Video: How not to load your jet ski, Stationmaster!

[Reckers]

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/14/video-perhaps-this-isnt-the-best-way-to-load-your-jet-ski/#continued

[tjcruiser]

Some years ago I happened on a guy backing an empty trailer down a boat ramp. He was driving a brand new, high end Mercedes sedan. He was quite keen on getting the trailer well down the ramp, so that it would be easier to recover the small power boat that his friend was operating a hundred yards offshore.

Well, the guy had his head out the window, looking towards the trailer, and he kept backing up and backing up. To the point where the car's rear bumper became submerged ... then the trunk ... then the entire rear section ... to the point where it all became buoyant, and floated up a bit, lifting the rear wheels of the car off of the ramp.

The guy, upon seeing this, put the car into Forward, and stepped on the gas. The floating rear tires spun away, but didn't have traction, of course. By this time, the weight of the trailer is pulling the car further and further down the ramp into the water. So, the guy yanks on the emergency brake, hoping that would stop the pending disaster. But the emergency brake is tied into the rear wheels, of course ... the floating / spinning rear wheels.

Gravity then takes fully over, and in about 60 seconds, the trailer tugs the car 50 yards offshore where it floated for a few lingering seconds, then sank to the bottom like a rock. Fortunately, the water was somewhat shallow, and the roof of the car (with sunroof opening) stayed high and dry.

The "genius" inside is a bit shocked, of course, but manages not to delve into full-on panic. He tries to open his car door, but water pressure prevents that. So, he cranks open the sunroof, shimmies up and out through the opening, and manages to grab his cell phone just a second or two before it became immersed in the flooding car interior.

All the while, his buddy is watching this "circus show" from the powerboat. He gently throttles forward, nudges into the few inches of exposed car roof, and "rescues" the driver of the car, taking him to shore. The driver makes two phone calls, and I can only surmise that they were to two of the following:

a. His wife.
b. His mistress.
c. His insurance company.

Some moments later, a big moster tow truck with wire hitch arrives, and the recovery ensues. The tow truck driver asks if there are any volunteers from the nearby beach who might graciously swim out and attach a cable-hook to the front bumper of the car. A young guy, in his 20's, does just that. The tow truck driver kicks the winch into gear, but the motor just whines, with no progress on hauling out the car ... The problem is the the front wheels of the submerged car are cocked over at an angle, preventing the car from rolling out easily.

So ... up steps Good Samaritian beachgoer #2 ... a 350 pound woman who swims out to the car, and shoehorns her torsoe down through the open sunroof to grab the steering wheel and turn the car wheels back into alignment. But to do this, of course, she's standing on the submerged hood of the car.

(At that point, the car interior was fully flooded, and the driver door would have easily opened, should anyone have thought to try!)

Anyway, wheels aligned, the tow truck driver proceeds to haul out car & trailer. Gallons and gallons of water whoosh out from the interior, as 6 or 7 350-pound dents on the hood glisten in the sun.

That's the last I saw of the whole situation. I never heard what happend next to the driver, his car, his wife, or his mistress.

TJ

[tjcruiser]

And then there's this infamous knucklehead ...

http://www.guzer.com/pictures/bad-boat-launch.jpg

[Reckers]

Great stories, TJ! By the way, the story everyone has heard about the poorly-performing boat that still had the trailer attached, cruising the lake? According to Snopes, there actually was such an incident! They didn't have to dive under to see what the problem was: the trailer's license plate was clearly visible.

[flyboy2610]

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/14/video-perhaps-this-isnt-the-best-way-to-load-your-jet-ski/#continued

Here, Bubba! Hold my beer and watch THIS!!

[Reckers]

*LOL* Fer real! The most common last words of the American redneck: "Hey, y'all! Watch this!!!"

