# Most Stupid thing you have ever seen another Boater do?



## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

I watched a guy try to put a 30+ Fountain on the point at Deep Water Point in Panama City. Deep Water point is the sandy point to the right as you exit Grand Lagoon. He was coming in from the gulf at top speed and parked her on dry sand. 

What have you seen another boater do?


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## Donald (Mar 10, 2009)

I saw the yellow Olin Marler boat up close and personal try to run me over. Stupid dolphin cruises.


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## Dylan (Apr 15, 2008)

This has the potential for the longest thread ever...I cant even begin to pick one thing out..:banghead:banghead


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## reelfinatical (Sep 30, 2007)

- The one stupid thing that comes to mind right now is seeing 2 older gentlemen cruise into the ramp last summer. When I say "cruise into the ramp" that's exactly what they did. They sat that boat right up on the ramp itself, never slowed down, never put her into reverse or neutral for that matter. Never even showed any emotion of fear orsurprise or whatever.I was laughing so hard on the inside, but they were ok &we walked over and tried to help push it off.


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## ?MEGA (Jan 31, 2009)

how about waiting to winch the boat tight when trailoring but leaving your hand sitting in the rollers as the boat is coming up. lots of blood


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## highbars (Oct 2, 2007)

We saw a guy trying to pull out a 24" Searay with an AMC Sprint 4wd.(about the size of a Ford Pinto).He had all 4 tires smokin. We got on the tongue of the trailer and hopped it and he finally got the boat out.


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## captjoshrozier (Oct 4, 2007)

Note the empty parking lot, even a couple of the spaces at the south end...you must be kidding.


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## billyk (Nov 15, 2007)

My dad pulled the Marine Patrol off of the sandbar just outside the canal over on Blackwater Bay, where Nichols seafood used to be. Used his sailboat to do it, pretty embarassing for the FMP Officer. He had been out collecting illegal crab traps, and had about half a dozen or so stacked on the back of his boat

Anyway, after getting him off of the sandbar, my dad asked him "catch many oysters in those things ? " 

FMP Officer immediatley says "not really, pretty hard to get those oysters to crawl in there" and that is when it hit my Dad !!

FMP officer looks at him, looks at me, I look at Dad, look at the Officer. Dad looks at me, looks at the Officer, bows his head and says,

" I won't tell anybody I pulled you off the sandbar with a sailboat, if you don't tell anybody I thought those were oyster traps " And we left it at that !!


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## Voodoo Lounge (Sep 28, 2007)

Josh, that is a perfect example!! Why blur the truck?? I wanna look up the tag #!!


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## captjoshrozier (Oct 4, 2007)

I thought it was your truck... I was trying to protect you!!!


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## biggamefishr (Oct 26, 2007)

I've probably seen hundreds of dumb things but one day comes to mind as the best. Waiting for my dad at liza jackson park in fort walton I watched a guy pull his sailboat out and forget to take the mast down....well about 50yds up the parking lot from the ramp is a set of power lines....snapped the mast clean off and snapped the power lines off. 



about 15 minutes later while launching the boat i see this bow rider coming right at the ramp next to me running about 5000RPMS...thankfully it was only about 15mph since they had the motor tilted almost all the way out of the water. sure enough they beach/ramp/ground the boat on the concrete ramp right next to me. There was already about 8 hispanic speaking people on the 18-20' bow rider and another 8 or so climbed on the bow from the beach. They tried backing it off the ramp but with the combination of how much weight was in the boat along with the motor still being tilted almost out of the water it wasn't budging so a few guys jump off and push the boat off the ramp then they guy driving the boat and the people who got off started talking back and and forth in spanish and the next thing I know these guys are swimming out towards the boat with a ton of boats circling waiting their turn to load up...they climb on and off they all went....still turning about 5k RPMS with the motor out of the water but thankfully now they were only moving about 10mph because of the extra weight. So atleast if they hit something they didn't do to much damage


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## Team Bloody Waters (Feb 24, 2009)

I remember one day on Navarre pier when a big A$$ sportfisher got way too close to the pier. Needless to say "it ran into a ling lure". Well the boat backs down to the beach and some drunk mofo jumps off and swims to beach, runs up to the pier with a little billy club sayin he was gonna kick everyone's A$$ on the pier. Lucky for him they locked the gate and called the cops. I don't think he would still be alive if he did set foot on that pier. I'm sure someone on here remembers that day.


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## captjimV.A.S (Jun 2, 2008)

A couple of years ago i was anchored on a spot and out of nowhere a big old wooden 40 footer from orange beach AL. pulles up off my bow and backs down :hoppingmadon my anchor line.All the while looking at his bow, and cuts off my line:looser then turnes around inthe chair and just before he hits me, he gun's it in forward knocks the guy on the bow of his boaton his ass and says to me sorry:moon and then heads back to orange beach al.


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## procompz71 (Sep 30, 2008)

last year i was pulling my boat onto the ramp when i reg cab f 150 pulling what looked like a 26 ft cat with twins on it pulled up drop the boat in and parked .. as soon as i got done with my trip the guys were loading the boat back on to the trailer to get her out .. and they failed i saw the guy driving the boat gun the boat and the truck burning some tires down at the same time and it worked for about half a second then i heard the motor blow and the guy in the boat scream ever word in the book .. lol what a duma$$ lol


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## Dylan (Apr 15, 2008)

> *billyk (3/11/2009)*My dad pulled the Marine Patrol off of the sandbar just outside the canal over on Blackwater Bay, where Nichols seafood used to be. Used his sailboat to do it, pretty embarassing for the FMP Officer. He had been out collecting illegal crab traps, and had about half a dozen or so stacked on the back of his boat
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Man that was great..


