I nearly suffered a similar
collision a couple years ago. Luckily at low speed. I had some choice words for the powerboat
skipper, asking how he could miss a Fng 45'
mast. He, of course, "wasn't at fault" and berated me for using that language in front of his son and wife, at which time I confirmed for him that indeed he was a Fng idiot, just in case his wife and son weren't sure. He threatened to come teach me a lesson, and indeed was invited to do so, but apparently it was bravado and he declined to follow through. I later discovered that this nutball had been kicked out of three
marinas because he is an idiot and loudmouth. I've not seen him since, so I assume he got kicked out of the fourth and final marina available in our port.
These morons are everywhere. A friend who owned a 30s vintage
wood cruiser was showing his buddy how the
radar worked while at
anchor at night in a 5mph zone. He noted a fast moving powerboat headed toward them on the
radar, giving them just enough time to take cover before being rammed, holed, and sunk.
There is of course the notorious breakwall for our port, which claims a couple powerboats every year. There is a lesson in this: 1980s Sea Rays are built like brick shiphouses and can take a good ramming on stone; newer and lesser boats not so much.
Then, there was several 4th of Julys ago when I awoke to see a 35'
cabin cruiser fully aground on a small island. He'd left the bar, put the boat up on plane almost immediately, crossed no more than 100' in front of me, and placed the boat square on the island. In the morning the
skipper and his father (the actual owner) were surveying the damage when the father yelled at a couple taking photos from a
dinghy. "What the F* are you looking at?" screamed the father. In response he got the finger, since the answer should have been readily apparent. Not one to let a situation like this go, I dinghyed over and took some photos. See below.
While unusual, this type of event isn't a freak, it's simply prevented by the expanse of available
water. For the sake of argument, it's my opinion that 50% of
power boaters are regularly set up for such an event- it's just that they haven't hit anything yet that keeps us alive.