"Capt. Rob" wrote in message ups.com...
|
| 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.
If the above is a true story then I feel your pain. Sometimes **** happens.
I don't see how you can beat yourself up for not seeing a small capsized
boat in the dark. You might consider some counseling if the crushed head
thing is true. It'll be hard to not have nightmares about something like
that.
But, shame on Beneteau for not installing a crash bulkhead forward to
contain water from bow damage. Good luck.
Paladin
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