Originally Posted by BLee

Bill was pushed over by another boat which caused the close pass. He would not have been that close if he hadn't been trying to avoid a collision. I have no doubt he was fully aware and in control of what he was doing, and would not have passed that close had he had more room to his starboard side. There are MANY times where drivers of other boats develop "tunnel vision" and do not look for other traffic, which makes those of us that do watch everyone have to get out of "their" way. Sometimes that requires getting closer than you'd like to another object in order to aviod the situation at hand.

I think Bill and all of us agree that if someone is just driving that close to raft ups without good reason, they are definitely driving in a careless manner.

Originally Posted by DMOORE

Glad to hear you know everything about running big cats. As for forgetting more about running big cats than I will ever know, that's a good one, especially considering you have never met me. One thing I can agree with ya on, is the fact you forgot about staying a safe distance from other boats. As for the site going down hill, give me a break, you know damn well you were too close to the boats filming you. Ya I only seen a 5 second clip, it still doesn't mean you were a safe distance away. I guess I should be like all the other cheer leaders in the thread and say how cool it was.



Feel free, flame on.




Darrell.

Originally Posted by DMOORE

Maybe using the term idiot was a bit harsh. But I still feel that regardless of what transpired before the clip started, the boat was too close to the raft up. If you guys want to rip on me for that that's fine. Bill may well have a ton of experiance behind the wheel, that's fine also. But in that case he knows as well as you do, that **** happens when your going fast in a boat. I spent 13years in the SEAL teams and have thousands of hours underway, in everything from 12ft Zodiac f470's to 82 ft markV's. I don't claim to know everything there is. But one thing that this showed me was that boat accidents happen fast and without warning. Everything from system and parts failures to environmental condition ( rogue waves, rollers, submerged objects) can cause one in an instant. I was in San Diego bay on a perfect calm morning with glass, and watched a boat strike a submerged telephone pole at high speed, the pole was about a foot under the water. It wasn't pretty, and I couldn't believe the boat didn't sink. That's how much damage there was. There have been a number of very serious accidents this summer, some involving guys with years of experiance. This just shows **** happens. I would just hate to see a boat somehow slam into a raft up. It would be horrific for all involved and most certainly bring down more government regulation on our sport. The Coast Guard would already like to see a national speed limit on all intercoastal wateryays. Can you imagine a 55 or 60 mph speedlimit? It would suck ass. All I'm saying is we need to be careful out there and police our own. Or else ,the government is going to, and these things will be ended. As for being a big mouth, OK, ya got me there. I've never in my, life been afraid to say what I'm thinking. It just goes with the territory. And for the guys rippin' on me, that's OK as well, a little bit of internet banter is fine. I've got thick skin. I just ask one thing, watch that video clip one more time. And this time imagine that your the ones sitting in the raftup with your wife and kids sitting next to you, and some guy that you don't know from Adam, blasts by you that close, running 80-90mph. My guess.... you guys would be pretty pissed at the whole thing. Bill, like I said earlier in this post, I could have worded it better, really shouldn't have used idiot, but I stand by what I said in thinking the boat was too close to the raftup at those speeds.
That's about all I have to say.

BTW for any of the other "idiots" in the thread, if your ever in San Diego, PM me. I'll buy ya beer and show you around the place.

Cheers ,Darrell.