bad day at dana point harbor memorial day 2013 - boat crash 

I can't say a while lot. I distinctly remember one evening coming into that exact marina. Dana Point Marina Company, Dana Island Slip C16. It was the night the entire family learned what prop walk is. Similar vessel. We had a 26ft Chris craft cabin cruiser then. Single screw with tiny rudder. Didn't take long to learn how to use it to your advantage. We practiced in the basin near the fuel dock. I got to where I could spin the boat nearly within its own length.

Every skipper knows that somedays you watch the show and somedays you are the show.

Ladies and gentleman Captain Ray Charles will be piloting your boat today.

All of a sudden I'm in the mood for a big bowl of "Captain Crunch"!

Word has it, he is still trying to dock that boat.

Glad someone actually took a video for insurance claims. This boat operator shouldnt be driving a kayak. It was evident people down the dock were trying to help. I have a large boat and would be grateful of video taken on the dock of events like this. One thing I cant stand is hearing people shout instructions from the dock how to operate their boat. Normally those are the people who never go out anyway. Rock on, and keep the film rolling.

I've watched many inexperienced skippers try to get in a slip and it's always a show, and that's ok. The guy or gal has to hone their skills somehow. But, at the point the skipper is slamming into other boats, repeatedly, it's time for someone on the dock to board the boat and remove him from the helm.

The problem is obvious to any competent boater. He's trying to turn the wrong way. The boat has a right handed prop, meaning it spins clockwise in forward and counterclock in reverse. The torque this produces cannot be made up for by the rudder, especially at low speed and high throttle. You can see when he's gunning it in reverse he's trying to get the stern to turn away from the dock but it simply will not turn that way even with the rudder hard over. He's trying to do a 180 to get back to his slip. If he had just tried to spin it the other way it would easily whip right around.

First off, the people filming should not jump on the dock to help, because there's clearly already several people on the docks helping and too many would be dangerous (overcrowding the dock). Secondly, the driver of the boat should immediately stop everything their doing. Thirdly, if the goal is to turn the boat around, they should hold one of the boat from the dock and run a line from the other end of that boat and PULL it around. Yes, it's a big boat, but weather and water look calm, so manually pulling it around should be fairly simple as long as the skipper gets the hell away from the controls. To me, it looks like the skipper has had a few too many beers.

several things wrong here. One is the captain here has no idea what he's doing and second people instead of watching should be lending a hand.

Somedays you're the bug and somedays you're the windshield. Glad all the people out at the marina jumped in and helped the guy. Just HAS to be Cali.

I worked for a boat dealer in D.P. In the late 80’s & early 90’s and we had a famous Hollywood type that couldn’t dock his boat, he would tie it up at the guest dock, leave a $100.00 bill under a bottle of scotch and call me to “park” his boat for him

Great way to make new friends at the marina.

i witnessed someone have this kind of issue and it turned out the poor guy had just had a stroke and was not able to control his limbs.... times like this are when you need to jump in and help out.....

When my dad was alive we used to to a local busy boat ramp on Sunday evenings. Best show in town.

As a 22’ sailboat seeing that is terrifying. Wish I could say I haven’t seen others like it in person. Wow. Just wow!

the guy hit everything but the lottery

i took out a 23ft starcraft cuddy cabin named "Overcast" at least 50 times (days) all day during the 97 el nino runs, from marina del rey without a reverse. the cable was corroded shut but i couldn't take a risk on missing a day for the yellows. and coming in the wind is always blowing astern. in heavy traffic, ice chest loaded fins everywhere, the beers were never a problem, something about wide open yellow tail prevents effects alcohol to a point. never crashed. never turned around, forward and neutral was all i had. and the hull completely loaded to the gills plus with the trailer was only 3000lbs. in the water it's like a cork. then i fixed the cable. oh and not only that, the brakes on the f250 4x4 wouldn't lock up and i had to stand on the brakes in traffic to keep from rear ending someone. also the right wheel bearing spindle race had grooves in it, so i'd grease it every time just before droppin her in the water, and just before going home and leaving in the mornings, and the wheel only fell off 2 times, wheels are 17 inch too big. once on the way down the 14 fwy around aqua dulce, looked back in the mirror and it was wobbling bad so i pulled over and stopped and it fell off. and another time i was all the way back from cabo trip. and the fwy offramp at my hometown i pulled up to the stop sign and i fell off again, i'd stop every 2 or 3 hundred miles to pump a shot o grease in.

Newbie skipper for sure. See you couldn't help but surprised others on the dock didn't lend a hand. We've all learned the "hard" way. Help, helps!

you can always tell when the guy running the boat doesn't know what he is doing because his wife/girlfriend is usually prepared to try and "fend" the boat off of boats/docks. My favorite idiots of this nature are the ones that are yelling at their wives like it's their fault that they just slammed into a dock or boat. if you have your old lady, or anybody else for that matter, prepared to or attempting to try and fend you off as you are approaching the dock or boat you need to get somebody to teach you how to run a boat. you could see him in the bridge working that wheel like he was driving a truck, he needed to center the rudders and use the clutches to guide it in.

legend has it he is the ONLY pinball wizard that's never stepped foot in an arcade!

hightraverse1 Pay the negative comments no mind, the internet is chock full of keyboard experts and heroes. Don't let them frustrate you. Glad you got this on video and shared it with the rest of us... thank you. Did you ever learn the story behind this guys inability stay clear of these poor peoples docked boats?

