ANST - boats and drinking. [warning off topic]

[Sabella]

Good Sibling and others of the list this is sent to;

I realize that this is totally off topic...but it is a topic that is
on my mind this morning.
Sabella digs around and drags out her soapbox and climbs on board....

This the time of year in the knowne worlde, when mundanely many of us
take our happy selves to play on the water.  PLEASE if you must get in
a boat, and drink do not drive.  That goes for sailboats and jet skis
or waverunners, if you will, as well.

Yesterday two very, very drunk yankee tourists got lost in the myriad
of canals around my mother's home.  In their drunken confusion they
ended up in our canal.  Their speed so excessive that when they
realized, if they realized, that they were moving to fast.  They hit
Tabasco.  She sustained a 4 ft gash.  The ensuing fracas and frenzy
caused these morons to attempt to extricate themselves, and total my
bass boat, and and badly damage Jon and Lilly's sloop.  It was a
complete mess.  They ended up in jail and their boat is
confiscated......  I had to make a run down river with the boat to the
boatyard, that did not make me happy.  Can you say terrified, at the
prospect of sinking.  It just ruined the planned fishing trip for
tomorrow [Fri.] for my Mother and I.  It ruined Jon and Lilly's summer
sailing plans, and my bass boat is still at the bottom of the canal.
.  Everything is insured and can be fixed, but at what cost?   Our
insurance will go up with this claim, and there is a $500 deductible
to pay up front for both of us.

I have to stop, though, and give huge loud HUZZAH's to my two kids,
Talon and Maja [16 and 14.5] they were the reason neither boat sank.
While Lilly and I stood there in stunned shock, the kids jumped to
grab bilge pumps, start engines and start keeping the water out, or
should I say down.  They showed me a whole new side of duct tape as
well.  Makes excellent patches on hulls.  My daughter, Maja, just
happened to have a telephone in hand at the time of impact.  wellllll,
what can you expect she is a teen girl, they grow them things out of
their ears at that age.  She did not hesitate to call 911 for the
Florida Marine Patrol and run get the cop who lives next door.

The guys from the Marine Patrol were most excellent.  Please
everyone...heed this, fortunately nothing more than property was
damaged.....but lives could have been lost.  I nearly was thrown in
the water  when they hit me.  I was leaned over the stern whacking the
prop with a hammer to knock of barnacles off the hydraulic lifts, as
It was I got a burn on my thigh from being tossed into the engine.
[had the cover off, starting it]. Minor burn, but it could have been
worse. The marine patrol escorted me [tried to keep up with me?] down
river, refused to let me do it alone, magnificent guys.

please, please please..... leave the beer at home when you take the
boat out.  It is just common sense.

Oh and btw, these guys commented that ''we do it different up home in
Pennsylvania''.... I got the satisfaction of listening to the Marine
Patrol inform them that their boat now belonged to the state of
florida.  I drily commented [been saving it for yrs, btw] ''and that
is how we do it down south!"  YES!  just had to have the last word.
The cops had to work hard not to laugh.  They all know me well, know
my soapbox about boats and responsibility. Not to mention my feelings
about that particular phrase we, down here, hear uttered all to
often.  Way to often.

Gotta give kudos' too, to the mechanics at Twin Rivers Marina.  They
stayed on the radio with me the entire run downriver...maybe a hour.
Had the lift waiting and in place, to immediately get me out of the
water.  The fix up time is estimated at the end of June.  POUT! that
cuts into my fishing, .... and I already missed the tournament at Boca
Grand two weeks ago.

Please again, do not drink and get in a boat.

okay off the soapbox......

Anne MacDonnald
Clan Burning Thunder
lost somewhere in Trimaris

ps... a thought just occurred to me...that would have happened if NO
one had been on the boats?  It was a fluke I was even up there, and on
the boat.  Scary thought.
pps... I am not slamming people from the above mentioned state,
btw.... seems to run in cycles, think they take turns invading us.
Last yr it seemed that everyone down here came from Michigan, this yr
Penn.. LOL.
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