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## biggamefishr (Oct 26, 2007)

> *billyk (3/11/2009)*My dad pulled the Marine Patrol off of the sandbar just outside the canal over on Blackwater Bay, where Nichols seafood used to be. Used his sailboat to do it, pretty embarassing for the FMP Officer. He had been out collecting illegal crab traps, and had about half a dozen or so stacked on the back of his boat
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I also have a similar story....me and a buddy were fishing dock lights in big lagoon one night and were hitting the string of lights on the SE side of the theo baars bridge. Well theres a pretty shallow sandbar you have to cross to get to these lights, shallow enough I had to unlatch my trolling motor and hold it up a couple inches to make it across. Anyways we see some nav lights approaching and then hear the boat hammer down on the throttle and we're thinking what a idiot for running wide open in a no wake zone....then he flips on the blue lights and heads right for us. Just so happens he backed off the throttles and came off plane about 30yds short of us.......... right on top of that sandbar. We tried for an hour to pull him off but my bayboat wasn't about to unground that big mako. We finally wished him well and went on home. He never did check our licenses or catch, I guess he was pre-occupied thinking up a way to explain it to his bosses


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## Dylan (Apr 15, 2008)

Ha! Josh that was great too


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## biggamefishr (Oct 26, 2007)

another one that i remember extremely well happened about 15 years ago. Back then mcrea looked nothing like it does now, and it wasn't a no wake zone. So you could run wide open through the cove and then zig and zag a little and be in the pass (here in the past couple of years its opened back up some and you could probably still do it if it wasn't a no wake zone) anyways me and my dad were anchored up fishing the jetties one night when we heard a hell of a crash over in the cove. we pulled the anchor and went over to check it out....low and behold its a brand new 28'+ grady white sitting about 30' up on the beach high and dry, I guess they forgot to zig and zag. we got out to check on the guys and besides being bloody, confused, and completely wasted they were ok. both were probably in their early 20s and kept going on about how their dad was going to kill them for messing up his boat. It took probably 4 hours and 3 boats but we got them pulled back into the water


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## Sailing_Faith (Mar 11, 2009)

At the old marina in NC there was a bench on the dock right above the ramp. Passed many a good Saturday on that bench.... saw lots of things that would fit in this thread.



I kind of feel like we all make misteakes, so I feel the really stupid things are when someone has told / tried to help... and the person does it anyway.



One guy had a newer center console with twins... ~25'... nice and shiny. He has rollers on the trailer, and he unhooked the bow before he got to the ramp... I saw a friend of mine stop him and advise him to keep it hooked until he got the boat into the water. He re-hooked it, lined up and then went back and unhooked the bow AGAIN.



He hit the breaks about 8' short of the ramp and deposited the brand new boat on the concrete! Took 8 of us to shove / grind it down to the water... 



_________________________-



Another one was an 18' Boston Whaler. Guy bought it used and took the single 2 stroke 115 off of the back (I think that was what it was) and bought a big 4 stroke. The original tank under the floor leaked so he bought a big plastic tank and mounted it on the deck just fwd of the motor....



Same friend talked to him right before he launched. 



He had it in the water, starts it (over the protests of onlookers) and it was barely floating.. maybe 3/4" of transom above water.... that is UNTIL the guy walks aft to try to look over the transom! Filled with enough water to drown the brand new motor.



So he steps ashore. We are all watching as the oil sheen is spreading on the water (maybe the fuel in the old tank?)... we figure he is rushing to get the trailer to try to recover the boat.... he goes up to the truck and gets a beer....


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## Danno (Oct 17, 2007)

You know it might be easier to post "what stupid things have you not seen boaters do". That might keep me out of the conversation.


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

Billybowlegs, where would we be without a Billybowlegs story. 

The daywas about over, boats were lined up in two rows facing the deeper water of the sound. The bigger boats (45' +) had lined up in front of the row of smaller boats (30' & under) in the deeper water. We have about 5 or 6 boats rafted up waiting for the bigger boats to get out of the way so we can leave. 

Some jackass in a big fishing cruiser probably 50' or more decides to try and drive off with his rear anchor still deployed. At first the boat doesn't move but a little bit sideways, when he realizes the boat isn't moving much he hammers the throttle down and now the nylon rope stretches but does not break and the anchor does not come loose. Finally somebody yells to him to shut her down but by then therope had strentched so much that when he did shut it down the boat slingshotted backwards ramming into a friend of mines 24' sport cruiser puttinga big gash in it and cutting his anchor line. The guy thenretrieves his anchor and drives off not offering topay for the damage he caused. I think the front of his boat took out a windshield of another boat too.

Somy buddy is pretty pissed andflags down a marine patrol and they pullthebig boat over. Seems the marine patrol new theCapt. of the bigboatandinstead of being arrested for beingdrunk and reckless they let him go as long ashe agrees topay for the damage he caused. I couldn't believe they just let his drunk ass go. It obvious toabout 30 people that watched the incident he was hammered!


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## michael c (Dec 28, 2008)

We were hanging out on the dock at our sailing club in college. Across a finger of the lake was a boat ramp. 45 degree air, 45 degree water. A bass boater(out for striper, I assume)backed his boat up, stopped at the edge of the water. He didn't take the ratchet straps off, and apparently didn't put the parking brake on either. The trailer and truck started rolling while he was outside fooling with something. Well, the truck and boat sort of floated for about 30 seconds as the bed and the boat filled with water (the boat was still attached to a very heavy trailer and truck). Eventually, the boat filled and sank. Boat, trailer, and truck all about 10 feet down. I got on my 5/4 steamer and tried to swim down to hook up a tow line, but it was just too cold. I guess the tow truck eventually got it, I don't know... I went home for a hot shower.


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## BentStraight (Dec 27, 2008)

I once saw some kids in their Daddy's boat throw the anchor in out at the Bridge Rubble without the end being tied off, but, my "_here's your sign_" award goes to a couple of fellows we watched try to get their anchor unstuck from the jetty on the west side of Pensacola Pass. The tide was running in very strong and they couldn't free the anchor so they tried to force it up by gunning the engine with only a few feet of anchor line tied off on a starboard bow cleat, they spun around and crossed the top of the exposed jetty like a hard punched tether ball. They tore up the outboard, transom and bottom of the boat and had to be towed quickly to Sherman Cove.



