I will keep air horn on kayak from now on.
Nothing short of a nuke would have gotten his attention.
Maybe the $372,500 lawsuit filed will get Mr. Larsen’s attention - and that’s just the first one filed. Maybe the first crash involving cell phone use while driving a boat?
I doubt that is first lawsuit. Amount seems cheap for what they went through.
@PaddleDog52 said:
I doubt that is first lawsuit. Amount seems cheap for what they went through.
That one was filed by the off-duty police officer on board. The boat owner’s suit will be for much more.
Poetic justice would have been the police officer arresting the goon who ran them down.
One would think this sort of thing would be very rare, but I know of two such incidents where boats were run over by other boats. In both cases, the boat that was run over was either anchored, or sitting still. Also in both cases, it was a fishing guide boat that did the run-over–not the same one. Coincidentally, one of these was also on the Columbia River.
The Columbia is where I do most of my paddling and have been doing it for a very long time with only one close call. I nearly was run over by an 80’ fishing boat when I looked down at my paddle for no more than 5 seconds while adjusting the feather angle. The only thing that saved me was the sound of the engine suddenly close and a very quick reflex action on my part. I looked up just in time to see the bow of the 80 footer about to ram me mid-beam. There was no time to think and luckily, my reaction was to grab a chunk of water with my paddle to propel me forward just far enough. When I looked up at the wheelhouse, the idiot wasn’t even steering the boat. He–a very aged looking codger with a footlong beard–was standing outside by the rail. He started waving his arms and yelling something, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of his noisy engine–thank you very much.
I had a very strong urge to present him with a one finger salute, but I thought better of it, since I knew very well l couldn’t outrun his noisy old clunker of a boat.
@magooch said:
One would think this sort of thing would be very rare, but I know of two such incidents where boats were run over by other boats. In both cases, the boat that was run over was either anchored, or sitting still. Also in both cases, it was a fishing guide boat that did the run-over–not the same one. Coincidentally, one of these was also on the Columbia River.The Columbia is where I do most of my paddling and have been doing it for a very long time with only one close call. I nearly was run over by an 80’ fishing boat when I looked down at my paddle for no more than 5 seconds while adjusting the feather angle. The only thing that saved me was the sound of the engine suddenly close and a very quick reflex action on my part. I looked up just in time to see the bow of the 80 footer about to ram me mid-beam. There was no time to think and luckily, my reaction was to grab a chunk of water with my paddle to propel me forward just far enough. When I looked up at the wheelhouse, the idiot wasn’t even steering the boat. He–a very aged looking codger with a footlong beard–was standing outside by the rail. He started waving his arms and yelling something, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of his noisy engine–thank you very much.
I had a very strong urge to present him with a one finger salute, but I thought better of it, since I knew very well l couldn’t outrun his noisy old clunker of a boat.
Should of filed a complain with CG
I like my new GoPro I need to just tell GoPro record. I do it if I see a boat near me just in case.
You don’t have to be small to not be seen. Don’t forget this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtZJ__8PVDU
@Peter-CA said:
You don’t have to be small to not be seen. Don’t forget this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtZJ__8PVDU
Autopilot on and the captain sleeping or otherwise preoccupied?
I was hit by University of Michigan skull crews on two different occasions. Actually no hull to hull contact, I just had to deflect their oars with my paddle. Saw them coming a long ways off but they zig zag so can be hard to anticipate. I didn’t file a complaint but probably should have. Carrying an air horn is a good idea!
My brother ran over another boat, sort of.
His broke down and a good Samaritan offered him a tow. It was going fine until the towing boat ran aground on a sandbar, which parked my brother’s boat in the other.
The damage was not as extensive as the video and no one was injured.
Well the idiot says he shouldn’t be sued as they weren’t injured badly. I guess he thinks he is the victim here now that he is being sued. Whine, Whine!
He is also apparently being charged with not keeping a proper watch, and traveling at an unsafe speed. However the boat that was hit also should have sounded their air horn. Though I doubt it would have penetrated the self indulgent fog of the idiot driving at breakneck speed without paying attention to what was right in front of him.
@Rookie said:
@Peter-CA said:
You don’t have to be small to not be seen. Don’t forget this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtZJ__8PVDUAutopilot on and the captain sleeping or otherwise preoccupied?
Supposedly the captain was in the head. But I believe the name of the motor boat was “Nap Tyme”…
@castoff said:
Well the idiot says he shouldn’t be sued as they weren’t injured badly. I guess he thinks he is the victim here now that he is being sued. Whine, Whine!
He is also apparently being charged with not keeping a proper watch, and traveling at an unsafe speed. However the boat that was hit also should have sounded their air horn. Though I doubt it would have penetrated the self indulgent fog of the idiot driving at breakneck speed without paying attention to what was right in front of him.
Uh oh! Your conservative side is showing.
l Am well balanced with both sides being thoughtfully considered. Not a lopsided ideologist with an unbalanced view that falls flat in practice.
I am not a fan of law suits, but given this guys attitude. I am not against transferring the pain and suffering. He needs to learn responsibility form this act of negligence. As I pointed out an air horn should have been sounded by the boat that got run over, but things happened very quickly once they could tell what was about to happen.
I sure hope the captain lost his boat license, at least for a while. His excuse that he didn’t see the smaller boat is the reason I sold my motorcycle…there are too many folks out there that would run you over and then act annoyed and inconvenienced.
@TomL said:
I sure hope the captain lost his boat license, at least for a while. His excuse that he didn’t see the smaller boat is the reason I sold my motorcycle…there are too many folks out there that would run you over and then act annoyed and inconvenienced.
A bit more about the back story:
"Clatsop County sheriff’s deputies accused boat driver Marlin Lee Larsen of several crimes after the 75-year-old told investigators he couldn’t see where he was driving because he was sitting down and the dash of his boat was blocking his view. Larsen said he probably should have been standing, according to the sheriff’s report, which notes Larsen uses a motorized scooter to get around on land.
“Larsen’s son-in-law, who also was on the boat, told investigators that he had warned his father-in-law to pay attention, that he sometimes sees his father-in-law using his cell phone while driving the boat and that his father-in-law had been off-and-on his cell phone the morning of the crash, according to the sheriff’s report.”
Larsen’s boat is 31-feet. Oregon apparently just requires boaters to attend a safety course and carry a boater’s education card. Am guessing his marine policy premium went up quite a bit.
I think power boats are a real danger because most operators are sitting down and when the boat is planing, they can’t see what’s directly in front of them. Maybe my idea of flying helium balloon attached to the stern isn’t so crazy after all on some busy lakes and rivers.
@Rookie said:
“Maybe my idea of flying helium balloon attached to the stern isn’t so crazy after all on some busy lakes and rivers.”
Heck if they even saw it they would then be looking up instead of where they were going! I had heard an early report that he was on a cell phone.
“the 75-year-old told investigators he couldn’t see where he was driving because he was sitting down and the dash of his boat was blocking his view.”
Wow, how irresponsible for both of them to be sitting down. I guess it is more important to be comfortable than to be concerned about hitting another boater. I take it from that statement that he did this often when running his 31 foot power boat wide open. If the son-in-law thought the old man should be watching and wasn’t, then I have to ask why he didn’t stand watch? I certainly would have.
Maybe the boat that got hit should have tried their horn after all one of the two in the other boat might have heard it.