Am i a Jerk?

That’s a tough one….. two options in any situation like that ….say something or don’t. I wouldn’t give it a second thought in either option
 
jgoedd99 said:
Yesterday at the local raft up place, a 30 or so foot newer Sea Ray open bow boat with 7 or so people on it is idling through the anchored boats looking for a place to anchor. They are about 30 feet from us, and i see two kids on a tube being towed behind the boat. They have 4 or 5 feet or so of rope out, so the tube is about 4 feet behind the boat. So you have a boat full of adults looking to anchor, boat in gear moving slowly through a crowded area. No one is really looking at the kids. Water is 4 feet deep. I can't believe what i am seeing.

NOW, wait for it, he decides to back up. So now the boat is in reverse gear, and the tube with the two kids on it is up against the swim platform and a little bit of the tube is actually under the swim platform. I can't see the rope but i know there is 4 feet or so of rope there somewhere. All i can think is that the prop will grab the rope pull the tube down and "feed" the kids to the prop. I start screaming at the operator to shut the engine off. And they start arguing with me as they continue to back up. Finally one of the women gets the kids off the tube, and they proceed to tell me how much of an ass i am. One even commented "Drink your beer asshole" implying that since i had a beer in hand (actually it was a margarita) i clearly was drunk and should mind my own business.

I was very shaken by this incident, and it took about a half hour for me to calm down and my heart stop beating like a drum. My heart is pounding as i write this.

The only thing that saved those kids was that it was a poly rope that apparently was floating. If that rope was a dock line and it sunk, it would have been a mess.
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Personally....I think you did the right thing and thank you for doing so. I am a retired Safety and Compliance Officer and a active USCG captain and like you, I cant believe what I see on the water some times!

There was a very good chance that something horrible could have happened and you did what most people would do.

In this world (now more than ever) we need to look out for each other.....thank you.
 
jgoedd99 said:
Yesterday at the local raft up place, a 30 or so foot newer Sea Ray open bow boat with 7 or so people on it is idling through the anchored boats looking for a place to anchor. They are about 30 feet from us, and i see two kids on a tube being towed behind the boat. They have 4 or 5 feet or so of rope out, so the tube is about 4 feet behind the boat. So you have a boat full of adults looking to anchor, boat in gear moving slowly through a crowded area. No one is really looking at the kids. Water is 4 feet deep. I can't believe what i am seeing.

NOW, wait for it, he decides to back up. So now the boat is in reverse gear, and the tube with the two kids on it is up against the swim platform and a little bit of the tube is actually under the swim platform. I can't see the rope but i know there is 4 feet or so of rope there somewhere. All i can think is that the prop will grab the rope pull the tube down and "feed" the kids to the prop. I start screaming at the operator to shut the engine off. And they start arguing with me as they continue to back up. Finally one of the women gets the kids off the tube, and they proceed to tell me how much of an ass i am. One even commented "Drink your beer asshole" implying that since i had a beer in hand (actually it was a margarita) i clearly was drunk and should mind my own business.

I was very shaken by this incident, and it took about a half hour for me to calm down and my heart stop beating like a drum. My heart is pounding as i write this.

The only thing that saved those kids was that it was a poly rope that apparently was floating. If that rope was a dock line and it sunk, it would have been a mess.
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You were absolutely right. I see this sort of stuff all the time. People just think that they can do whatever they want until it's too late.
 
This past weekend I was running through a busy channel at about 23 knots, when I saw two different boats pulling kids on tubes. I sped up and passed the first guy way out to his port side so that I wouldn't run his kids over, should they have fallen off and he got pissed that I passed him. I pulled up to the other guy, shrugged my shoulders with my palms up and yelled that he was a f@#*ing a**hole and he waved to me.

You can't fix stupid!
 
scoflaw said:
I stopped with telling people what to do, because of the exact same thing that OP did. People resent advice from strangers.
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You can’t tell anyone anything anymore. Heck, drivers be on social media at a stoplight, tap the horn to wake them up and you get the bird or worse…
 
MonacoMike said:
You can’t tell anyone anything anymore. Heck, drivers be on social media at a stoplight, tap the horn to wake them up and you get the bird or worse…
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I have said this before when I go home I have to turn left while on a one way at a red light onto another one way ….I have honked…. Driven up the shoulder and told them….. and been told to Phuck off every which way…. Even went to the city to have them put up a sign and they never responded….. problem is it’s a really long light…. I’m not giving up my horn still works :)
 
Absolutely the right thing. You'll never know, but you may very well have saved some innocent child from being maimed or losing their life.

I never let assholes discourage me from doing the right thing.
 
It's a shame these days watching the mayhem on the water. All it takes is money to have a boat and zero brains or skill. Doesn't matter the size of the boat or age of the operator. I for one believe that operating a boat should require a license just like a car with a renewal test by qualified captain / tester on board. Some how we got to get the idiots off the water. There is rarely a day that I'm not taking evasive action to keep form getting cut off, run into, or run over. The last one was following me so close that when he cut out of the wake he lost control and missed my boat by about a foot.
I reported and caught up with him in the river and had a discussion with him. He and his buds thought it was funny. Not so much when the sheriff pulled up. I suspect they were wasted. I see boats going down the wrong side of the river, no concept for proper passing another boat, pulling skiers or tubes with no observer, not giving way to freighter traffic where the captain is send off warning signals. It a clueless bunch of idiots. Its a shame because boaters used to be a group of highly respected, well trained people. In the past offering advice to newbies was much appreciated. Now you get told to F off even though life is at stake. Good job intervening even though they had no idea how close those kids came to dying or extreme injuries. Only A-hole was driving the other boat.
 
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