Seriously, how can a boat parade go so wrong?

[pepperbear]

Authorities have ruled out foul play, and a lot of them were really nice mini yachts and cabin cruisers.

Here's hoping it's a harbinger of things to come for trump's presidency

[Srkdqltr]

1. Lots of boats, lots of liquor, lots of entitlement. Bad combo.

No common sense.

[SheltieLover]

2. Drunken stupidity & ego centrism?

Cannot find any duis reported thou.

[MontanaMama]

3. Because they're a bunch of stupid people

with no care for anyone other than themselves...big boats caused problems for smaller boats and a little bit of it was weather related. What a ridiculous event. I haven’t laughed as hard as I did yesterday in a long time.

[2naSalit]

10. It sure was the comedy of the day...

My sister even called to laugh with me!

Can I steal your "ridin' with Biden thingy in your sig line?

[MontanaMama]

35. Of course!

I think I found on the google machine.

[2naSalit]

45. Cool! Thanks!

[CanonRay]

12. It was one of my favorite days this

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Lots of probably drunk, rich assholes driving their big fat boats too fast and too close to smaller boats, oblivious to the fact that they were swamping them with their wake. They violated every single one of the Coat Guard rules relating to watercraft.

[pepperbear]

8. Ok that makes sense.

[fescuerescue]

36. So basically the same as every other day on the water

Seriously that sounds like every summer day on the ICW.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. Pretty much, in some places.

I sail, and we are regularly subjected to oblivious assholery from douchebags in large, noisy power boats who don't seem to understand that there are rules of the road for water, too, and that one of them is that a boat under sail has the right of way over boats under power. Don't get me started.

[Mariana]

5. Republican assholes in huge boats going way too fast

while they were way too close to the smaller boats.

[Skittles]

6. LOL

Texas repukes, that's how

[Thomas Hurt]

7. The perfect metaphor for the Trump admin....

[Proud Liberal Dem]

42. That was my first thought when I heard about this

At least nobody got hurt doing this. Wish we could say more about the last 4 years for a lot of people in the country harmed by this madman.

[DinahMoeHum]

9. Lack of planning, on ALL levels.

1) Piss-poor registration procedures in preparation for the parade.

2) Possibly little or no proficiency checks for the vessel skippers beforehand (see item 1)

2) Too many vessels. (again see item 1)

4) No sense of order as to when and where vessels were placed to start the parade (Ideally, one would start with the smaller vessels and work up to the largest, to avoid the issue of wakes swamping the smaller vessels) There would also be a limit on speed.

4) No sense of discipline among the vessel skippers as to proceding at certain speeds.

5) Very few participants seemed to be wearing PFDs (personal flotation devices)

6) Possible issues of alcohol consumption.

7) Seems to me very few, if any, participants were members of US Coast Guard Auxiliary or US Power Squadrons, who would have an understanding of the aforementioned.


The above items are just a few of the things that came to mind for me.
Feel free to correct, clarify or add.

The participants were damned lucky nobody got severely injured or killed.

[Grokenstein]

20. In short: FREEDUMMMMMMM!!!1!

[ms liberty]

33. All this. n/t

[Beartracks]

11. Wait - Why did they even have to rule out foul play?

Lots of boats, different sizes, different speeds, beer, and a lot of people who think owning a boat makes you a Navy admiral (like owning guns makes you Rambo). Seems like an open and shut case of Amateur Day at the lake.

=========

[CanonRay]

13. Classic Libertarian free for all

Survival of the biggest

[mercuryblues]

14. you have big boats, with big engines

that cost a lot of money. You have small boats, with small engines, that even though they cost a pretty penny, they did not cost as much as those larger entitled boats. Now cram as many people on those small boats that they will hold, add tons of flags and coolers. The weight lowers the boats in the water. It also creates a drag on the motor, it can't go as fast as it can.

The big boats, that can hold more weight and have a larger motor, were going fast and creating large wakes in their stead. Those small boats could not handle it, already being above the weight limit. You know, cause no gov'mint is going to tell them how many people to have on a boat. The waves tilted the boats and pushed water into the boats, sinking them.

The irony is, there were too many boats and there is no way to tell which boats were speeding and causing the waves. The rich people on those nice big boats, sailed off into the sunset, while the people on the small boats sunk.

[KentuckyWoman]

40. THIS

I have seen it on other lakes on holiday weekends.

Your description is exactly it. Surprised there weren't more.

[madamesilverspurs]

15. Way too many

boat owners who aren't qualified boat operators.

As in, "I can drive a car fer cryin' out loud, of course I can drive a damn boat."

Chances are there was more than one utterance of "Where's the brakes on this thing?!"

And there probably wasn't one of them who could tell you about the "stand on vessel".

Rules? What rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules!

I'm saving my pity for the fish in the lake.

