Eisboch wrote:
A couple of people I know (work for a construction company doing some work
at our house) decided to do some after hours fishing and drinking in our
town bay. Unfortunately, it appears they did more drinking than fishing and
the driver of the boat started screwing around, doing doughnuts in the
water. The boat eventually hit a bridge piling, flipped over and came down
on top of both of them.


It's lucky that they didn't run over somebody else.

One of the guys (who can't swim) managed to get out from under the Whaler
and held onto the side of the hull. Turns out he had two broken ribs and a
severe gash running down one leg and on his forehead. Barely conscious, he
looked around for his fishing/drinking partner and, after a minute or so,
saw a leg sticking out from under the overturned boat. Somehow he managed to
pull the other guy out, who was unconscious and bleeding heavily from a head
injury, and punched him in the belly, causing his friend to expel the water
and start breathing again.

They were rescued by the town fire department, transported to the hospital
by the EMT's, followed closely behind by the MA Environmental Police for
booking.

They will probably both lose their driver's licenses, be billed for the
damaged piling and, if the fuel tank in the boat leaked, be hit with an
environmental cleanup fine.

Both will survive, but will probably be financially broke for a long, long
time.

It's a shame there no implantable chip that would prevent people from
operating any motor vehicle. Some people are just too damn dumb and/or
erratic in behavior to be trusted with driving a car or a motorboat.

Fair Skies
Doug King