Sometimes a bad day fishing is just a bad day period!


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## biminitwist (Dec 5, 2008)

<SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl19_lblFullMessage>"At the old marina in NC there was a bench on the dock right above the ramp. Passed many a good Saturday on that bench.... saw lots of things that would fit in this thread.

I kind of feel like we all make misteakes, so I feel the really stupid things are when someone has told / tried to help... and the person does it anyway.

One guy had a newer center console with twins... ~25'... nice and shiny. He has rollers on the trailer, and he unhooked the bow before he got to the ramp... I saw a friend of mine stop him and advise him to keep it hooked until he got the boat into the water. He re-hooked it, lined up and then went back and unhooked the bow AGAIN.

He hit the breaks about 8' short of the ramp and deposited the brand new boat on the concrete! Took 8 of us to shove / grind it down to the water... "


Yeah, saw it done twice in one week some years back. Called the "Havana launch" down South Florida way. AKA "doing the Cuban." Don't know why it's called that. It's usually people from up North (Snowbirds).

BT


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## John B. (Oct 2, 2007)

more boats than i can count, but any that come within 125 yards of any pier.


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## fishnfool (Oct 2, 2007)

bacl in the late 70's I was working offshore with my Dad. We were on the way back in to Galveston with me at the wheel(210' supply boat) when a 45 Hatteras sportsfisher came across our bow VERY close(to the point I was pulling throttle back) and just kept heading towards the channel. Oddly enough there was nobody on the bridge OR in the tower!! My Dad came up to the bridge since he heard the throttle come back and I explained to him what just happened. We mumbled a few obsenities about the guy and watched him on his way. As we watched it became very obvious that he wasn't turning in to the channel at all, but heading STRAIGHT for the jetties. Those who have been in to the Galveston channel know that these are BIG rock jetties. Well, we watched in horror as this big beautiful Hatt ran right up on those jetties without ever even thinking of slowing down, turning etc, etc. We called the USCG about the wreck and about the time the smoke cleared the guy on the boat called to let the CG know that nobody on board was injured but he WAS in fact grounded on the jetties. Folks, this boat wasn't grounded....it was 25-30 ft UP the jetties out of the water. Needles to say it wasn't going anywhere at that time. About three days later we headed back out for another supply run and there was a big McDermott crane attempting to lift the remains off of the jetties to salvage what they could. My Dad slowed down on the way out so we could watch the festivities. Once again, to our horror(and sick sort of amusement) we watched as the crane started to lift the hull. Well, it never lifted. As soon as the weight came on to the straps the whole boat broke in to pieces. At that point it was in fact...totalled!! They spent two days after that cleaning the broken fiberglass, engines(twin detroits) fuel tanks, etc off of the jetties and piled it on a barge. It was truly amazing how big of a pile of junk that wonderful boat became in a matter of a few minutes all due to an idiot on autopilot not paying attention to headings or obstacles. I'm sure he learned and expensive lesson that day......... I learned from his mistake and it didn't cost me a DIME!!


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

I saw a guy drive his pleasureboat underneath Navarre pier during the peak of cobia season.


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## Kozman (Jan 11, 2008)

Well, I'm still fairly new to boating but glad to say that none of your posts so far are about me:doh

But I was offshore anchored up on a wreck (a big wreck) when along comes another boat. Hell, its a public wreck, I don't care if he fishes it or not. The boat was probably around 26 foot with OLD twin outboards. He starts circling my boat, I can only imagine trying to find the wreck (I guess he couldn't see the dang 20 foot relief of the wreck on his bottom machine) Each circle got closer and closer, tighter and tighter. Finally he glides up in front of me about 200 feet or so and drops his anchor. He is sending out anchor line like its going out of style getting closer and closer to me. His anchor finally caught and his boat settled in so they could fish. My anchor line is now literally between his props. His outboards still running (smoke and fumes from the 20 year old outboards killing me and my buddies.) he has his family bait up and they drop lines. I'm stunned and don't know what to say. My son is on board with me so I want to keep my cool....Try not to shot a flare at this idiot). So I think to mayself, maybe he will realize he screwed the pooch on the anchor placement and he will reposition. His family pulls in a few snapper and they are dropping down again. No indication at all that they are leaving. By this time I'm ready to swim to his boat, get in and kick is butt. Thats when I notice my anchor line is looking kind of strange and one of his family members is bowed up on a huge fish, or so I thought. This is when everyone in his boat starts to snag my anchor line as they reel back up. His outboards are still running and we are still choking of fumes. I had had enought and finally told this guy he was going to have to move so I could pull anchor. He looked at me like I didn't speak English. Not only is my son on my boat but he has kids on his boat. I'm still trying to be nice here. I finally gave in to the dark side and told him exactly what I thought about his choice of fishing positions and the fact that if he didn't move his boat there would be a good chance that my anchor rope would snag the leg of one of his outboards (Still Running) while I pulled anchor and I wouldn't have been upset if it pulled the whole dang motor off. Now HE is upset due to my choice of words and the presence of young children and women, and he reluctantly idles up and pulls anchor and drives off with out a word. I was so pissed I pulled anchor and went home.

Now in all fairness, like I said, I'm fairly new to offshore and anchoring up was very challenging for me when I first started. Once I anchored up well away from the nearest boat, but somehow ended up about 5 feet of his starboard side. BUT....As soon as I realized my mistake, I was very apologetic and repositioned without question. Two or three tries later I was a good 50-60 feet from his boat. And I checked with the other boat to see if he was good with that. He gave me a thumbs up and we fished the rest of the day in peace and tranquility.

Also, I did discover the hard way that a 20 foot Walk Around isn't capable of going where a 14 foot jon boat with a 10 hp outboard can go.:banghead:doh:banghead And that the green bouy is supposed to be on your left when heading back to the ramp.