Sheesh.

.

[tanyev]

16. Boater suppression!

[JI7]

17. It was similar to how they treat wearing Masks

From what others said the larger boats going fast caused the problems. So instead of people controlling how fast they go in order to keep everyone afloat you had people do what they wanted and then you got what happened.

[sheshe2]

18. It is the worst trip I have ever been on...

[3catwoman3]

22. Great song.

One of the things I like about this song is that the harmony is easy to sing along with.

[littlemissmartypants]

26. Makes me think of someone dying and going to heaven. nt

[Grokenstein]

19. Willful ignorance, arrogance and entitlement.

It will lead one off the edge of the cliff every time.

[Initech]

21. It's those damn soup cans! Those things have more force than a brick!

They can sink boats, you know!

[Grokenstein]

23. "A rising tide lifts all boats" but

...then some asshole in a huge yacht comes along and swamps yer ass.

It's an even better metaphor than I thought!

[Acornsouth]

24. Letters from The Battle Of Lake Travis

My Dearest Wife Karen,

I am writing you to let you know how our battle went....

We set sail at dawn, knowing that we might encounter the enemy, ANTIFA. As we sailed down the huge lake, with our flotilla, every thing was going as planed, when all of a sudden, out of know where, boats began to sink.

Battle Stations Alarms started going off every where, as we were not able to locate the enemy. One by one, they sank!... I saw many of my fellow comrades abandon their ships only to be picked up by fellow flotilla. They had the horrors of war on their faces! Many people survive, but many flags and boats did not.

We could not have foreseen the great attack upon our flotilla, as the ANTIFA subs surrounded us, we could not locate them. One of the crew members on our boat, swore that he seen one right under us, but no sonar contact was seen. These ANTIFA monsters knew what they were doing. With gas floating in the water, we were able to not catch fire. We did have one ship burn to the water line, but that was caused by unexplained gas coming from their captain and someone lite a "joint" which caused the explosion!.... It was horrible!

I know that this sounds grim, but we are still in high spirts, as we honor the dead boats and flags that now sit on the bottom of Lake Travis.... Please pray for our souls as we continue to search for the enemy!

Your Loving Husband,

Chad, Captain of the "Whores Galore's"

[pepperbear]

46. ,,,

[jg10003]

25. Fort Lauderdale has a christmas boat parade every year with no problems

Dozens of boats, including many mega-yachts, nobody sinks.

[BainsBane]

27. I think it's different in a lake

from the ocean. Wakes form more easily in lakes, I'm guessing.
Plus the Fort Lauderdale parade is probably regulated, less of a drunken free for all.
I'm also guessing that people who take boats into the ocean have to know what they are doing or they die fast.

[jg10003]

28. Wakes on the intercoastal can be high, especially when a 200 foot yacht passes by.

True, the parade is organized by Broward County with corporate sponsors. But the boats are owned and operated by private citizens. Anyone with a boat can participate. But I'm sure the average Fort Lauderdale boat owner knows way more then the yahoos on that lake

BTW I saw a 53 foot yacht and some aft-cabin cruisers that were at least 37 feet on that lake. These are boats people use to cruise the Bahamas or the entire length of the intercoastal. It seems strange to have a yacht on a small inland lake.

[Phoenix61]

31. Lake Travis is 60 miles long and 4.5 miles wide

at its widest point and covers 19,000 acres. Plus lots of money in that area.

[BainsBane]

32. an over sized boat

is exactly what a Republican asshole would have.

[KT2000]

29. the pics I saw showed

large people gathered at the back of their boats, weighing it down to the water level. It looked like it wouldn't take much to swamp a boat like that.

[TeamPooka]

30. How many Trump supporters does it take to screw up a boat parade?...

None! It was the Deep Water State that did it!

[JHB]

34. It wuz the screen doors, what got 'em

[Baitball Blogger]

38. Someone who if familiar with the man-made lakes in that area said

that wakes are a hazard. They stopped taking their small boat to the lake for that very reason. So, it was a known peril.

[Kid Berwyn]

39. They threw a big wake.

The body was swamped in self pity.

[Hotler]

41. Any boating under the influence citations issued? DUI's apply to watercraft also. nt

[malaise]

43. This happens when folks ignore regulations

and lac discipline - typical MAGAts and as others have stated the perfect metaphor for this kakistocracy.

[MineralMan]

44. It's what happens when you put a bunch of inexperienced people

who don't know the rules of boating on the water at the same time in the same place. Normally, they escape from accidents because there just aren't that many boats out. Then, when they're on a crowded lake, full of alcohol, and still don't know the rules of boating, they crash into each other and some boats end up on the bottom of the lake.

Too many idiots in expensive boats, but without the skills and knowledge they need to operate those boats safely. What could go wrong?