Double Whammy

[Kracken]

Several times year we travel up to Maine for a weekend on Sebago/Brandy and Long Lake. Last year I believe I witnessed the 2 colossal stupid human tricks within 10 minutes of each other and by 2 separate boaters...



The story:

There I was, sitting in my aqua chair on the sandbar that sits about 50 feet away from the ?no wake? channel. It was early afternoon and I was enjoying a warm August day with my favorite beverage.

Along comes a 20foot pontoon boat doing 15 or so through the no wake zone. Up in the bow, in front of the gate there are 3 kids sitting on the deck dragging there feet in the water. I yelled at the guy, asked him if he knew how dangerous that is to his children. He gave me the half peace sign.

10 minutes later, a large Cobalt passes outside the channel markers, no biggie the water was high very little chance of digging the sand bar. The boat passes me at about 15 feet at 15mph. I am admiring the boat go by when I noticed?there was a teenager? body surfing from the swim platform.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Double Whammy

Both of those drivers should be in jail.

 

[dooma_Flatchy]

Re: Double Whammy

Ignorant is one thing, Stupid is another. You can't fix stupid.

 

[coolguy147]

Re: Double Whammy

Several times year we travel up to Maine for a weekend on Sebago/Brandy and Long Lake. Last year I believe I witnessed the 2 colossal stupid human tricks within 10 minutes of each other and by 2 separate boaters...



The story:

There I was, sitting in my aqua chair on the sandbar that sits about 50 feet away from the ?no wake? channel. It was early afternoon and I was enjoying a warm August day with my favorite beverage.

Along comes a 20foot pontoon boat doing 15 or so through the no wake zone. Up in the bow, in front of the gate there are 3 kids sitting on the deck dragging there feet in the water. I yelled at the guy, asked him if he knew how dangerous that is to his children. He gave me the half peace sign.

10 minutes later, a large Cobalt passes outside the channel markers, no biggie the water was high very little chance of digging the sand bar. The boat passes me at about 15 feet at 15mph. I am admiring the boat go by when I noticed?there was a teenager? body surfing from the swim platform.

lol about the pontoon one... my grandfather let me do that before except that he tied a rope to us ya... but he only let me do it once

 

[Tigologist]

Re: Double Whammy

He should be arrested for child endangerment, both of them.

 

[david_r]

Re: Double Whammy

at the very least his boat should be impounded and he should be banned from the water for a year or so.

there it is again.......... another reason to have boaters licenses.

a picture with your cell phone would have gotten his tag # and the kids on the front........ pics dont lie, take it to the local dnr

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Double Whammy

"Best" one I have seen lately, is a guy on a jet ski doing donuts a couple of feet off of a dock at a local boat launch. He was going round and round, making waves in the launch area .... with a 3 year old kid on the seat in front of him. His wife was sitting on the dock in a fold out chair, watching. Dumb & dumber.

All I could think of is, "one bad bounce off of a wave and you'll slam into the dock and kill your damn kid!" I yelled at him and he pretty much ignored me. That's OK, though - the launch was in a State Park and I found a Ranger in about five minutes. Mr. jet ski dude was most likely written up for three or four things!

I hope it was more like 20 citations.

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Old Gray Hair]

Re: Double Whammy

Thank God we have the self righteous to save us all.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Double Whammy

Thank God we have the self righteous to save us all.

you are the minority. 99% of the boaters that I know would have done the same thing.


If someone wants to make themselves fish food, fine. but when it involves someone else, like children who really dont have the common sense to know any better... thats a different story.

i have turned several jet fleas in to the sherrifs dept for operating in an unsafe manner...

 

[Zeeter]

Re: Double Whammy

You cant fix stupid!

 

[WTR4FUN]

Re: Double Whammy

Im just shaking my head in unbelief that someone is really stupid enough to body surf of a swim platform.

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Double Whammy

I remember one time being scolded by the Marine Patrol for something similar. I was like 15, had my boater's license (you can get it in Florida as soon as you can pass the test), and was very experienced at the helm (for my age, heck, probably better than half the people out there). My parents had been drinking a little bit that day, so to avoid a BUI I was driving. We were in a no-wake zone, which stays no wake from this point all the way up the river. My parents were sitting on top of the cabin of our 22.5' cabin cruiser at the time. They were right in front of the windshield, holding on to the windshield with one hand each, actually, and their feet and legs were completely on the deck. Not one body part was outside of the bow rail. The Marine Patrol yelled at them, "Get off the front of the boat like that, are you crazy?!" At the time, I did not really see an issue, as we were idling, and they were NOT dangling their feet in the water (which is not very bright), and they even had a hand on the windshield. By no means were they inebriated, but ya don't wanna have that discussion with a cop, so better to let me, the sober one, drive. I still do not see an issue if they are sitting and holding on, now if they were dancing or something, yeah, I can see it.

I just can't believe they yelled at us for that, but there's this one guy with a pontoon boat that has a homemade (redneck) deck on the bow that never gets in trouble. I mean this thing is like 10 feet in the air, right on the bow of the pontoon, and people ride sitting up there! Now that is dangerous. If he were to hit a rock, or suddenly come to a complete stop, they would be sent flying.

 

[Kracken]

Re: Double Whammy

I remember one time being scolded by the Marine Patrol for something similar. I was like 15, had my boater's license (you can get it in Florida as soon as you can pass the test), and was very experienced at the helm (for my age, heck, probably better than half the people out there). My parents had been drinking a little bit that day, so to avoid a BUI I was driving. We were in a no-wake zone, which stays no wake from this point all the way up the river. My parents were sitting on top of the cabin of our 22.5' cabin cruiser at the time. They were right in front of the windshield, holding on to the windshield with one hand each, actually, and their feet and legs were completely on the deck. Not one body part was outside of the bow rail. The Marine Patrol yelled at them, "Get off the front of the boat like that, are you crazy?!" At the time, I did not really see an issue, as we were idling, and they were NOT dangling their feet in the water (which is not very bright), and they even had a hand on the windshield. By no means were they inebriated, but ya don't wanna have that discussion with a cop, so better to let me, the sober one, drive. I still do not see an issue if they are sitting and holding on, now if they were dancing or something, yeah, I can see it.

I just can't believe they yelled at us for that, but there's this one guy with a pontoon boat that has a homemade (redneck) deck on the bow that never gets in trouble. I mean this thing is like 10 feet in the air, right on the bow of the pontoon, and people ride sitting up there! Now that is dangerous. If he were to hit a rock, or suddenly come to a complete stop, they would be sent flying.

Shane, What you discribed is NOT against the law if they were inside the rails, providing they are real rails.

You were right....best not to argue with the a guy with a gun.