We Could Have Died! Thank You Lord For Allowing Us Another Day.

What not to do while boating! I’m going to explain this in detail for those that don’t know the proper procedures while boating, everyone else, especially if you own a boat will realize what a series of stupid mistakes I made today, and I sure made plenty. First, keep both hands on the wheel and be ready in a split second with your right hand to pull the throttles off if need be. Don’t get distracted, keep your head on a swivel and be prepared to make quick decisions. Never go into a bend in a river under full power. If you encounter another boat in the opposite direction, you’re both producing a wake and you enter that wake at a 45° angle with reduced power! The bigger the boat, the bigger the wake will be. Mistake #1, I was making a video for my YouTube channel while driving the boat, my left hand was holding the camera and my right hand on the steering wheel. Mistake #2, I was under full power while entering a bend in the river. Mistake #3, I pointed the camera at my console which also meant my head was looking down and at the console, which made me distracted obviously. Mistake #4, knowing in my mind I was entering this bend in the river, my hand brought the camera back up, but my head stayed down and my eyes on the console looking at my RPM’s, which I noticed were not the same between both engines. When I did bring my head up and my eyes forward where they should have been in the first place there was the other boat! Now the proper action would be to reduce the throttles and steer 45 degrees into the wake of the other boat. But remember mistake #1? The hand needed to pull the throttle’s back is holding the wheel because there’s a camera in the left hand that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. If I had let go of the wheel the boat would have come out of the turn and we would’ve collided with the other boat. I should have dropped the camera and grabbed the wheel with that hand and pulled the throttles back with the right hand, well that didn’t happen. Due to the size and speed of the other boat he was producing a very big wake and I hit it under full power, in a right-hand turn in the bend, and too late to hit his wake at a 45-degree angle under reduced power. This action sent my boat airborne…not once but twice! When I hit the water, it was with some serious force compressing my spine, the camera flying out of my left hand, my right hand coming off the steering, and my ass and feet going in the air. The only good thing that came out of this incident is me and my son who was with me are going to live to boat another day, and my son’s doughnuts he was eating did not fly out of the boat LOL. He was very concerned about those doughnuts! Accidents are going to happen, that’s part of life. I’ve had plenty of accidents in my 62 years while flying, skydiving, SCUBA diving, motorcycle riding, driving a car, and now boating. But this accident was 100% preventable. I only hope that by sharing my story and this video, it keeps someone else from getting hurt or worse.

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SSG. Douglas M. Ducote Sr.
United States Army (Ret.)
Veteran Law Enforcement Officer
Host of The Doug Ducote Show

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