Scary Experience Last Night- Lesson for all

WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭

We had been out to dinner and to a bar until about 1am last night with family and friends when we made the 5 minute drive back to our new marina.  We quickly arrived back to our marina and my crew promptly tied me up.  We were standing around for maybe 10 minutes when another vessel entered the marina,  as we always do, when we see someone else pulling in we try to offer them a hand.  A boat diagonal from me and directly next to my best friend across the dock came back with a group of maybe 7-8 people on board.  The Captain pulls the boat into his slip as I grabbed the dock line and tied up the bow.  2 of my friends whom were with me grabbed their stern and spring lines and began to tie up as well.  The captian steps off the boat with the engines running to make sure his lines were being tied as he wanted I suppose.   Well, this is the moment all heII broke loose.   A female passenger whom had been drinking (as was most of their crew) fell into or leaned into the throttles and the twins came to life in this 340 Searay.  I hear a loud pop as the boat comes up onto the dock then slides back off while under full throttle.  The captain who was standing next to me was yanked into the water as his boat flies across the waterway and shoots up the swimplatform and into the rear of a smaller cruiser.  I immediatly yank the captain out of the water and look up to see the boat now under full throttle in reverse.  We are all screaming at the people onboard to cut the engines off however between the crew and the female behind the wheel NO ONE, NOT ONE of his crew knew anything about boats.   Instantly this boat comes back across the channel which is probably 40' wide and plows into my buddies carver stern first directly into his bow chine.  At this time my buddy had ran onto the bow of his boat as the people onboard proceed to again shove the throttle fully back forward and begin to accelerate back across the channel.   Somehow, at the perfect time he leaped from the bow of his boat into this other vessel and shut it down just before it hit another vessel across the way.  Our docks are floating style, and let me tell you they were bucking beyond anything I would have thought was possible.   Sadly, 3 boats were heavily damaged.  A small cruiser which the swimpad, rear transom wall, rear seat, camper enclosure, poles etc were all heavily damaged.  My buddies boat, a Carver was hit so hard in the bow that it split the Searays swim deck wide open and a big chuck broke out of the swim deck.   The Carver sustained severe damage to the front chine gelcoat and fiberglass.  His boat also was slammed back so hard that his swim platform took severe damage from the 45 degree angle metal dock box braces.   Lastly, as all of this happened two other terryfing things occoured.  First was as the carnage began some of the crew on his boat started screaming a girl was in the water, this was as we were yanking the captain out and as the boat came flying back at us.  Fortunatley that was not the case, she was thrown to the floor after hitting the first boat but none the less I thought I was about to witness someone get chewed up by props.   The 2nd was after all control had been regained, I learned that the boat snapped 2 lines in half and ripped the mid cleat slap out of the dock and according to a friend it almost hit me in the head.  He ran down the finger i was on as this all happend as he thought i was being launched into the lake as well.   Such a terrible way to end the night.  The cops came and shockingly, no one was arrested!   I chose to stay out of it, and let those with the damaged boats and the crew of the Searay along with its Captain work it out with the cops.    So lucky no one was seriously hurt or killed.   

So this brings me to a lesson which I have preached over and over to my admiral as well as my crew.  I believe it is extremely important that others on the boat know how to operate a boat.  The alcohol fueled female clearly should not have been anywhere near the helm and probably not even on a boat  but that is a whole other conversation about DUI / and being resonsible.  Had anyone on that boat knew how to bring the throttles to nuetral or even simply turn the keys off alot more of the damage would have been prevented.   This was the scariest and intense moment of my boating life. That Captain will have a hard time showing his face back down there I imagine.  Not to mentinon his insurance is about to get a hefty bill.  I feel bad for him as he parked the boat flawlessly and was tying up when this happened but I also feel he is responsible for those who he has on his boat.   Sadly we later learned the girl was a random he had met and picked up in the bar earlier that night.......   Bad first date.
2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

