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Boating Accident Key Largo this past Saturday


MuddyBottomBluz

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  Was hanging out at Jewfish creek in Key Largo for my daughters birthday weekend Saturday and I see the tow boat captain running through the parking lot jumping into his boat and head South, FAST! Then I hear the sirens, saw the Coast Guard circling on the South side of Blackwater Sound. Turns out a local guy just had a new Mercury 400 XS motor installed on his 21 foot Reaction and went out to test it.  Then this happened (do not bother with the video, has nothing to do with the story) https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article251455008.html Tow boat captain came back and was hosing blood off his boat and said the guy had a mangrove branch through his head, estimated speed between 70-80 MPH. When he got to the boat in the mangroves the throttle was pegged! He said it was pretty bad and obviously it was!

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On 5/16/2021 at 5:26 PM, MuddyBottomBluz said:

  Was hanging out at Jewfish creek in Key Largo for my daughters birthday weekend Saturday and I see the tow boat captain running through the parking lot jumping into his boat and head South, FAST! Then I hear the sirens, saw the Coast Guard circling on the South side of Blackwater Sound. Turns out a local guy just had a new Mercury 400 XS motor installed on his 21 foot Reaction and went out to test it.  Then this happened (do not bother with the video, has nothing to do with the story) https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article251455008.html Tow boat captain came back and was hosing blood off his boat and said the guy had a mangrove branch through his head, estimated speed between 70-80 MPH. When he got to the boat in the mangroves the throttle was pegged! He said it was pretty bad and obviously it was!

300XS and a 21 Action Marine center console.  He was in the ICW creek which separates Blackwater Sound from Tarpon Basin.  He rounded the corner and hit a Quad powered 42 Invincible wake at WOT.  The end result was terrible.

That creek can be dangerous especially when they do those stupid shotgun start, fun runs.    

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 Yes it was a 300 not a 400. There were a group of them heading North in the ICW and he did hit a wake and the other boats said when he hit the wake in a turn he possibly pushed the throttle down by accident and the boat got air under it and all steering was lost. Now that I received more info it was an Action and not a Reaction, my brother-in-law spoke with Barney and Barney Jr. who manufactured the boat. It was an 1978 boat and had the nickname back in the day of the "Tijuana Taxi" because of the yellow color. My brother-in-law rigged and had driven the same boat and reached a top speed of 83 MPH with a worked 250 HP Evinrude crossflow motor back in the 80's and said there was no turning the boat at that speed because the only thing in the water was the prop. The Barney's said that the current set up topped out at 87 MPH.

Very sad, no matter how experienced you are, $h!t happens! 

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Was told, back in the day Reggie Fountain would not sell one of his boats that went 50+ mph without training the new owner how to handle it. What boat needs to go over 50. Friend and I were sea trialing a used bass boat several years ago, owner pegged it at 72 and boat was chime walking. We both almost s..... our pants. 

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I can not pick people apart for wanting to run a boat car or anything fast because I have done it many times . If anyone can learn from this tragedy and lost of life than talking about it on this forum is a good thing . I know that between more boat traffic , manatee zones, idle zones, speed limits , down sizing my HPX motor and old age that my days of wanting to get everywhere I running over 60 mph are over . I still will enjoy opening the boat up under ideal conditions . With my smaller motor wide open is a lot slower that it was and with limited funds being retired I need my equipment to last so I don’t abuse it . Be safe out there things can happen in a hurry and you don’t always get a second chance . Like Big Dave said this was preventable . Check your equipment make sure your steering and throttle are working perfectly and slow down and enjoy the moment . 

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1 hour ago, fin-addict said:

Was told, back in the day Reggie Fountain would not sell one of his boats that went 50+ mph without training the new owner how to handle it. What boat needs to go over 50. Friend and I were sea trialing a used bass boat several years ago, owner pegged it at 72 and boat was chime walking. We both almost s..... our pants. 

 I have a little bit of Ricky Bobby in me! 
 

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most people don't  comprehend how quickly speed affects boat handling.