Live and learn I guess


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## evacuee (Oct 16, 2007)

I was anchored on the south (Gulf) side of Horn Island in Mississippi about half way down the island catching spanish with my (then) 12 yr. old son. When we anchored there wasn't a boat in sight and we could see almost from one end of the island to the other. Eventually another boat could be seen from the east moving slowly along the shore. It was a bay boat with a guy casting from the bow and a woman at the helm. He wasn't catching a thing but we were catching and releasing one spanish after another. She must have thought that the spot we were on had the only fish in the sea because she kept getting closer and closer. I put down my rod kept staring at them as they got within 50 feet, thinking they would get the hint and move away. Finally I told my son to get on the other side of the boat because I thought a collision was about to happen. At a distance of about 25 feet the guy starts yelling at the women to turn and at about 15 feet he starts yelling "reverse, reverse." Their boat was moving so slow I could have just deflected it by hand so I didn't panic. She got the boat in reverse, went around us by less than 6 feet and neither of them ever said a thing to me. I just told them we were catching a ton of fish and asked them how they were doing. No answer. The lesson to my son - there's a lot of water out here and a lot of fish - never a need to run up on another boat.


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## Clay Peacher (Oct 2, 2007)

Several years ago, I saw 2 each, + 70 year old men in a olewoodenkeel drive jon boat. (Appeared to have beenpainted green with a paint brush) The boat was at least 30 years old and the engine may have been older. They had a 55 gallon drum in the center of the boat. I assumed this was gas.....They were at the Mr. Gus Oil Rig in 2-4 foot seas at 6 PM on a Friday night! Crazy, crazy, crazy.....


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## Magic236 (Oct 1, 2007)

Didn't see it, but lived through it on the forum....... The new ******** out of Baypoint hits jetty and sinks.......not a good day for that Captain and especially his boss.......

http://www.orangebeach.ws/2007/News/2007-08-02-Sportfishing_Boat_Sinks_in_Perdido_Pass.html

I recall years ago when the 53' Hatteras Gamester out of Or. Bch hit west of the pass and beached. There were pictures all around of it with the name altered, reading SS. Minnow


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## King Crab (Dec 28, 2008)

> *Team Bloody Waters (3/11/2009)*I remember one day on Navarre pier when a big A$$ sportfisher got way too close to the pier. Needless to say "it ran into a ling lure". Well the boat backs down to the beach and some drunk mofo jumps off and swims to beach, runs up to the pier with a little billy club sayin he was gonna kick everyone's A$$ on the pier. Lucky for him they locked the gate and called the cops. I don't think he would still be alive if he did set foot on that pier. I'm sure someone on here remembers that day.


 oh I remember that day, it was truly Amazing if you know what i mean! That dumb ass not only got his boatshell shocked, but arrested when his boat docked in destin.:doh What a bad day! It would have been worse if he hadgot on the pier!:banghead


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## Team Bloody Waters (Feb 24, 2009)

^^^^^^^^^^

Its good to know he did get arrested because Santa Rosa Sherrifs Finest just watched him walk down to the water and swim to the boat cuz they were too lazy to do a dam thing. I guess they didn't feel like getting sand in thier shoes.


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## biggamefishr (Oct 26, 2007)

> *Team Bloody Waters (3/12/2009)*^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> 
> 
> Its good to know he did get arrested because Santa Rosa Sherrifs Finest just watched him walk down to the water and swim to the boat cuz they were too lazy to do a dam thing. I guess they didn't feel like getting sand in thier shoes.




SRSO does have some fine deputies...thanks jason and the rest of ya'll. Keep up the good work.


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## traqem (Mar 10, 2009)

I watched some folks with a Michigan tag pull up at a ramp. They got out and circled around the boat and trailer. It looked like they were trying to figure out how to launch the thing. I went inside my house near the ramp and didn't give it another thought until I saw them on the water a few hours later.

First, I noticed the bow rider was riding low in the water. Next, I saw that there was a series of ropes wrapped around the boat. Finally, I realized what they had done when I saw something sticking up in front of the bow. It was the pole for the 3rd wheel on the trailer. They had strapped the boat to the trailer with rope and launched by disconnecting the trailer at the tongue. Sure enough, back at the ramp, there was the Michigan station wagon sans trailer.


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## Ruskin_Raider (Oct 2, 2007)

> *traqem (3/13/2009)*I watched some folks with a Michigan tag pull up at a ramp. They got out and circled around the boat and trailer. It looked like they were trying to figure out how to launch the thing. I went inside my house near the ramp and didn't give it another thought until I saw them on the water a few hours later.
> 
> First, I noticed the bow rider was riding low in the water. Next, I saw that there was a series of ropes wrapped around the boat. Finally, I realized what they had done when I saw something sticking up in front of the bow. It was the pole for the 3rd wheel on the trailer. They had strapped the boat to the trailer with rope and launched by disconnecting the trailer at the tongue. Sure enough, back at the ramp, there was the Michigan station wagon sans trailer.


If that is true, thenthat is the funniest thing I have ever heard.


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## JOSHua (Oct 9, 2008)

I seen a guy hit the massachusets in a 20 ft bowrider. Funny thing is there were other boats around and the warning buoy was still right next to it. Luckily they weren't going to fast. I'm sure that someone had to do some fiberglass repairs. Could have ended up way worse for him and we could have had a new wreck to fish


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## Matt Mcleod (Oct 3, 2007)

> *Clay Peacher (3/12/2009)*Several years ago, I saw 2 each, + 70 year old men in a olewoodenkeel drive jon boat. (Appeared to have beenpainted green with a paint brush) The boat was at least 30 years old and the engine may have been older. They had a 55 gallon drum in the center of the boat. I assumed this was gas.....They were at the Mr. Gus Oil Rig in 2-4 foot seas at 6 PM on a Friday night! Crazy, crazy, crazy.....


HOLY CRAP!


