Unbelieveable, just unbelievable. I have been reading the SHT thread for a couple years now and get a good chuckle out of the tales. Finally I have my own.
There were 12 of us on 3 boats tied up together on a very large lake. We were fairly close to shore in about 14ft of water, and it got quite a bit shallower towards shore and there was one huge boulder with about 2cm of water over it but it was MARKED WITH A RED BUOY. Remember this, it is important to the rest of the story.
So we are swimming, snacking, having a good time - this was a family outing, not a party. We were watching a fellow on shore having a hard time getting his pontoon boat off his trailer as the water was so low. The back tire of the truck was completely under water and he was really working it. From the lake side, this fancy ski boat comes at a high speed arcs around us, about 6 adults on board, waving at us and aims RIGHT FOR THE RED BUOY. As great as it would have been to have video of that, the best video would have been of the 12 of us on the 3 boats looking back and forth from the boat to the buoy and back again, and again, all wondering "doesn't he see the big red floating ball over there" until BOOM! and he hits the rock and cuts the buoy loose. He comes to a stop and they float there for a bit discussing, I guess, and then they start heading back across the lake at a very slow speed. They were easily within hailing distance so if they wanted help they could have asked and we gladly would have assisted. We watch them for a while heading slowly down the lake, then they abruptly turn towards shore and we figure maybe they are taking on water, so head over to help - they are fine, just felt it would be safer closer to shore as they were having a bad vibration and going very slow. We offered and they accepted a tow. We also went back and retied the buoy to the line - I guess that will keep the reasonably intelligent people from hitting the rock but some of them.....
There were 12 of us on 3 boats tied up together on a very large lake. We were fairly close to shore in about 14ft of water, and it got quite a bit shallower towards shore and there was one huge boulder with about 2cm of water over it but it was MARKED WITH A RED BUOY. Remember this, it is important to the rest of the story.
So we are swimming, snacking, having a good time - this was a family outing, not a party. We were watching a fellow on shore having a hard time getting his pontoon boat off his trailer as the water was so low. The back tire of the truck was completely under water and he was really working it. From the lake side, this fancy ski boat comes at a high speed arcs around us, about 6 adults on board, waving at us and aims RIGHT FOR THE RED BUOY. As great as it would have been to have video of that, the best video would have been of the 12 of us on the 3 boats looking back and forth from the boat to the buoy and back again, and again, all wondering "doesn't he see the big red floating ball over there" until BOOM! and he hits the rock and cuts the buoy loose. He comes to a stop and they float there for a bit discussing, I guess, and then they start heading back across the lake at a very slow speed. They were easily within hailing distance so if they wanted help they could have asked and we gladly would have assisted. We watch them for a while heading slowly down the lake, then they abruptly turn towards shore and we figure maybe they are taking on water, so head over to help - they are fine, just felt it would be safer closer to shore as they were having a bad vibration and going very slow. We offered and they accepted a tow. We also went back and retied the buoy to the line - I guess that will keep the reasonably intelligent people from hitting the rock but some of them.....
