Your worst boating experience....?

[Mandelon]

Kinda slow here so how about a story thread?
What was your worst boating experience?

[Mandelon]

I have been pretty lucky so far. The worst is probably having to get towed back in by the Coast Guard out on Mohave.
We were out on my first boat....a bayliner with an 85 HP wacker on it. I was towing a newbie skier who kept falling, he went down and I spun around to pick him up and killed the motor. After he got situated, I cranked the motor and it didn't fire, so I turned the key again and hit the starter before the flywheel has stopped. The starter shaft bent when the two gears contacted and it was jammed stuck. At the time I didn't know much, I probably could have freed it with a hammer......
We flagged down another boat and they got the big coast guard boat for us and we got towed all the way back to Katherines. we were up near the powerlines at the time.
Worse even was that the CG boat left us at the farthest out dock, and we had to get the rest of the way in with the help of a PWC. :yuk:
At least no one got hurt and the tow was free.

[Cheap Thrills]

Several years ago I had a 17' Glasspar with a 3.8L OMC Buick we were out on the TN river doing the watersport thing having a good time not the first problem all day. at around 5:00p we decided that it was time to stop and eat at one of the local waterway restaurants after we ate I went down to the boat to straighten everything out and get it ready for the trip back down river to the house . I finished the tidying up and hopped behind the wheel hit the key and fired it up , when I threw it into gear and idled out towards the channel when about that time the engine does a hick up and dies . I bumped the starter again and she fired back off . and then
KaF u C kin BOOM ! fire, explotion the doghouse covering the engine shot strait up about thirty feet and back down on top of me now not only is my boat on fire Ive got 80 pounds of flaming plywood and vinyl on top of me and it was gettin real fockin hot real fast . I managed to get out from under the flaming box of death and grabbed the fire extinguisher and shot it towards the flames with no luck at putting it out . people were yelling get out get out but a Capitan goes down with the ship . out of the corner of my eye I catch a flash of white as I turn to see what it was kabong another boater Joe Nameth'd another extinguisher towards me hitting me in the head so here I am with my boat on fire
no eyebrows and half the hair on my head gone and on top of all that I was bleeding profusely from the wound I received from the airborn KIDDE ABC fire extinguisher . Amongst all the confusion I had a moment of clarity and remembered that I had an electric fuel pump and the switch was still on . so I hit the switch and shot the second extinguisher at the flames putting most of it out .
the damage to the boat wasn't as extensive as I would have expected , mostly hoses and plugwires .
I was out doing the water sport thing with it the very next day . with a new hair cut and a box of bandaids .
I have other bad trips but that one about tops em for being the worst .
C.T. :wink:

[LUVNLIFE]

When me and my wife started dating we were in my 19' Daytona. This was the first time she was in it also. We were sitting on Lake Havasu down by the dam right across from Take Off Point. We sat there having a couple of boat sodas and the only other boat around was a HUGE cabin cruiser with some fishermen on it. After a while they decide to take off and plow out leaving a 3-4' wake in their aftermath. By the time I got spun around from sitting on the deck and tried to get started I looked back to see two big wakes come over the back. The boat went under and there we sat bow up. After that my wife hated that boat till I sold it, that was 5 years ago. The funny thing is she bought it back for me last month and its in the garage. She keeps asking when we are taking it out. Damn Mrs. Luvnlife is a good woman.

[Cas]

The worst thing to ever happen to me was not while on the water. A few years ago we were adding a big loft (30x60) in a boat shop for added storage of boats. At the end of one of the days, as usual, I hopped on the forklift to move the boats back in. On the forth boat, a really nice Eliminator jet, something went real wrong.
When the boat crested the top of the driveway going in, the tongue popped off the ball and it started rolling back down the little hill. When the side of the trailer hit the fork it turned the boat just enough to force the hull into the fork. By the time I got the forklift into reverse, it was way to late to prevent about a 6' long by 1'wide "gash" in the side of the boat. Boy was I friggin flipped! The latch on the trailer was messed up and didn't catch, thus the reason it was in for repairs.
Apparently it wasn't that big of a deal as the owner of the company got it all fixed up as good as new.........I guess.

[cc322]

First day of vacation we launched out of windsor and got to black meadows landing and a bunch of smoke was comming from my engine hatch, I thought it was a fire, but found out my engine coupler broke, had no power going to the outdrive, had to get towed back to windsor and pay for the repair ,lost a whole day of boating, the cost was around 600.00 dollars, not a good way to start out.The good news is I got all my money back from the boat builder since it was such a new boat.

[summerlove]

One day at band camp....

[ahhell]

I dont know if i can top C.T. but a few years ago Scream and I went out to silverwood for our everyother weekend outing with the sea doos. We loaded up the girls at the dock with coolers and kids on his seadoo, and Scream and I hopped on my seadoo to head out to our cove, in tow was a very large innertube and a chair or two. On the way out my hands were getting tired from holding the rope that was towing the innertube and he was busy smoking. So, we decided to put the rope on the seat and sit on it (we're both 6'3' and 250+)....Soooooo we are heading for the far side of the lake, and we are in a hurry, as usual. I hit the gas and we're off...for about 100 feet, the innertube flips over, grabs the water and acts like a parachute on a dragster. Now, with the rope stratigically placed under our "parts" we are yanked off the ski rather rudely and ALMOST...ALMOST lose our dangly down parts...both of them. luckily for us the rope burn was quickly extinguished by lake water but to this day we both have matching rope burn in a most interesting place, and the nylon trunks we were wearing "melted" right down the middle. and you know the first words out of Screams mouth...Dammit, my cigarettes got wet!!! Glad he quit smoking

[Mandelon]

Gotta watch those out for those dangly down parts.....

[Waldo]

Went down in a boat in front of Roadrunner (1995). Spring Break, too many drunks in a boat + bad weather = trouble. I count my bleesings everyday!