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## bombtosser (Oct 5, 2007)

my pops has a 20ft older ski boat with an old in/out buick 6 cylinder.one day we were about 1/2 a mile from the boat ramp tubing with my dad, his buddy and me and my brother. and the motor wouldn't start, so my dads buddy thinks he knows what he's doing and pulls the motor cover back and starts making endless pumps on the carburetor dumping fuel. well as he's bent over the carb he attempts to light a cigarette. needless to say he lost a significant amount of facial hair tothe fuel explosion. so as the back of the boat is on fire, he immediately jumps off the boat and starts swimming for shore. my pops picks up my little brother and tosses him by the shorts over the side, then does the same with me. he ended up having to blow down a whole fire extinguiser on the motor to stop the fire. Man he was pissed. he couldn't get the boat restarted so my brother and i swam/towed the boat into the boat ramp. needless to say the guy never got to go on the boat again.


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## reelthrill (Oct 3, 2007)

I saw two guys at the double yellow rigs in a 15.5ft. Boston Whaler.


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## Tippin Slow (Nov 21, 2007)

So far so good. None of these sound like I was involved. 

Last summer we were anchored upand boat showed up withthree geniuses on board. They thought it was a good idea to troll a 30' circle around us and snagged our anchor line not once but twice. The second time I had to pull the boat to the lure to prevent themfrom wrapping up my anchor line with their prop.


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## SHatten (Sep 30, 2007)

http://www.orangebeach.ws/2007/News/2007-08-02-Sportfishing_Boat_Sinks_in_Perdido_Pass.html

I recall years ago when the 53' Hatteras Gamester out of Or. Bch hit west of the pass and beached. There were pictures all around of it with the name altered, reading SS. Minnow[/quote] 

Don't know if this is the same grounding but when I was in the Coast Guard we worked a case similar to this. 1983...New owner decided to take his new "yacht" out at night with little experience in vessel operations. Don't recall the type boat. Just remember it was a really large and nice boat. Went out of Orange Beach. On his return trip he ended up on the east side of the pass on the jetties. When we (USCG) got the call from him he said he stated he had ran aground and needed a tow. Needless to say his "tow" became a salvage job. He choose to leave the vessel unattended all night on the rocks. What the waves and weather didn't destroy the "looters" did.Next day we checked with the owner/operator. He wanted to make a report of theft of all his electronic gear. Boat was a total loss. He had only owned the boat less than 24 hours before it was history. This appeared to be a case where someone had more money than sense.


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## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

> *JOSHua (3/13/2009)*I seen a guy hit the massachusets in a 20 ft bowrider. Funny thing is there were other boats around and the warning buoy was still right next to it. Luckily they weren't going to fast. I'm sure that someone had to do some fiberglass repairs. Could have ended up way worse for him and we could have had a new wreck to fish


Heck, a very well know charter boatcaptain from Pensacola hit the Massachusets several years back in a 60 ft vessel.


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## King Crab (Dec 28, 2008)

I saw a women 1 day years ago at the tennaco with her sonI assume? She was anchored dead on top of the rig with a 16' boat maybe. Of coarse she had a regular anchor snagged in the wreck! I said ' Your gonna have to cut your rope to get loose! She Pretty much gave me the finger & said "Blow Off"! I was pissed at first but soon realized the danger they were in. A thunder storm was coming & the seas was building. She insisted we Go away! We did, but I hope they made it ok. What kinda Adult would go that far out with that small a boat With a kid on board. She didnt want any help. I didnt know what to do. You all may know who she is. It blew my mind!


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## Turtlebait (Dec 3, 2008)

Having to admit I'm not perfect is painful, but here goes.

Needing to adjust thebunks on my trailer, I decided to launch my boat by myself, a firstfor me with my newly acquired boat. I tried to accomplish as much as possible beforeI left home to facilitate the launch - ropes in place on cleats, motors warmed up and ready, plugs in, etc.....

As I backed into the ramp, there were severalpeople fishing the dock, so I got a little apprehensive about screwing up. Iloosened the bow winch to have about 15 ft of slack, and backed into the water a bit. Stopped and looped the two ropes around some pilings, backed up expecting the boat to drift back off the trailer.When it didn'tbudge, I pulled forward a bit, backed up again, and hit the brakes hard. Boat didn't move.

I could hear a few snickers from the folks fishing, but paid them no mind. Thinking it being low tide had thwarted my usually effortless launch, I decided to power the boat off the trailer. I jumped in the boat, fired up the engines, put it in reverse - nothingmoved. Gave it more rpm's - nothing. 

Totally DUMBFOUNDED, I throw the ropes back on the boat, get in my truck totally pissed off, and pull out of the ramp. I jump out of the truck looking around the boat for a stray rope or something that I had forgotten. Lo and behold, whenI get to the back of the boat, I see the TWO cinch straps still attached! 

As I cursed my own stupidity, the folks fishing on the next dock literally fell down on the wharf laughing so hard I thought they were having epilectic fits! Being properly humbled, I removed the straps, repeated my original FLAWLESS plan, this time smooth as silk.

I was too embarassed to stay at the landing to work on the trailer, so I ahhh sooo gently motored away - going straight to the OAR HOUSE for a stiff one! - Ric


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## Nat (Oct 10, 2007)

anchored on the I-10 bridge rubble, I hooked a 19' Cape Horn by the prop on a flat line with a cigar minnow, I waved to the capt of the Cape Horn and gave hand signals indicating he was hooked up !and had passed way way too close to an anchored boat that was fishing :banghead

For some reason he didn't understand ! 

I finally gave up trying to reel him in. 

So I feed him 350 yards of 30 lb mono while he watched me !

I guess he thought I had a Blue Marlin hooked up and he wanted to see me land it !

Since I wanted to respool my Shimano 1400, I waited until all the line was gone and then I cut him off.