That’s always the proper boat introduction.

I am a full time cruiser in a 40' sailboat which is much harder to maneuver than power boats but thankfully other cruisers are such great people that they are waiting for you to throw them your lines when they see you coming. I was in San Diego for several months and yes, nobody cares to give a hand. Its kinda hard to ask someone when your driving 20 tons without brakes and not really in asking distance. Help seems to be there more outside of the USA.

I hope he was held accountable for all the damage he caused, and he should get kicked out of that marina QUICKLY!!

This man must become a sailing school teacher.

Well, I guess we don't need to ask what happened to the "Kalii I".

The camera operator is my hero.

This is how I drive boats in Just Cause 2.

I have to say, I've never hit EVERY boat in the marina.

Excellent camera work sir. Top stuff.

Absolutely amazing video. I cringed the entire time- couldn't imagine being there and seeing real time- I probably would have said: "Oh my God, oh my God!"..........I would have thought that the dumbest, drunkest pilot would have shut 'er down after the 2nd hit and just line-walked it back to the slip, but apparently the dumbest, drunkest pilot does this......

Single screw inboard boat + windy day + inexperienced captain = trouble. If he truly has twins he should be using the motors to maneuver.

Reminds me of how the guy across the street drove a boat. Got kicked out of two marinas, one for breaking the piling off.

Its not as easy as it looks. got to learn somewhere, but not in a crowded marina. double screw don't touch the wheel!

judging by the propwash it looks like he only has one prop of the two motor steer inboards working and is trying to 'back and fill' the boat using prop walk. 'back and fill' on a powerboat let alone a single spinner with no bow thrusters is a fairly advanced technique, he's obviously not done it before and is probably trying to get to the boat lift to haul it out and fix the other motor.

What interesting and surprising moments captured I was very pleased

*Peter Griffin voice - "aww crap we're guna be on the internet"

How come Americans have only one reaction, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod...."

Reminds me of that Ron White joke..."you can't fix stupid"

I have jumped onto a boat in several similar situations and took control of the boat from a grateful owner. And the stupid first mate with legs hanging over the side ! They deserve each other .

When I was 17, I jumped onto a guys boat who was doing something like that. He was drunk out of his mind, and just let me park it for him.

I wouldn't listen to the haters on here. I kind of did the same thing my first time in to the marina with my 32' Wellcraft. I dinged up a guys bow pulpit but fixed it. I would have sat with a beer and smiled just like you guys... Noone helped me, live and learn.

Why didn't you guys call the Harbor Patrol. They are just around the corner from where you were standing

This is what happens when the very first boat you buy is a Carver Yacht 34 with twin inboards and not a Welcraft 18 with a single outboard. Thats why when you see boating ads that say ''would make a great first time boat'' there is a reason for that

I've docked plenty of 60' boats in my time. It looks like this guy is impatient and keeps turning until "something happens." by the time you notice the effect of your steering it's already too much and you have to correct. Turn a little and wait for the boat to respond. Especially at such slow speeds. The drive is the only thing moving all they weight.

After this incident, the boat's captain began advertising "Three-Hour Tours".

hold my beer honey, I got this"

Love all the sound effects

This is exactly why I gave the controls back to my father-in-law before entering the marina on his 38 ft twin screw.

Isn't that boat twin screws? If so, how can someone screw up that bad?

Run..!..It's CAP'N CRUNCH aboard .... "THE DWEEB" all hands on deck..lol

It may be gross incompetence, but it also looks to me like the boat may have been a twin screw with the port engine out. It'd be easy to leave the dock, have the port engine die, and then have an already bad situation made worse by a new skipper. A boat that he may have learned to drive suddenly behaves entirely different. With just one engine out of two working, I imagine it would be a challenge for just about anyone to turn that boat around with that amount of space. Of course, that doesn't excuse the myriad of other bad decisions he made, such as apparently being in a hurry. At one point you can see the skipper steer hard to starboard, but the boat only seems to go straight. Then he tries to go to port, which works, but not tight enough, so he hits reverse and gets prop walk, which makes the stern come to port. To him, it probably felt like his boat was walking straight sideways. I think if he had been a bit more patient he could have turned it around to starboard (clockwise) using the prop walk/wash method sailboats use - but this probably didn't occur to a power boater used to the maneuverability of twins.

This is why bigger cruisers scare me and I give them wide berth. For 20 years it has been my experience that these boats rarely leave the dock and certainly not often enough for the pilot to be proficient in close quarters handling. When they do go out, it is on Holidays with friends (and booze) that end up distracting from the task at hand. Boat handling is about the wind, seas, equipment, practice, and knowing when to say when.

This kind of looks like he is having mechanical issues. The throttle may be sticking or not going into gear right.

