So last Sunday, my wife, my cousin, his wife, their three kids headed out to the river for a day on the sand bar. Without a ton of detail about the day, here is what happened. After 3-4 hours on the sand bar, there are two in that area, we decided to head home because we had three Boston Butts on the grill and some other goodies on the stove. We loaded up after a few rounds of jumping off the sun deck. Cruising South from the sand bar the boat we were on and another collided. We were almost stopped when we hit.

Here is the boat we were on about 15 minutes before;



The kids having some fun;



About 2 miles and fifteen minutes later;

The other boat



The back of the other boat received a lot of damage too as it spun around and hit the rear of our boat.

Our boat;

 

one more of our boat;



It was a sh!tty day to say the least.

A little injury report;
Me, bruised leg and various other little things
Wife, bruised ribs etc.
Cousin, bruised hip and injured shoulder
Cousins wife, broken thumb and wrist injury. She was knocked out during.
Nephew 1, injured knee and shoulder
Nephew 2, 11 stitches to the top of his head, multiple bruises
Nephew 3, broken eye socket, multiple bruises

In the other boat there were five occupants
Driver, knee injury
Drivers daughter, back spasms
The other three are fine

 

One last thing to add before I go eat, I am very thankful that there were no fatalities. The side of our boat that is facing toward the water was heavily damaged, but I don't have any pics of that yet. The police report should be here soon, I hope.

I posted this here because I know people here. And I asked Don first.

 

holy crap, sorry to hear such a bad thing happen in water, im surprised to hear its that easy to get hurt in a boat, and no one was just thrown out upon impact. How fast was each boat going?

How did it happen? drivers just not paying attention or what?

at least your family is relatively ok... good luck in the future with the police report.


Also, who's fault was it?

 

Thats scary...

I just don't understand how that could occur? Do you not see the other boat, or was there high speed involved?

 

clearly you guys were moving right along...good thing every one will heal.

wana give us some insight on how that could ocure?

 

I can really only attest to what happened on my boat. I was headed South, he was headed North. We both rounded a relatively blind corner. The top speed of our boat is estimated to be around 25. The other boat was going much faster. We were on a 26' Well Craft, the other boat was a 30' Scarab. As we both rounded the corner, I went right, like your supposed to and he countered in the same direction. We did this two more times before hitting. At the last minute, I completely cut the throttle and cut the wheel right, this threw everyone around and to the floor just before he hit us. He said he cut the power in his boat, but an adult passenger in his boat said he didn't even touch it. I have no clue how fast he was going. I would guess somewhere around 40ish when we hit. We were almost at a complete stop and broadside, so the damage was caused by his speed, not ours.

I told the police that I had no idea if he cut power or tried to turn at the last minute as I did. I really can only estimate, and i wasn't trying to hang anybody out w/o being absolutely sure.

No one was ticketed. The boat I was on, I found out after calling the owner, did not have insurance. She told us she took care of it. Good thing boat insurance is just for the property. Our boat was worth roughly $50k. The other boat was worth $150k. They had insurance, so theirs will get fixed. Ours is docked very close to shore until we can have it appraised.

 

damn, i guess that makes sense then, and thats practically scarier than a car crash

 

Yes it is. With a seat belt and a steel cage surrounding you in a car, and the unlikely scenario of drowning, you are much safer. In a boat, you can be ejected, no seat belts. You can hit the other boat, or either can run you over and hit you with the prop. You can break your arm/leg and be in the water. That is how most deaths happen from boating accidents. We are relatively resilient things, even with broken bones and organs half working, we can survive. Take oxygen away, and we are doomed. You can look up the statistics for your state. Florida is #2 in the number of boating accidents but #1 in resulting fatalities. I consider myself and my family very lucky.

 

Sorry that this happened to you and your family. I hope everyone recovers quickly from their injuries.

 

you really are lucky. seems like he cliped you good. and people never understand why you have to go to training to get a boating liscence. i remember them telling us when i took the class a few years ago that there is a higher fatality rate per accidents with boats then any other vehicle. my biggest pet peeve is the ******* speedboater who doesnt give the proper right of ways. sounds like he went the wrong way. that and with that much damage theres no way both of you cut the power. he probably never touched it. well hopefully its found to be him at fault. then you'll get you boat fixed and hopefully a nice little check. if its your fault... insurance is a nice thing, atleast you dont own the boat...