He is probably still wondering why i picked up a knife and cut my own line while fighting the trophy of a lifetime...:banghead:banghead:banghead

I wonder what is prop looked like with 350 yards wound of mono ..up tight


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## ucf_motorcycle (Jul 12, 2008)

At crab island saw a Pontoon boat start up with engine fully tilted up. I think whatever rookie mistake. He then puts it in gear. Then gives it some gas. Then some more gas, I start chuckling and watching more closely. The driver then realizesthat the engine is up. Instead of using the power trim which is most likely how he got the thing up to begin with he has his buddy start trying tophysically push the engine down.

Now you have to picture this. There are 100 boats anchored this guy is drifting with no power. The engine is in gear at idle prop is spinning fully tilted up. This guy is hanging off the ladder and leaning over this running engine (with spinning prop) trying to push it down. By now I'm screaming "shut it off" and reaching for my phone cause I can already picture this guy slipping andgetting cut up so I'm ready to dial 911. Luckily he hears me freaking out and shuts it off. I then yell to him to use the trim.

He has no idea what that is and walks over to his buddy and tries to help him push the engine down. I's still screaming at him use the trim. Now a woman on the boat has my attention she asks me whats that. I yell a switch on the throttle she says whats that. I say the big stick that makes the boat go faster. She finds the trim switch and presses it while these two dipshits are still pushing on the engine. They start up and motor away. I bet with a burnt out water pump. The boat was probably a rental anyway.

I just don't get why they would trim up the engine in the first place. And if they trimmed it up how do they not know how to trim it back down. Retards.


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## netboy (Aug 28, 2008)

> *traqem (3/13/2009)*I watched some folks with a Michigan tag pull up at a ramp. They got out and circled around the boat and trailer. It looked like they were trying to figure out how to launch the thing. I went inside my house near the ramp and didn't give it another thought until I saw them on the water a few hours later.
> 
> First, I noticed the bow rider was riding low in the water. Next, I saw that there was a series of ropes wrapped around the boat. Finally, I realized what they had done when I saw something sticking up in front of the bow. It was the pole for the 3rd wheel on the trailer. They had strapped the boat to the trailer with rope and launched by disconnecting the trailer at the tongue. Sure enough, back at the ramp, there was the Michigan station wagon sans trailer.


That is some funny shit!:doh had a put the Michigan part in there. I hail from mi originally and never quite did anything that retarded! lol classic


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## SuperSpook (Oct 1, 2007)

I was cobia fishing one day(10-15 years ago),southeast wind 15+ at pickens and saw a boat trolling the spaniards go into the draw and annouced "This guy is an idiot",next thing you know a wave nailed them ,wave 2 knocked them on the beach.Oneof the guys went flyin out 15 feet up on the beach,meanwhile Im on with the USCG telling thme "Hell No! I dont have a rope long enough to go in there and pull him off".


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## Jack Hexter (Oct 2, 2007)

I'm a retired LEO. Back in about 1985, I hopped on a Biscayne National Park Rangers boat to go watch a large wreck being sunk as an artificial reef off south Dade County. There was a large fleet of boats on the water this day to watch the sinking. Afterwards, all the boats headed back to the ramps. Going thru the inlet between the islands separating the ocean from the bay, we were following two boats in the no wake zone when one guy "drops trow" and moons the second boat. The ranger looks at me and apologetically said he could not let this pass as it happened right in front of him, so he proceeded to flip on the blue light and pull the offending boat over.



He pulled along side of the boat and asked the driver for his ID and registration, intending to issue a warning. The driver starts digging for his wallet in the console which took some time, maybe 30 seconds. I was on the bow of the park boat and as the boats drifted, they started to separate so I told a passenger in the offending boat to throw me a line. He picked up the bow line and tossed it to me - but, it was not attached to the boat. *He threw me both ends of the line*. Both the ranger and I cracked up and we departed laughing without even a written warning.


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## Buckethead (Sep 2, 2008)

I've had my boat since December and made plenty of dumb mistakes already. I've learned that two guys who think they know what they're doing is a bad idea, and you should let one person handle it. We took one back strap off the boat and left the other one on, thinking the other person got it, and spent ten minutes trying to get the boat off the trailer while some guy fishing at the dock watched us, and was probably laughing his ass off. About 2 days later at Blackwater, my buddy closed the hatch on my trolling motor wire and broke it, then we decided to head in, when he pulled the boat out of the water, I quickly realized I forgot to pull the motor up as the skeg started dragging on pavement, stupid. We haven't had too many mishaps as of late, which I hope is a good sign.


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## TN visitors (Apr 20, 2008)

I know this is an old topic but I thought I would share this.

Here in TN. the coumberland river, which is huge is known to have rather large things washed in to it after very heavy rain storms, this guy has run this section of river a thousand times its about 6 miles from the boat ramp to the steam plant and night fishing there is great for huge blue cats and striper he always wheres a high impact life vest with the kill switch lanyard attached. at 52 mph a quater moon he saw a large dark figure ahead he grabed a million candle power light only to see a 150 year old 175 ft oak tree floating down the river!! he cut hard left twards the branchesand awayfrom the massive tree trunk, dove into holethe next to the console which killed the motor via the kill lanyard an went crashing through the branches in the end everything turned ok more or less.

as for the dumb ass at the wheel,,, Yep it was ME! that yas years ago, and it sucked allthe I know This river like the back of my hand!! BS rite out of me, and made me a much safer boater.


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## captnick (Mar 27, 2009)

The dumbest thing I have seen was by the Coast Gaurd in Destin. I was filling in as captain on the charter boat Tropical Winds, I had a female passenger on board who unfortunatley had a stroke. So, I started heading back towards Destin, which was 15 miles away. I called the Coast Gaurd, gave them my current position, distance from the pass and what heading they needed to take. I got within 5 miles of the pass and I saw the Coasties heading in the wrong direction, I radioed them, made them aware that they were heading the wrong way, they finally got to me when I was about 3 miles from the pass. Needless to say, the lady did not survive. Now if that is not stupid, then I do not know what is. Station Vacation, that is the name we have given our Coast Gaurd station here in Destin.