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Comments

  • J3ffJ3ff Member Posts: 4,112 ✭✭✭✭✭
    wow, any pictures of the damage?
  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    I will grab some tomorrow,  it was raining this moring when i left and it was too dark last night.  
    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • BellevilleMXZBellevilleMXZ Member Posts: 732 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2017
    Wow....scary. Lucky no one killed. First thing I do is shut down when I dock and step away from helm. No locks on throttles? On my Volvo, and I was sure on my buddies with a Merc, u have to pull up the lock under the lever? I'm guessing the digital newer stuff has no locks?
    2005 Rinker 270 FV Volvo Penta 5.7Gi
  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    Good point Belleville, Im not sure what style throttle he has.  

    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • bella-vitabella-vita Member Posts: 411 ✭✭✭
    Crazy!
    2002 Rinker FV 342
  • raybo3raybo3 Administrator Posts: 5,507 admin
    Thank God no one was killed. Usually its the people that try to help are the one's that get hurt. 
    2002 342 Fiesta Vee PC Point Of Pines YC Revere MA. popyc.org     raybo3@live.com
  • aero3113aero3113 Member Posts: 9,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
    WoW! What a story! The outcome could've been a lot worse....
    2008 330EC
  • Liberty44140Liberty44140 Member Posts: 4,386 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What a story Wild, incredibly lucky no one was hurt. What marina are you at now? If I recall you were previously at Whisky Island, right? 
    07' Cruisers 390 (Previous Rinker's: 06' 342EC & 01' 310FV)

  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    We were at Olde River, we are now at Whiskey Island @Liberty44140
    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • IanIan Member Posts: 2,866 ✭✭✭✭
    Unreal.  One reason we left our last marina was new neighbors that enjoyed a day out drinking and came back late often and not the best at docking. Up here there's not enough patrolling for bad practices on the water.  

    Regards,

    Ian

    The Third “B”

    Secretary, Ravena Coeymans Yacht Club

    https://www.rcyachtclub.com/

  • diggin2day1diggin2day1 Member Posts: 1,328 ✭✭✭✭
  • randy56randy56 Member Posts: 4,083 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This guy should get better at choosing his date.
    Boat Name : 

  • zaverin1zaverin1 Member Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭
    It's prob a sea ray 4 lever being a 34
    two gear and two throttle
  • Handymans342Handymans342 Member Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The same thing happened to me as my young son was down at the lower station on another boat I had and I was up in the flybridge as we were about to dock. He floored it and all i saw was a 50 foot Viking in 30 feet. Fortunately I was able to slam it in reverse quick enough to avoid hitting anything but my heart was pounding out of my chest
  • aero3113aero3113 Member Posts: 9,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
    zaverin1 said:
    It's prob a sea ray 4 lever being a 34
    two gear and two throttle
    This is a 34 Sea Ray that I was on last season. So if she hit the throttle then the captain never took it out of gear?? Unless she hit both sets of levers on either side of the steering wheel!??



    2008 330EC
  • Dream_InnDream_Inn Member, Moderator Posts: 7,671 mod

    Absolutely crazy!  Just glad no one was hurt!  That had to be very intense.  I typically have other boaters on my boat (if anyone else is on my boat besides family), so they'd know what to do.  But I will say, if my boat goes out at night (or during the day), I stay sober if I'm moving it, and my wife tends to stay pretty sober (maybe one drink) so she can be my navigator and, god forbid, if something like this happened she knows what to do.

    I feel bad for the captain, as you've stated, he did things correctly...but will really get screwed and is the one in charge of that mess.  Definitely like to see pictures.

    Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express

  • LaReaLaRea Member, Moderator Posts: 7,763 mod
    Wow!  That must have been terrifying.  I can't believe your friend had the guts to jump onto that boat.  What a hero.

