Last night I was singlehanding the 35s5. I meant to get home before it
got dark, but I didn't make it. About 1/2 mile north of Stepping Stone
I thought I heard someone screaming. I stood up on the cabin top with a
spotlight and saw a capsized rental boat 15 feet in front of my boat. I
was doing close to 7 knots and I couldn't turn fast enough. I hit the
14 foot boat at the stern and one of two 17 year old teens was between
the boats. This I found out later. The other teen was screaming. He was
close to the swim platform and I got him aboard. I saw his friend
floating face down about 10 yards away. I dove in after him and got my
arms around to swim back. About halfway I saw that his whole head was
crushed, stove in from the boat impact and flatted at the back. There
was blood everywhere. I panicked at the site and let him go. There's a
blank spot in my memory. The next thing I remember is that I was back
on my boat. I radioed for help and headed for my club. What I didn't
know was that my boat had been mortally wounded. By the time I got to
the breakwater she was filled up nearly a foot and the engine died. I
used the main, which was still up, to get her against the breakwater. A
police boat met me, but there wasn't time to save Heart of Gold. She's
down in about 20 feet of water. More on this later and I suppose it
will be on the news today. The rental boat was from the other side of
the Island and actually capsized when it struck an unlit boat. No one
knows what happened to that boat yet, so maybe more people are dead.

Now....what did I do wrong?


R.