:banghead


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## javadoc (Sep 17, 2008)

I had been to downtown Savannah Georgia for St. Patties Day with friends...had been docked at River Street for two days...40 ft sport cruiser...as we were leaving we decided to'explore' a dredge island...wewent bow into the island whichwas ok since tide was at dead high,bottom was soft and we were not going to be there long...but somebody on the boat (about 20 of us) tied a 40 lb anchor to a cleat on the transom and threw it out as far as possible...we were bombarded with flies and mosquitos on the island and didn't stay long.We got everyone back on the boat and started out...about halfway back to Tybee Island I told my cousin I thought the motors sure did sound strained...and he agreed...wellupon some examination we discovered we had been dredging the Savannah river with that anchor for about 10 miles...my cousins dry statement..."we are dangerous to be around out here..."


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## SHatten (Sep 30, 2007)

A canoe with two guys at the Massachusetts at 1 am with a Coleman lantern as the only form of light. At least they had faith in their 2.5 hp Evinrude to get them home.


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## Hook (Oct 2, 2007)

Just go down to shoreline ramp during a national holiday around 4:00 pm and watch the fun.:doh


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## fishgrease (Mar 27, 2009)

<SPAN id=_ctl1_ctlTopic_ctlPanelBar_ctlTopicsRepeater__ctl8_lblFullMessage>My dad pulled the Marine Patrol off of the sandbar just outside the canal over on Blackwater Bay, where Nichols seafood used to be. Used his sailboat to do it, pretty embarassing for the FMP Officer. He had been out collecting illegal crab traps, and had about half a dozen or so stacked on the back of his boat 

Anyway, after getting him off of the sandbar, my dad asked him "catch many oysters in those things ? " 

FMP Officer immediatley says "not really, pretty hard to get those oysters to crawl in there" and that is when it hit my Dad !!

FMP officer looks at him, looks at me, I look at Dad, look at the Officer. Dad looks at me, looks at the Officer, bows his head and says,

" I won't tell anybody I pulled you off the sandbar with a sailboat, if you don't tell anybody I thought those were oyster traps " And we left it at that !! 






About two years Ago I was home on leave from the military. My house was overlooking carpenters park in milton. I walked down on my dock to observe a Florida Marine Patrol officer standing on the floating dock at the boat launch. He was scratching his head. For a moment I thought he was checking people returning to the launch then I saw his boat a drift in the middle of the canal. He had his pistol belt and shot gun sitting on the seat. I jumped in my boat and rescued his adrift craft. Hea was three kinds of red when I returned his boat. ............Some guys have all the luck!!


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## Huntinman (Aug 12, 2008)

When I worked out on the beach renting jet-skis, one day I watched a guy run one up on to the go kart track. He bailed before he hit sand though. My boss at the time would put anyone out there for a dollar!! Of course the driver was legitament, passed an online test, sat through safety instructions etc. I have seen some crazy stuff out on the water.


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## ryanbr (Oct 10, 2007)

The dumbest thing we know anybody has done is to try to pull an anchor by anything but the bow. Always remember 3 guys lost their lives and one will probably have night mares for the rest of his over a couple hundred bucks of anchor and anchor line. Never, never, never, never tie off to a side or rear cleat. And I think an NFL ball player should be able to afford another anchor. That decision cost him his life. Lesson learned for a lot of people. I hope. 

Chris


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## TN visitors (Apr 20, 2008)

My boss let his brother inlaw to take some friends water skiing when he returned both rear cleats were ripped out of the boat, the inlaw said something to the efect of, for being such a nice ski boat the rope holders were junk. my boss then pointed out the 3 ft tall brite crome tow rope hook in the center of the boat to witch the inllaw replyed (I was going to ask youwhatthe hell is that for):banghead:hoppingmad


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## grouper1963 (Feb 28, 2008)

Couple for the road...

- Saw/heard the FWC run their boat over an unmarked submerged rock wall at the Hurlburt Field marina. We heard the crunch, saw the boat ride over the wall, then saw them gunning the motors over the wall while the props sustained damage. The wall wasn't marked but being it was FWC, they were embarassed.

- Saw a guy jump try to jump back into his boat after losing the tie up line near the Destin bridge pilings - he went swimming. He was on the pilings fishing and somehow the tie line got loose and boat started drfiting off; he jumped and missed. Luckily he didn't eat the gunwale but did manage to climb back aboard. We were on the way to help but he said he had it in hand.


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## Hard Core (Sep 24, 2008)

Okay here is my best (worst) boat story.



I used to hang out at the Hook Line and Sinker Marina on Fort Morgan Road in Gulf shores. By far the most fun we had was watching folks launching and getting their boats out of the water. It provided many afternoons of entertainment. The worst I saw was a guy that was trying to wind up his boat on a trailer. The boat was a big old heavy boat and he had not pulled his trailer far enough back down into the water. So here is this guy cranking his guts out trying to get that boat up on the trailer. The trailer was old ten years before he bought it. Sounds like this could lead to a very funny story right?



He had put a regular polypropylene ski rope on his boat winch. I was watching him just as the hook on that ski rope straightened out. It went off like a gun and the hook shot right through his face. It went in the right side towards the front of his face and came out at the back rear. It rebounded right back out and what teeth it did not get coming in it got going back out. When he spun around I thought he was dead. Blood and teeth were everywhere. He looked at me in terror. I had already consumed several adult beverages so I was glad that other folks was able to pick him up and carry him inside. We packed his face in ice and called the ambulance. It took almost thirty minutes for them to get there. 



That is not a funny story. All boat stories do not wind up as just another funny antidote. I have been around boats all my life and seen some funny crap but I have also seen way too many situations just like the above. 



Ronnie


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## BILL_MONEY (Feb 17, 2009)

i watched a young man holding a boat alongside the dock..... boat strated to drift away so he pulled on the pilling and then the boat was to far to pull back in.... worst mistake i... i meen he could have ever made was to jump on to the piling and slide down instead of taking the plunge.... cut feet and knees from the crusty's.....godsaltwater burns in open gaping cuts!!!!as for watching the circus at the ramp..... we have it good up here in the panhandle.... i went to orlando on the butler chain of lakes.....imagine the wealthy ignorant and the poor ignorant all in the same place non of which can launch/ or retrieve their damn boats without incident...