    I'm going to add a new item to the safety briefing that I give to guests who haven't been on my boat before.  I'll show them the ignition keys, and say to turn them off if something goes horribly wrong. 
  • Liberty44140Liberty44140 Member Posts: 4,386 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We were at Olde River, we are now at Whiskey Island @Liberty44140
    I see. Nice, both great places. Whisky has that great bar and some neat things going on during the week. 
    07' Cruisers 390 (Previous Rinker's: 06' 342EC & 01' 310FV)

  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    I want to add one more thing, what really happened that initally put the boat at WOT in gear is all speculation.   I know for a fact lies were told to the cops as to who was driving the boat that night.  We were told she fell but honestly I have no idea.  In the heat of the moment I never had the opportunity to inspect his throttles but I suspect you guys are correct and there are seperate gear and throttle controls.  I will try to see when I go back for photos later.

    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • Glassguy54Glassguy54 Member Posts: 588 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2017
    Jesus! Even if the Captain had done everything right, he is ultimately responsible for the people on board and their actions. Drunk chick, sit your a$$ down and don't move!
    Post edited by raybo3 on
  • wm61356wm61356 Member Posts: 201 ✭✭✭

    They were extremely fortunate that no one was injured. I do feel that the captain of that boat made one very serious error, and that was leaving the helm before powering down the engines. In my opinion, the captain should never abandon the helm until the boat is properly secured and the engines have been shut down. Had he remained at the helm the accident likely would not have happened or, had his friend bumped the shifts he would have been in position to take control of the boat.

    Just my opinion, in hindsight of course.

  • craigswardmtbcraigswardmtb Member Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭
    What a crazy story.  I feel bad for all that are involved.  
    In that scenario i agree the captain should have powered down likely.  However i will say when its just my wife and i will not power down the boat until i have two lines secured (bow and spring in my case).  So if i need to adjust the boat due to wind, current etc i can do that without having to worry about a restart.  My wife secures the bow and i quickly secure the aft spring. 
    I think the message here is teach your guests to stay away from helm and power it down if something were to happen.  As well as don't leave the boat when you have plenty of people that could help secure it when youre docking.  Mess with the lines later.  I'm sure the captain now realizes this hindsight being what it is....
  • zaverin1zaverin1 Member Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭
    Ye I always shut down before getting off
    but I guess when leading I have it running ?
  • 212rowboat212rowboat Member Posts: 2,593 ✭✭✭✭✭
    people have jobs when i'm at the helm- and should know what to do when approaching the docks... and i'm at the helm directing those jobs be done.  that captain is crazy for abandoning his post- but such is easy to say in retrospect from this office chair... hope for some strange spiked with a little holy water makes people do weird things...  

    on the flip side, i can't tell you how many times i've docked solo and left the helm with engines running.  the premise being able to have maneuvering ability instantly if something goes wrong with hooking- which sometimes wind and current manages to do...  
  • Handymans342Handymans342 Member Posts: 10,375 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thats why I like the single handle mercury 
  • IanIan Member Posts: 2,866 ✭✭✭✭

    on the flip side, i can't tell you how many times i've docked solo and left the helm with engines running.  the premise being able to have maneuvering ability instantly if something goes wrong with hooking- which sometimes wind and current manages to do...  
    I agree, always good to have power ready if needed but the key factor here is only those that should be at the helm or ready to take over are to be anywhere there and leave a clear path to get there.

    Regards,

    Ian

    The Third “B”

    Secretary, Ravena Coeymans Yacht Club

    https://www.rcyachtclub.com/

  • MarkBMarkB Member Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Wow. 

    Boat Name: King Kong

    "Boat + Water = Fun"

  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • WildboatingWildboating Member Posts: 957 ✭✭✭
    edited June 2017
    The small boat temporarily tied the camper back up, its along ways over so didn't get photos of damage on rear of boat.  My buddies carver sticks to far out to get bow damage without risking my phone so I'll get more later.  The broken concrete dock is from twisting the dock and you can see what they done to their swimplatform when they hit my buddies carver in reverse.  
    2003 Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee, 350 Mag MPI, Bravo 3 2.20:1 w/ 22p 4 x4 props

  • zaverin1zaverin1 Member Posts: 1,672 ✭✭✭
    Looks like underwater lights are still on
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