Quick Story about a Runaway Boat

[Goody1986]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to grab your attention for a minute and tell you a tale of stupidity, minor injury and a Boston Whaler.

So the other day I decided to go kayaking with the girl off of white's landing in falmouth to waquoit bay for an afternoon of clamming, scupping and relaxing at the beach. As I take the kayak off the roof there were 2 older gentlemen in a 15ft whaler with a tiller pulling up to the dock 30ft away from us. One on the dock, the other in the boat. I do not know what happened exactly but I hear the mercury outboard roar to full throttle as the man in the boat falls into the water. The boat suddenly lurches forward and the boat begins to spin to port...quickly

As the boat's circling speeds up, faster and faster, I ran to aid the two guys. One had jumped into another boat that was docked with a paddle to fend off the boat, while the other is struggling to get out of the water. As I jumped into the docked boat, the whaler struck the boat, sending the 2 of us back to the other side of the boat and gashing a 1ft long hole into the boat. The runaway boat was unaffected by the impact as it continued to spin out of control.

As the man in the water got back onto the dock I noticed the whaler had now changed course and was going to the next dock, where there were multiple people and a ~13 year old kid on a jetski. We yelled to everyone to clear out of the area (which everyone did) and I decided to run to the next dock to catch the boat.

As the boat swung closer and closer to the dock I thought to myself. "this might end up sucking alot...." But as the boat came running by I jumped into the unruly vessel and hit the red 'kill switch' which put the mercury outboard back into a peaceful slumber.

Not a scratch on me luckily, nobody seriously injured but the guy who fell out of the boat was absolutely taking a trip to the ER for lacerations to his head, arm and leg. At the end of it all I had a 'thank you' and a good handshake. I was just glad the boat did what it did because there were alot more dangerous places that boat could go. That's about it....oh yes - sorry - the boat that the Whaler slammed into -- was the harbor master's boat - he was rather upset and both boats had to go to dry dock.

No scuba story here but I figured you guys all have a lot of water time and would appreciate the story.

Best Wishes

Greg

 

[ScubaSteve]

Any idea of what cause the whaler to take off like that? Human error or mechanical/electrical error? Good on ya for stepping to render aid.

 

[Goody1986]

Any idea of what cause the whaler to take off like that? Human error or mechanical/electrical error? Good on ya for stepping to render aid.

From what I gathered he did not have his tether attached to him - similar to what jetskiers have to attach to themselves should they get thrown off. - So human error

 

[Superlyte27]

This has been known to kill boaters. When a boat loses it's pilot, the boat usually ends up with the steering hard port or hard starboard. So the boat makes increasingly larger and larger circles in the water. It is very common for the overboard pilot to get caught in the path of the boat during one of these circles. It usually does not turn out well for the victim.

Thank God and you that this didn't turn worse. No one was killed this week.

 

[RICHinNC]

This has been known to kill boaters. When a boat loses it's pilot, the boat usually ends up with the steering hard port or hard starboard. So the boat makes increasingly larger and larger circles in the water. It is very common for the overboard pilot to get caught in the path of the boat during one of these circles. It usually does not turn out well for the victim.

QUOTE]

It is the boats way of getting rid of less than adequate pilots.

 

[Mark Derail]

You need a new nickname. Might I suggest « Balls Of Steel »

You should have gotten a reward from the owner, if not money, perhaps some rides with him for some diving.

 

[Mr.X]

Sometimes these things happen and it's usually operator error. I have personally seen way too many of these types of events. The serendipitous/balance in the universe bit was that you were there to kill the engine. Good on you. Glad no one died, or was permanently disfigured.

 

[porgyhunter]

Wow Goody....Way to go!!! Boats out of control a real lethal weapons...An empty boat at full throttle picks up speed quick

 

[Mark Derail]

Mr. X - the OP went Out Of His Way to stop the boat. I need to upgrade his nickname to Stainless Steel Steel Balls.

He could have stayed on the sidelines and just wait it out like everyone else would have done.

Edit: Mr. X - I saw that you wrote the OP stopped the boat. What I mean, he didn't have to. Nobody would have blamed him.

I'm stressing the heroics! Why? I would not have known about the kill switch, until now, never driven a boat before.
Great story.