He wasnt drunk, if anyone there actually knew anything about boats. That boat has twin INBOARD motors. If he lost his port motor which it looks like he did, you have absolutely ZERO control of the boat. The boat will only make left turns foward and reverse. At low speed the rudders have zero effect. Its almost impossible to dock a boat on 1 motor with twin inboards. You said he just pulled out of his slip, and it looks like hes trying to get back to it, probably because he has motor problems. I know its easy to say hes just drunk, but i havent seen the boat make a right turn at all. So his port (Left) motor is probably not working, so the Starboard (Right) motor will only push the boat to the left. Its easy to judge when you dont know how a boat works. But docking on 1 motor with inboards is an absolute nightmare. I know because i had to do it once in my boat. After that 1 time, if i loose a motor, i call Boat US to tow and assist me with putting my boat back in its slip.

Is the steering faulty?

I was out fishing that day and that guy called on the radio as an out of control boat

Every marina has one: Some bozo who thinks that they know it all, when they actually haven't got a clue.

Were is the harbormaster?

Stop saying they should run over. Most docks are private and have gates with locks. They cant just run over onto the dock

Any news on what happened to the boat owner? I appreciate the video. Thank you for filming it.

If you watch the flags there was a pretty good wind blowing, in saying that, what was he trying to do?

It that the capt of the Exxon Valdez

What was the final cause, I can't imagine the Captain of that boat some how forgot how to use the controls, or he just got the boat or something? Maybe lost the steering or something?

Could be the engine issues.. the control issues bad wire. Obviously something is not right..

I didn't see anybody offer to help him out, nice community.

Maybe the steering not working..trying to steer with the props..these boats has a pressurized system..

In all my years of American boating I have never seen anything like this before.

The skipper is either drunk, inexperienced or both. Going from fwd to rev with large bursts of power is the true mark of an idiot. Most power yacht skippers are competent and skilled. Unfortunately, this guy gives "stinkboat" drivers a bad name. He should stick to driving his BMW/Mercedes/Cadillac/Whatever. Then he won't have to worry about things like drift, windage, current and no brakes. Either that or buy a 14' sailing dingy and learn how to operate a boat on the water! Oh wait, that would be too hard...

Showcase of a big problem today: if you have money you can buy, and drive a boat. But there is no legal requirement to show that you know how. One guy I know took the boating class and went all the way to a Captain's license--and then had his son do the same--so they have two competent people ready to go at all times.

some people love to just watch (and comment)

I remember my first beer. That dude is got to be drunk for sure.

I feel bad for the driver, if i were there i would have definetely jumped on that boat and helped him... bunch a stupid bystanders screaming omg omg !!!

Haha watching white folk panic like this is hilarious.

At first glance I thought this is the beginning of Gilligan's Island...then I realized Gilligan is driving and the Skipper is lying on the floor suffering a heart attack...

I like the Dude that helped at the end. Thumb's up to you bro ! High horse commentary

Bummer video wasn’t long enough. What happened afterwards 🤷🏽‍♀️

I see the former captain of the Costa Concordia got himself a boat.

Was the guy drunk or just inexperienced?

This is why boater education and licensing should be mandatory.

At a certain point when you've crunched into nearly every boat someone needs to put down their damn phone and help an inexperienced boater get in.

Your suppose to use the wind in your advantage not against your self,always keep the wind in your face great rule. Don't use thrusters use the wind to guide u in

Many of these vessels have coolers on board. And they start out filled, but by the end of the day are empty empty!!!

In the UK we have a waterway system called the norfolk broads. Its a collection of rivers all interconnected with a few estuaries thrown in. Every summer their are hundreds of hire boats on their, some as big as 40ft. They get about 1/2hr tutition on how to control the boat and then their let loose. It's bumps & scrapes everywhere just like the above. Plenty of youtube crash vides too lol. I've ften fancied taking my own boat on their as we are a days sail from one of the inlet estuaries. Trouble is I don't want to have to put up with people like this.

think ya coulda zoomed a little?

All these people watching and criticizing... I wonder who offered to help him dock his boat??

Never mind the guy driving the boat, how is that guy floating on the water at 0:58?

Did this really happen ?

PROP WALK! IT'S A THING PEOPLE! Too funny. Almost feel bad for who ever was at the helm. Almost.

Well, I guess I'm not the only one who has managed to made a complete fool of myself, while in a marina.

To think he was at the helm on the flybridge with the full canopy up. Guess he was very hot and bothered too. Wind is very strong too but if he was more skilled, he could probably wind dock the boat.

Its a well known fact around my area, Stay away from the ramps and marinas on Memorial day. It the one day of the year when everyone who doesnt have a clue how to handle a boat shows up with one..

Did the police deal with this guy ???

Did you call the harbor patrol?

A good time for him to consider taking up camping as a pastime, rather than boating. You rarely have to dock a tent.

No wind,no current, no captain

"I love the smell of cracking fiberglass, in the morning"

Every landing you can walk away from is a good one...except when it's a boat.

Fortunately in my country its hard to get a boat license.