 

A Broken Eye Socket Holy Hell. can he see ok.

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I am not sure if he is going to be sited. We both walked away without being ticketed, not sure if that really matters or not.

Stillen GLE, he couldn't see for about 12 hours, this was due to swelling. By the following afternoon the swelling had gone down and he could see fine. I found out that it really doesn't take that much pressure/force to break that bone. We should know the results of the MRI's by Friday.

 

jeez, glad the injuries wasn't that severe.

hope you guys get better soon.

 

Wow...Sounds like a bad accident. I am glad no one got more hurt then they did. Do you have a boating license?

BTW the boat you are on (looks like a early-mid 90s wellcraft eclipse) is worth nowhere near $50k... the scarab(which is also made by wellcraft) is also not worth $150K.

 

I have no boating license. Those were the estimates I was given by people on the scene. Yes, the boat we were on was an Eclipse. How much do you think they are actually worth? Replacement cost I mean.

 

My guess would be that the Eclipse, if bought in decent shape today would be worth around 10-17K. The Scarab, mattering its year, shape and model, a 30' could go for anywhere from 20K to probably 60-70K. This is just my educated guess tho being around boats my whole life and working at a dealership for a few years (and my father working there for 25 years)

Let me know what the appraiser says they are worth.

BTW you should go take the safe boating course that gives you the boating and jetski license.

 

The Eclipse looks a lot like the Coastal 290. I guess that was the replacement for the cabin types. Looks like he had the 30' Tournament. I was really asking if you knew what the replacement would be, not really what those are worth given there shape and age. Just really curious. Wellcraft's website doesn't give any indication as to pricing though.

 

I will def be taking there courses they offer though. General boating safety and operation. Looks like they have several free courses to. I didn't even know you needed a special class. Looks like they just give you an ID card saying you took the course.

Here is information directly from the states site;

To operate a vessel powered by a motor of 10 horsepower or greater (including PWCs), a person 21 years of age or younger must have completed a boater education course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) or passed an approved equivalency exam.

* Operators who are required to have completed a boating education course or exam must carry on board:
o His or her Boating Safety Education ID Card issued by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and ...
o A photographic identification card.
* These operators are exempt from the boater education requirement:
o Persons licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard as a master of a vessel
o Persons operating on a private lake or pond
o Operators who are accompanied on board by a person who is exempt from the education requirement or by a person who is at least 18 years old, possesses the required identification cards, and is attendant to the operation of the vessel and responsible for any violation that occurs

Looks like I need to get to work. Since I am over 21, I suppose it is not required by law to posses said ID. I know I was not ticketed for not having anything. All they asked for is my drivers license.

 

Ok i understand now. You want to know what a 26' cabin cruiser and a 30' speedboat or fishing boat (matters what model scarab we are talking about here they made scarab speed boats and scarab center console fishing boats) would cost new? In that case, the numbers you threw around above is definetlyy in the ball park.

 

Im not sure about florida.. but here in NY, as long as you are over 18 or 21 you dont need a license to operate a boat, BUT no matter how old you are, you are required to have the license to operate a jetski.

 

Yeah, in Florida, if you are over 21, you are not required to have either one. I am going to do the course after finals anyway. I hope to get it done as I got into UF and will be busy as a rabbit when my classes start. It even states that it isn't necessary, but recommended. I suppose that means me.

 

Wow...glad no one was hurt any more than that. I hope everyone heals up and isn't afraid to go back out on the water. Accidents can and do happen; you just have to take as many precautions as possible.

 

Sorry to hear about the accident...hope everyone get well soon.

 

I don't know exactly what happened or who was at fault, but i go boating and people need to take it seriously. it's sometimes harder to drive than a car. obey boating laws/rules of the water!!!!!!!!!!

im glad your family and everyone else is OKAY!

 

Thanks everyone. The outcome of my cousin's wife's MRI. She has muscle damage to her right hand and wrist. She will be given a coarse of action for rehabilitation soon soon. My cousin is healing just fine.

Nephew 1 is already playing baseball again
Nephew 2, the scar is healing nicely, as soon as his hair grown back, you won't even notice it was there.
Nephew 3, they are going to let his eye heal on its own.
My wife is also able to do more every day.
I am still sore in a few spots but feel great other than that.