I remember the first time driving at 50 and thinking this is fast but felt in control. As I gave it more gas and it hit 60 everything changed. The boat was controlling the situation not me. slowed it down and did not go back to 60.

don't know  why but 60+ is a different  world for boats.

 

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I Like to go Fast, Always have. We raced asphalt oval most of my life. My son is a very accomplished Late Model Stock Car Driver. Enough bragging  LOL

The Big Difference is what is in your control and what is not....Example, We were racing in Lake City and the Lights suddenly turned off. It was a new moon and it went pitch Black. Luckily my son was leading the race and used flashes from a tow truck and other track vehicle lights to stay out of the wall and out of trouble. Another Example is sudden rain, On slicks you go from just in control to out of control in just feet.

The water is a constant variable. Anytime you take a boat to the edge of control you are "ALREADY" out of control just because of the variables of the waters surface.  I lost a friend to a third wave that could not have been anticipated. Stuffed the bow and drove it straight to the bottom. Broke his neck. 

I hope some that like to go fast read this and think about how fast they are going and what space they are in and what the water COULD throw at them in an instant. Pick your time and place and keep it fun and not fatal.

 

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18 hours ago, jh141 said:

I Like to go Fast, Always have. We raced asphalt oval most of my life. My son is a very accomplished Late Model Stock Car Driver. Enough bragging  LOL

The Big Difference is what is in your control and what is not....Example, We were racing in Lake City and the Lights suddenly turned off. It was a new moon and it went pitch Black. Luckily my son was leading the race and used flashes from a tow truck and other track vehicle lights to stay out of the wall and out of trouble. Another Example is sudden rain, On slicks you go from just in control to out of control in just feet.

The water is a constant variable. Anytime you take a boat to the edge of control you are "ALREADY" out of control just because of the variables of the waters surface.  I lost a friend to a third wave that could not have been anticipated. Stuffed the bow and drove it straight to the bottom. Broke his neck. 

I hope some that like to go fast read this and think about how fast they are going and what space they are in and what the water COULD throw at them in an instant. Pick your time and place and keep it fun and not fatal.

 

jh141 , wow that was fun catching up on some old south Florida Hialeah speedway crazy times . Small world . Growing up and racing at the speedways during the 70’s and 80’s in south Florida was a fun time but I never want to duplicate and go back to . Had to be the craziest place to be at that time . Everything was moving at record breaking speeds . That was a wide open throttle couple of decades and may be the reason for all of today’s rules and laws . There where not any limits on anything we did . But in today’s world the water is so crowded with way more boats and people . The way we did things back than is why we have speed limits , fish limits, restricted no motor areas , we all need to slow down and take care of ourselves , each other and are environment . People that have known me for years know that I did not always speak this way . When I say slow down and enjoy the moment they are saying I never did . It took me a long time to figure it out but there is more to see and enjoy than going fast . Slow down and take care of what we have it will help keep you the environment and your equipment around a lot longer . Joe  R 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/20/2021 at 9:48 AM, dabear said:

Shake and bake . 

If you ain't first your last !!!  Seriously,  Ask linesider about speed, he had that stealth with the 400R hitting 89!!! at that time I thought to myself holy 5h!t...he's flying....I travel I-85 everyday at 85-90 just to keep pace with everyone.  That speed on water makes water feel like concrete when you hit it and makes you feel like your doing 140....I am glad my boat peaks at 45....

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The turns in that creek are pretty wide as is the creek itself but a couple of places can be somewhat blind if you are going really fast.  I don't think there is a  speed limit posted in there and it handles huge boats drafting 2' and 3'+ throwing big wakes routinely.  There probably should be a speed limit in there of 25 or 30 which would provide enough time to react.  Most of the boats I  see running in there are really moving at 30 to 35 I would estimate including the big Center Consoles.  Obviously operator error and poor judgement running much faster than most in there.  There were wide open areas to run fast on either side of the creek.  Some people can't wait 60 seconds to get to the next passing zone on the stretch and this was probably similar.  Over exuberance with a new speed rig.  Tragic and surprising given the boaters age.   

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