about the risks while they were 'playing'? turns out they were all high and drunk... turns out their bail was set so high daddy's decided to let them sit it out...
but here is the next bit: turns out they almost got shot. and I don't know how I feel about this bit... that friend of a friend carries everywhere he goes- legally, of course... and it turns out he was drawing a bead on these guys when it was his boat, his wife, and his two under ten year old children on board being harassed... he was going to either break gel coat or break skin- apparently they saw him draw and hightailed it out of there... this guys boat is fast- 60 or so... he couldn't keep up or catch them, and his temper subsided (likely due to his wife) before he let those rounds fly... mighty murky territory in my opinion... would it have been an engagement due to anger or due to resolve somebody using a deadly weapon and in defense of your family of that deadly weapon? I speak morally, not legally- legally, if he had touched off a round I think he's gonna get hammered... I don't know that, and my attorney wife doesn't know how that would be interpreted either... it is gray due to the negligence of the teenagers.....
anyway... crazy tale, huh? I thought I'd share... be careful out there y'all...
I live on a residential road leading to one of the more popular area launches.... Mid day last Saturday a 2 ton decked out chevy truck pulling a tricked out bright green (either wrapped or painted) 33 or so foot fountain was HAULIN BUTT well in excess of 60mph, and in a 25mph zone...
you have to have a pass to use the ramp, but a lot of people splash and dash... I'd never seen this truck or boat, so I knew that was what was about to happen... I watched him line up on the ramp (there was no wait at this point), and he/they must have been pretty proficient at launching, because by the time I'd mowed the line facing them twice, with my back to them still mowing they zipped back past, sans boat, still excess of 60mph... I made a mental note of the tags and description because I intended to call or stop by the police and tell them about it... children, animals, walkers/runners/bikers ought not have to worry about these things.... the windows were too dark tinted and the truck too fast to get a look at the drivers.... turns out, however, they just parked across the highway at a lowes.... and where they got caught later- but not for their speeding...
it was three well-to-do teenagers in daddy's purchased toys... they apparently went about harassing boaters out on the water- turning donuts around them, not allowing them to escape, and almost capsizing several... the other boats would pick a line as the story was told, and almost get on step when they would make a B line straight to intercept, which would cause the others to pull back hard, swerve one way or the other, or straight up reverse to keep from getting hit... the teenagers were laughing uncontrollably at themselves, sometimes passing within feet of these boats- after they were done playing with one boat, they would high tail it toward another and do it all over again... apparently the fountain was a lot faster than a friend of a friends boat who went after them- and his boat isn't slow...
they apparently did this over and over over the next few hours all up and down the sound- where is the coast guard when you need them? apparently they went up the sound to next city up and did it there for the last bit of their tour, and then road a solid WOT all the way back to the launch dusting anyone in their way.... a 33'+ boat in excess of 70mph with children at the helm is about as dangerous as it sounds, apparently...
turns out I wasn't the only one who took offense to their on-land driving... someone else had alerted the police... the police were watching the truck, parked across the highway at lowes, and well aware of the reports coming in off the water. they could have picked up the driver(s) of the car and truck when one dropped off the other, or, they could have nabbed them at the launch... but they waited... waited until the boat was retrieved and it barreled back through the neighborhood... then the state got them, held them for the coast guard (who had collected videos made by harassed boaters), and they had the entire planet of misdeeds thrown at them... I don't know how I feel about that... I know doing it the way they did maximized the charges, but what about the risks while they were 'playing'? turns out they were all high and drunk... turns out their bail was set so high daddy's decided to let them sit it out...
but here is the next bit: turns out they almost got shot. and I don't know how I feel about this bit... that friend of a friend carries everywhere he goes- legally, of course... and it turns out he was drawing a bead on these guys when it was his boat, his wife, and his two under ten year old children on board being harassed... he was going to either break gel coat or break skin- apparently they saw him draw and hightailed it out of there... this guys boat is fast- 60 or so... he couldn't keep up or catch them, and his temper subsided (likely due to his wife) before he let those rounds fly... mighty murky territory in my opinion... would it have been an engagement due to anger or due to resolve somebody using a deadly weapon and in defense of your family of that deadly weapon? I speak morally, not legally- legally, if he had touched off a round I think he's gonna get hammered... I don't know that, and my attorney wife doesn't know how that would be interpreted either... it is gray due to the negligence of the teenagers.....
anyway... crazy tale, huh? I thought I'd share... be careful out there y'all...
Comments
PC BYC, Holland, MI
PC BYC, Holland, MI
a drunken boater isn't uncommon, though... a fella hit a dock so hard in his yellowfin a few weeks ago that it flew airborne for what the paper said was "fifty yards into the woods".... that is moving out, no? drunk in the creek is the only explanation for that... he was no less dangerous than the kids, at least to the people tied to an adjacent dock, but there wasn't the malice.... know what I mean? I'm not saying he was lessor of evils- but that intent sure makes it appear differently.
edited to add:
http://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_85011864-41ec-11e6-ae09-9b22e36b0374.html
by the way, I've been waiting for an article about the last one before I posted the story, but I've not seen it discussed anywhere except for those involved talking about it...
PC BYC, Holland, MI
Idiots like that are yet another reason why every boat should have a VHF radio, even if the captain never goes offshore. See it, report it. Help the USCG and local law enforcement deal with it before somebody gets hurt.
I wonder if they were waiting to have an actual law broken in their presence given that reports of driving a boat like an idiot isn't necessarily illegal- even less likely to be cited by a pavement cop. Could be, I certainly don't know. I would be interested to know what kind of charge one would get. I'm sure the CG had something to hit them with.
On a side note, the link wasn't working for me so I searched boating on CarolinaCoastonline. Looks like the kids aren't the only one's to worry about!
http://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/article_28a9688a-3d61-11e6-b23c-7fed88395cc5.html
this happened last year in DC.
06 Rinker 270