We had a very peaceful evening onboard “No Tan Lines” on Tuesday night. It was a bit muggy so we had the air conditioner running. That means we can’t hear the downtown noises. Seven nights a week, people enjoy beautiful downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida – dining, drinking, dancing, drinking, walking, drinking, etc. But, like I said, it was a Tuesday night and things seemed pretty tame.
So, we were pretty shocked this morning when we discovered this:
Nobody on the dock knows what happened (yet) but, having owned three boats, and having been around enough late-night boaters, I could figure it out pretty quickly. When I’m bored, and since I’m a writer, I sometimes make up stories in my head about strangers and this was a fun opportunity to do so!
Here’s my theory:
Boastful Brad (who’s a trust fund brat) was either at the Rays game, or partying it up downtown last night.
He slurringly told his buddies they should take the boat out. “Izza bootyful naught, dudes! Lez partee on the waturrrr!!!”
They all got on board and he probably put a few whiskey bumps on the sides getting out of his slip.
He fell backwards into the captains chair after miraculously finding the throttle with his fumbling right hand, and lurching forward.
After rounding the last dock in the marina, he forgot there’s an actual channel to the left of the jetty, and revved it up high to get straight into the open bay.
Aaaaaand, that’s when Brad and his buddies went airborne.
The local news was sparse on facts but here’s what they reported:
The guy’s name wasn’t Brad. (I won’t name him here.)
He was in the boat with a woman.
They called 9-1-1 after going airborne.
They were both hospitalized.
No other information is available at this time but I’m willing to bet alcohol was a factor. Most sober people don’t take a small motorboat (that boat was only 19 feet) out on the open bay after 10:00 p.m., especially after a day of wind and rain, with more in the forecast.
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Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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Back when I had my boat they brought in a 50′ motor yacht with a huge hole in the bow. The story that came with it was that the owner and his girl of the week had gone out to the island. They were drinking heavy on the return trip and got frisky. He set the autopilot and they went below to relieve their tension. They either were in mid coitus or fell asleep after and it plowed into the seawall at full speed. That they made it to the seawall is rather amazing since this is Los Angeles / San Pedro harbor and the channel between Catalina and LA has a huge amount of traffic. Neither of them were hurt but the yacht was a total loss after sinking. It was brought to the yard after someone bought it as a recovery.
HOLY COW!!!
And, how stupid could they be?!?!
Thanks for sharing that extremely interesting tidbit, James!! 😉
Angela