bertram31.com

I have been actively boating for over 40 years. In my much younger years most of the accidents that I heard of was people falling out of their boat.....but rarely, and I mean rarely, did you EVER hear of 2 boats colliding.

I know that the boats are much faster today than in the day when I blasted up and down the bay in a plywood boat with a 5.5 SeaHorse...and there is more traffic....but I wonder if there were a lot more accidents back then that we just did not hear about.

With modern communication methods I wonder if the News Media are simply able to broadcast more of the accidents than ever before.

At any rate its really sad that someone would loose their life trying to enjoy a weekend on the water......to me boating is one of lifes greatest pleasures....

The people killed in the accident in Fort Walton Florida are actually from a small town about 5 miles north of the town in which I live......and of course Fort Walton is only about 75 miles to the East of me...just east of Pensacola

http://www.wkrg.com/alabama/article/dap ... _11-13-pm/

As I clicked paste it occured to me that I just participated in this Modern Communication that I spoke about above

Harry

Harry, I think you are correct in assuming it is a combination of everything.

Boats are going faster out of the box, so you have "Yahoo'S" with no experience flying around without a clue.

The world has gotten so much smaller with Satellite news being able to cover incidents around the worlds, never mind the Country. If a story is able to get a few extra viewers it will get picked up.

With the Internet...now you get every Clip that Tom, Dick and "Harry" (Pun Intended) find even the slightest bit interesting posted. For the record...I like your links and posts...

I get a link to Maritime News... first time I looked through it I couldn't believe what I was reading and seeing. Shipping accidents galore, from groundings and spills to collisions and mishaps when unloading. I assumed there was a few of them here and there, some we did not hear about...but Holy Poo-Pee it seemed to be almost a daily occurrence, especially overseas.


Then again what do I know...

Other possible contributing factors (my observations):

1. People paying attention to their electronics rather than their surroundings
2. Ignorance of the rules of the road
3. Macho mentality as it pertains to right of way
4. Alcohol
5. An ill advised willingness to pass/operate in close proximity to other boats