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s/v Moondancer · 15-08-2009, 04:10

On the Norfolk Broads, where inexperienced Englishmen go to motor and drink, there is a pub every few miles...The guy was probably returning from the pub after a 3 hour lunch session.

The most dangerous thing in English sailing is 4 drunks in an inflatable trying to get back to their boat at midnight in 48 deg water!

**Tellie** · 15-08-2009, 06:01

I probably wouldn't try to grab or jump in the dingy.That's asking for trouble at the speed it was spinning. I was thinking more of placing my boat between the dingy and guy in the water then plucking him out.

ess105 · 16-08-2009, 15:10

Just as bad are the folks on the vessel who chose to video the whole event rather than lend a hand to someone in distress. Congrats to the second boat who actually did something to help.

senormechanico · 17-08-2009, 09:27

A similar event happened on a Fourth of July in Lake Washington in Seattle right in front of us. We were on land at my inlaw's place having lunch.
The lake was really busy with lots of power and sailboats. Boat chop was everywhere.
Two guys in a 26' speedboat hit a Bayliner wake. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but they were both sitting on the top of the seatbacks! They went flying straight up and the boat kept going at full throttle. It immediately went hard over and ran in circles. They both tried to swim into the circle, but other boaters and people on shore yelled to get away. Finally the Seattle Harbor Patrol showed up to shoo everyone away. It took an hour and a half before the boat ran out of fuel, but it never hit anything!

Steve B.

sailorboy1 · 18-08-2009, 13:05

No doubt he was stupid (cann't cure stupid as the saying goes). Would be hard to believe he didn't get hurt somehow.

But what really bugs me in the video is that no one seems interested in getting the guy of of the water or getting that boat in position to prevent the dingy from hitting him. All they seem interested in stopping the dingy.

anjou · 18-08-2009, 13:23

Ive had two boat holidays on the Broads and apart from one raucus boat load of city kids, both occasions were great. The laws and regs here are very lax, anyone can hire a boat and are given just a few minutes of instruction on engine care (dip oil each day) and environmental issues like not littering.Jerks like this are not only dangerous but will one day spoil the nice places and easy times for us all.

defever · 21-08-2009, 12:55

in the 1st place the guy was an idiot for not wearing his lanyard...learned that lesson long ago after watching the aftermath of a guy who was run over 3 times by his dinghy---intestines floating in the water are really ugly.....second of all the best way to stop a runaway is to throw a 1/4 (or so) rope in it's path and hope that the prop snarls and stops....the one thing you should NEVER do is swim toward a runaway dinghy..

Jace · 28-08-2009, 08:17

Hey defever, that's kind of genius, throwing the rope in front of the boat. Great idea.

As for swimming towards the dingy while it's circling ... I'm a woodcaraftsman. I work with power saws. I've seen and FELT what a high-speed, spinning blade can do. Only took one incident for me to become a safety-holic!

What would I do? Get the hell out of there.

Squeaks · 28-08-2009, 09:08

Last summer - same thing. As we were getting underway aboard our Golden Gate from the Oakland Yacht Club on the Oakland Estuary, we were shocked to see an unoccupied inflatable running in circles; nearby a man in the water. Two smaller power boats were nearby. The nearest to the man in the water tried getting him aboard with a line over the side but the freeboard was to much for the weakend man. That boat went chasing after the dinghy after the second small boat, with a swim platform, finially got the man out of the water. Once on the swim platform there was blood everywhere, his lower leg(s?) a bloody mess and he was very blue from shock. When we saw the Coast Guard approaching we figgured there was nothing more we could do at the scene and motored away and while pasing the Jack London docks where an ambulance was waiting.