Re: [Paddlewise] Lake Winni

On 7/30/07, John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu> wrote:

> In the last year or so there have been two incidents of powerboaters
> (in both cases they were intoxicated) colliding with sailboats on two
> of the Finger Lakes.  In both cases, the sailboats were occupied at
> the time, an in one case the sailboat was anchored off shore.  In
> both cases, there were fatalities from the sailboats.  I was called
> up for jury duty about the time the first case went to trial but
> wasn't asked to serve.  I don't think I could have been impartial in
> such  a case.
>

Interesting... my 32-foot sailboat was struck in a bizarre incident while
anchored off Sausalito (which then had an approved anchorage). A drunken
commercial fisherman operating a ferro-cement sailboat hull as a fishing
boat barreled into a Cal22. The anchor of the ferro-cement boat dislodged
and fell onto the sailboat and got caught in the lifelines.

The operator of the ferro-cement boat continued on at full speed and when
the anchor rode paid out completely the Cal22 was jerked off its mooring and
was dragged down the bay and into the side of my boat causing us to heel
violently to starboard.

I rushed on deck to find the Cal22 snug against our port side and the
ferro-cement boat charging around us at full speed. As the little boat
started to move it dawned on me that they were about to snag *our* anchor
rode and we'd be towed right along with the Cal. I yelled at the operator of
the ferro-cement POS to shut down his engine (he was circling us) and to
drop the end of his anchor rode. About this time some witnesses who had
watched him hit the sailboat arrived in a Boston Whaler and he became scared
that he was going to get into trouble so he dropped the bitter end of the
rode and hightailed it out of the bay.

The little Cal22 had it's bow and bow pulpit demolished but they towed it
back to where it had been moored. The drunken (or drugged) operator of the
ferro-cement boat was located by the USCG hiding in Tomales Bay up the
coast. My boat received no damage other than a scratch on the side so we
never heard any more.

Drunken powerboaters in this age of very powerful powerboats are a serious
menace to everyone out there.


Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA
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