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## showme parrothead (Nov 30, 2007)

Anyone ever seen the out takes of some of Bill Dances fishing shows. Now those are pretty funny since he is a "pro".:doh


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## bluebird (Apr 4, 2009)

<SPAN style="COLOR: #1f5080; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: #1f5080; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">About 10 to 15years ago I was fishing off the end of the Gulf Shores fishing pier and saw a 30 to 40 foot cigar boat running on the shore side of the first sand bar heading down the beach toward the pier. Sure enough this genius never slowed down or turned and went straight between the pilings. Thankfully he didn't kill anyone or hit the pier.:nonono:


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## Garbo (Oct 2, 2007)

Dang. Thats some funny stuff right there


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## gwhite33 (Jul 23, 2008)

well thursday i went fishing on my friends skiff and we were coming in the destin harbor and a blue hull boat with twin 200 honda 4 strokes and a cobia tower mashed into noriaga point and there were 2 people in the tower and his boat was all the way up on the shore and his motors were under water and the boat just about rolled over then he jumped out to look at it i guess he thought he was sinking.


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## Boatfly (Mar 20, 2014)

Stern straps optional


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## Dagwood (Oct 1, 2007)

I was fishing the Massachussets one day and 2 guys in a 14 foot aluminum john boat with a 9 hp motor comes cruising by. They made a couple of casts and headed south. The guy in the back was probably 280lbs and there wasn't but a few inches of freeboard. It wasn't a rough day but not slick either. I guess they made it, I didn't see anything in the news.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I had missed it.


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## Desert Eagle (Apr 25, 2012)

Out if all those stories beginning with "I saw someone ..." I wonder how many actually happened to the story teller??? We've ALL done stupid stuff...


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## Diverrite (May 17, 2009)

*You never know*

First one is grand lagoon PCB and then DI, AL


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## Diverrite (May 17, 2009)

*one more*

one more


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Looks like mating boats.


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## specktackler57 (May 15, 2011)

Boat humping.


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## The Hired Hand (Jun 27, 2016)

No Pic It's BS


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## 69Viking (Oct 30, 2008)

Just West of Hurlburt Marina the Sound has a nice S turn in it. One day heading West with my 23' Cabin Cruiser I forgot to make the left had turn at the start of the S turn, found out pretty quick the water is only about 6 inches deep through that area. Boat came to a stop and there I was stranded with my wife and 3 or 4 year old son at the time. He had fun playing in the shallow water while I waved down some help. Luckily I wasn't far from deep water and 2 wave runners were able to pull me off the shallow area back to deeper water. Safe to say I've never missed that turn again over the past almost 20 years of boating!


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## fishnfool (Oct 2, 2007)

back around 1973 or so there was a guy named Ben Hogan who was an obgyn in Mobile that used to keep his beautiful 36ft Maltese Magnum sportfisher next to my dads charter boat at Shelter Cove Marina on Perdido Key. Ben was known to be a pretty heavy drinker and he took the boat to Mobile one day, got hammered and was coming back to Perdido Key that night. Best guess was that somewhere around midnight, Ben came storming past Bear Point Marina at somewhere around 30knts(maybe faster) and instead of taking the dogleg that the intercoastal has right there, he decided to go straight across the worst sand bar on the south side of Perdido Bay. Needless to say the boat stopped in about a foot of water, sheared off the struts and rudders and drove the props/shaft up through the stern. The sudden stop launched old Ben off the bridge/tower on to the bow and the rail probably saved his life but that's where the CG found him passed out around 9am the next day when they stopped to "have a look" Needless to say it was an expensive party he went to that night. Tore that new magnum all the hell!


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## LoLaF (20 d ago)

SHatten said:


> http://www.orangebeach.ws/2007/News/2007-08-02-Sportfishing_Boat_Sinks_in_Perdido_Pass.html I recall years ago when the 53' Hatteras Gamester out of Or. Bch hit west of the pass and beached. There were pictures all around of it with the name altered, reading SS. Minnow


 Don't know if this is the same grounding but when I was in the Coast Guard we worked a case similar to this. 1983...New owner decided to take his new "yacht" out at night with little experience in vessel operations. Don't recall the type boat. Just remember it was a really large and nice boat. Went out of Orange Beach. On his return trip he ended up on the east side of the pass on the jetties. When we (USCG) got the call from him he said he stated he had ran aground and needed a tow. Needless to say his "tow" became a salvage job. He choose to leave the vessel unattended all night on the rocks. What the waves and weather didn't destroy the "looters" did.Next day we checked with the owner/operator. He wanted to make a report of theft of all his electronic gear. Boat was a total loss. He had only owned the boat less than 24 hours before it was history. This appeared to be a case where someone had more money than sense. [/QUOTE] My friend was the captain of the Gamester. I am thinking you might be confusing boats. He had been out on a tournament for 3 days straight with minimal sleep and was taking the boat back from Destin or Pensacola to Orange Beach. He was running along the beach but as he approached the jetty, being tired he thought for a moment he was coming into the pass. If you look at the jetties from the East there is a gap between the rocks and red and green lights similar to what it looks like from a distance entering from the Gulf He pulled back to avoid the rocks and hit the beach. I slept on the beach next to the boat for several days. We removed all electronics and kept an eye on it so there was no looting. A tug boat ultimately pulled the boat off the beach. Damage was minimal. The door on the transom was messed up and some of the paint.


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## SurfRidr (Apr 24, 2012)

Wow, thread resurrected twice. I've been tired, never run my boat on a beach thinking it was a pass. Being 'tired' is apparently an excuse for poor skippership. I'm quite sure no alcohol was involved. Thanks for resurrecting the post.. again...


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