[tjcruiser]

And if Bubba does somehow (miraculously) manage to leave the dock, he might just end up doing this:

http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/04/crash/full.jpg

Notice the name of the boat ... "Temporary Insanity II" :laugh::eek::laugh:

[x_doug_x]

i dunno, but neither video link works. says they been removed. if you guys find them somewhere else, will you post them? i was curious to see what was up lol

[big ed]

i dunno, but neither video link works. says they been removed. if you guys find them somewhere else, will you post them? i was curious to see what was up lol



The first link still worked for me.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/14/video-perhaps-this-isnt-the-best-way-to-load-your-jet-ski/#continued

[Reckers]

Ed, the big event here is driving your boat over the dam. The Ohio River has a hydroelectrid dam just west of downtown Louisville. Every year, Louisville has some major fireworks events at night and a huge air show over the river. Boaters come from all over to anchor for the day and watch...and drink.
To go home downstream means steering to the port side when you hit downtown and follow the shoreline to the locks and let them take you around the dam. When the pool is full, incidentally, the water level is pretty much at the same level as the top of the dam. Every few years, some dummy drinks too much, goes booming downstream in the dark and WHAM!!!!!, hits the dam and rips the bottom out of his boat, hopefully without tumbling down the other side. It's always some guy named Bubba!

[Reckers]

i dunno, but neither video link works. says they been removed. if you guys find them somewhere else, will you post them? i was curious to see what was up lol

I jsut tested the link and it came up, Doug....might be a pc hiccup.

[big ed]

Ed, the big event here is driving your boat over the dam. The Ohio River has a hydroelectrid dam just west of downtown Louisville. Every year, Louisville has some major fireworks events at night and a huge air show over the river. Boaters come from all over to anchor for the day and watch...and drink.
To go home downstream means steering to the port side when you hit downtown and follow the shoreline to the locks and let them take you around the dam. When the pool is full, incidentally, the water level is pretty much at the same level as the top of the dam. Every few years, some dummy drinks too much, goes booming downstream in the dark and WHAM!!!!!, hits the dam and rips the bottom out of his boat, hopefully without tumbling down the other side. It's always some guy named Bubba!


Most of the dams are well marked too.
DUH.....Bubba!:laugh:

[x_doug_x]

yea i got it and seen the picture lmao. what a fool... theres a video on there though and it says it's been removed.

[Reckers]

Doug, my bad---I just clicked it and got the pic, assumed it was working.

Ed, you're right---going over a dam AFTER YOU WENT THROUGH THE LOCKS TO GET THERE, EARLIER IN THE DAY is a double-Bubba! *LOL*

[x_doug_x]

Doug, my bad---I just clicked it and got the pic, assumed it was working.

Ed, you're right---going over a dam AFTER YOU WENT THROUGH THE LOCKS TO GET THERE, EARLIER IN THE DAY is a double-Bubba! *LOL*

i crossed the ohio river about 40 times the week before last, that's a wide river. i'm sure some people might be literally flying up the river as well...
had family in cincinatti and family in convington? i believe those are the 2 rite accrossed the bridge from eachother.

either way on my way to covington from cincinatti i had to cross the river 3 times just to get back to ky. lol they said that was the quickest way back though.

[Reckers]

They are, and the river is relatively narrow, up there. *L* Down here in Louisville, it's a mile wide with the canal and locks on the KY side. Immediately below the dam is the Falls of the Ohio, which is sort of misleading---a limestone shelf that created impassable rapids unless you were in a canoe or very shallow-draft boat. The funny part is that they either put the boat in upstream earlier in the day, then got turned around and took off downstream in the dark...or put the boat in downstream and had to come through the locks to get to the fireworks and air show. Louisville is not huge but it has a distinctive skline, even at night; the Indiana side has smaller towns and a much more modest skyline. How can you mix the two up when you start home? I guess the answer is that final blurb in the article: "Police suspect alcohol may have been involved."

[x_doug_x]

lmao, some people are morons...

[Reckers]

Double-Bubba morons. There is an island on the south side of the river that makes up one side of the locks. It has a huge, floodlit yellow sign that says "CANAL ENTRANCE" and points left. Invariably, some drunk goes to the right.....kerplunk!!!

[tjcruiser]

Driving a boat over the dam?

"Damn ... I hate when that happens ... damn, damn, damn!"

(Dohh!)