Teenager saves runaway boat

Years back I pulled a guy out of the water whose boat was running in circles. He said it was almost out of gas so we chose to sit and watch it. Someone on shore had called the fire dept. and they called some young lifeguards on a jet ski. They decided they were going to go over and one would jump in the boat. I told them not to be stupid and risk injury over a boat going nowhere and about to run out of gas. The safest solution if you have to stop the boat is to drag a floating poly rope in a loop around the boat until the rope gets caught by the prop, wraps ups, and engine dies. Don't be stupid...
 
"Dead man switch" lanyards have been around for decades. The instructor should have been demonstrating proper operation, esp. during single handed operation. ( The very scenario the lanyards were mandated to prevent. )

IF there is no one in the water, patience or floating line are good choices. I would not suggest jumping aboar unless there was one or more peeps in the water. ( At which time I might consider it, )

Glad he's OK.
 
getakey said:
Good kid. Saw in another article that he is joining the Navy

www.wdbj7.com

Teen stops runaway boat after sailing lesson goes wrong: 'I would do it again'

The 17-year-old jumped onto a boat that was going in circles on a lake after the captain fell overboard.
www.wdbj7.com www.wdbj7.com
Click to expand...

That site is a link bomb...try this on instead.

www.wmur.com

Teen jumps onto runaway boat, stopping it on Lake Winnipesaukee after captain falls overboard

A teenager jumped onto a runaway boat that was going in circles on Lake Winnipesaukee after the captain fell overboard.
www.wmur.com www.wmur.com

He's a NH kid, of course...
 
Since we are a boater education site we should always point out unsafe boating actions. As Radioactive pointed out this starts with not using a kill-switch. It followed up with a well meaning, yes successful, action that was very unsafe. We should point out that the jumper easily could have ended up making the situation worse by injuring himself, falling overboard risking being hit by boat/prop, causing the boat to change direction and hitting someone else, etc. There was no reason to take a risky action regardless of how well meaning.
 
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