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Thread: Ouch

  1. #1
    Schiada76
    <Forwarded Message>
    Subject: Boat accident
    Date: 8 May 2004
    Coming back into the Newport Navy Base Marina today I saw a quite a
    disturbing sight. There were 5 or 6 emergency vehicles with lights flashing, all the way at the end of the marina and over by the boat launch ramp (where I was
    headed). When I motored closer down the long row of slips I saw fire trucks, tow
    trucks, and military police vehicles all gathered together there.
    The marina manager ran down to a near by dock and motioned for me to put my
    boat in an open slip and shut her down. I obeyed his commands.
    When I tied up and looked over at the commotion, I saw a 26-28 foot Sea Sport
    boat lying on it's side at the bottom of the boat ramp! There was a SUV up on
    the jersey barrier at a 90 degree angle to the ramp about 2 feet in the air
    and the trailer was precariously tossed across the boat ramp sideways.
    I looked back at the marina manager with shock and he explained to me what
    happened. He said that some guy backed his brand new boat over to the ramp and
    removed "ALL" tie down to include the bow hook. His wife climbed in the boat
    and he jumped back into the truck to back her in. Before he knew what hit him,
    the boat took off down the rollerized trailer and crashed on the ramp and slid
    down to the water some 30 feet away! Later, I walked over to the ramp and
    there was about a 6 inch wide, 30 foot long white scrape mark of gelcoat going
    all the way down the ramp to where she rested on her side at the bottom. Ouch!
    There had to be an enormous amount of hull damage. It looked really bad. Unreal.
    Anyway, when the boat departed the trailer, the unfortunate boater attempted
    to jump out of the truck and stop it. His truck then ran over him pining one
    leg while the drivers side door slammed into him breaking his other leg below
    the knee.
    Apparently the back pressure (on the trailer), from the rapidly departing
    heavy boat, forced the front of the trailer several feet into the air taking the
    SUV with it. The whole rig launched into a violent jack-knife condition. The
    truck came to rest (as I said) on the concrete jersey barriers along side of
    the ramp some 2 feet off the deck and the trailer ended up sideways across the
    whole ramp.
    The Marina Manager told me he was going to wait till high tide tonight to
    recover the boat. I have to wait till this whole event is over before I can
    recover my boat to my trailer.
    Later:
    I just got back from the marina. When I got there just after nine, she was
    still there on the ramp. The tide was just high enough and I watched some guys
    rock her free into the water and pull her around and tie her up.
    I drove home with my boat in tow in silence. I really didn't know what to say
    to my wife. We do the same thing (except for the accident) all the time. She
    jumps in the boat and I back her down. I can only imagine what went through
    his head as his wife and new boat went bouncing down the boat launch.
    I wanted to tell you all this story because I think there are some lessons to
    learn here. They are quite obvious so I won't get into it. For me, all in
    all, it was a very humbling experience. I was shocked at the violence that
    occurs when a boat launches all by itself! I figured it would just fly off and that
    would be it. I didn't realize what happens to the trailer, truck and anyone
    unfortunate enough to be around the incident when that happens. I will take a
    little more care (safety wise), next time I launch my boat. I didn't realize
    that so much could go wrong in about three seconds. That's what a witness said
    that it took, start to finish...3 seconds.

  2. #2
    Mandelon
    Sounds terrible. Why would anyone unhook before they got the boat in the water? Especially with a roller trailer????
    What a nightmare.....

  3. #3
    welk2party
    Sad story. But the guy was a moron for unhooking the bow strap with rollers for bunks.

  4. #4
    Ntwotrance
    what the heck was he thinking???

  5. #5
    Mandelon
    Oh, and where are the pics..........???

  6. #6
    Freak
    It has happened on a trailer with bunks also.

  7. #7
    RiverToysJas
    It's happened twice with Cat's....
    http://www.havasudoug.com/images/posts/rampmishap1.jpg
    I can't find the photo of the other one, which was at Perris.
    RTJas

  8. #8
    HCS
    Maybe I'll start leaving my boat hooked up when I back down the
    ramp.

  9. #9
    Cheap Thrills
    One things for sure , it wont happent to you but once and you will quickly learn the bow winch line stays on untill the boats floatin if it happens to you twice , it may be time to pursue other less hazzardous hobbies
    C.T. :wink:

  10. #10
    welk2party
    I never undo the bow until we are floatin'.

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