Should I have said something?

[oGaryo]

I was in Ocean Village today tidying up the boat after a great weekend when across the pontoon a young lad got in a tender to his dad's motorboat and I thought to myself, that's nice, dad and lad having fun on the water together on fathers day.

The boy was certainly having a great time driving the tender on his own at a fair pace up and down the pontoons until he came to bring it back to his dads boat where he panicked exclaiming "I can't turn it off!!!" (several times) with the outboard (an old 2 stroke) motoring him up against the pontoon, Dad came along to turn off the outboard and all was calm

A little later, the same young lad (12ish I'd say) was out again but with presumably his brother or mate of the same age but this time they disappeared out of sight around the end of the hammerhead whilst dad tinkered with his boat. They returned 10 minutes or so later with the same result, mild panic at not being able to turn off the motor whilst the tender was pushed against the pontoon.

Both had life jackets on :encouragement: but there was no kill cord that I could see and I got the sense they'd really not been taught how to use the outboard and dinghy competently. I felt I should have had a quiet word in dad's ear about the safety of the boys but I didn't

bad or good move?

 

[lisilou]

Our 2stroke doesn't have a kill cord facility nor a neutral Gary. It's a case of pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds before it cuts out so you have to time it right to come to a stop at the right place. It would be nice to think you could've had a quiet word with the dad but my guess is he wouldn't have appreciated it tbh. I guess you just have to trust your instincts sometimes even if it might result in a bit of flack.
L

 

[oGaryo]

Our 2stroke doesn't have a kill cord facility nor a neutral Gary. It's a case of pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds before it cuts out so you have to time it right to come to a stop at the right place. It would be nice to think you could've had a quiet word with the dad but my guess is he wouldn't have appreciated it tbh. I guess you just have to trust your instincts sometimes even if it might result in a bit of flack.
L

I used to have an outboard like that Lisa and I took the thing apart to fit my own kill cord so I was confident in letting Caley use the tender after several trips out / lessons from me.. I wrote an article at the time showing how to fit a kill cord switch to an old motor like that. ended up replacing it with 4 stroke with kill cord once he'd passed his PB2. Just got this niggle tonight that I should have manned up and said something as you say

 

[volvopaul]

I'd say yes Gary you should, sounds like the boats and Father need a bit of educating for there own sake. We hear too many bad stories of late very often related to operation error resulting in tragedy. Some people take advise badly others say thanks. Either way don't feel guilty, do what your gut instinct tells you, even a small sudden stop in a dinghy threw our dog out once imagine 7 or 8 stone head hitting hull will hurt or even worse. Maybe a word at office would have been an idea sort of shift the responsibility to the authorities that run it rather than it look like you were trying to be the boss.

 

[sarabande]

very much agree with VP.

If there is a nasty accident in the marina, the management will be involved whether they like it or not. So it's in their interests to assess the risks and having identified any, then take mitigatory action.

You are not sneaking, you could be saving someone's life.

 

[lisilou]

I used to have an outboard like that Lisa and I took the thing apart to fit my own kill cord so I was confident in letting Caley use the tender after several trips out / lessons from me.. I wrote an article at the time showing how to fit a kill cord switch to an old motor like that. ended up replacing it with 4 stroke with kill cord once he'd passed his PB2. Just got this niggle tonight that I should have manned up and said something as you say

Not a case of manning up hon...you called it as you saw fit at the time. Personally, like you, I'd have made damned sure whoever was using my tender knew how it worked before letting them loose on it...especially if it was my child.
L

 

[lanerboy]

What would have happened if they fell out and had a tender with no one aboad wizzing around them whilst they were in the water sorry but it screams padstow horror all over again i would have said something whether dad wanted to hear it or not

 

[[2068]]

It's a tough call.

I was following a lady in a BMW 1 Series a couple of weeks back. Initially I thought she had run over something white, but no, we stop in traffic, and the RHS rear tyre is down to the inner white canvas over a 6-inch stripe on the outer edge, maybe because of imbalance or a lock-up, who knows. That's a tyre that is shortly doing to go "bang" in spectacular fashion, possibly at high speed. Maybe she is a racing driver that is quite able to control a RWD car with three working wheels. Or maybe not, and she loses control with children in the car or hits someone else's kids.

I was thinking about walking up in a Q and telling her, but would she even appreciate the unwanted advice? As it turned out, we went different ways, and I didn't want to be too much of a tyre stalker. I hope she found the tyre fitters before she found the Armco.

 

[Talulah]

We were in Beaulieu River yesterday lunchtime.
There was a yacht on a mooring with two dinghies each with a small outboard.
One dinghy was occupied by a young lad around 11 years old. He was doing a great job.
The other dinghy was ocupied by two very young children. I would guess no older than 6.
This young child was motoring the dinghy perfectly. I was just curious how one so young could even start the thing.

 

[BruceK]

As the boys were 12 or so I'd have cheerily called them over to show me the tender etc, tell them it looked great fun, reminisce a few stories and then slipped the lesson in, in a very amiable way on resolving whatever failing there was. Let them take it to their father. It's then easier and less confrontational at a later date to shout your hellos and enquire if the boys had managed to solve their issue.

 

[Firefly625]

It's a tough call.

I was following a lady in a BMW 1 Series a couple of weeks back. Initially I thought she had run over something white, but no, we stop in traffic, and the RHS rear tyre is down to the inner white canvas over a 6-inch stripe on the outer edge, maybe because of imbalance or a lock-up, who knows. That's a tyre that is shortly doing to go "bang" in spectacular fashion, possibly at high speed. Maybe she is a racing driver that is quite able to control a RWD car with three working wheels. Or maybe not, and she loses control with children in the car or hits someone else's kids.

I was thinking about walking up in a Q and telling her, but would she even appreciate the unwanted advice? As it turned out, we went different ways, and I didn't want to be too much of a tyre stalker. I hope she found the tyre fitters before she found the Armco.

I was following a Land Rover Discovery a few weeks back, wasn't that old but all 3 brake lights were clearly not working, probably electric issue as centre rear light is probably LED rather than bulbs out. As luck would have it we were approaching a round about I was turning left and the Disco moved over to the right hand lane to go straight on. As it was first thing in the morning there was a queue so ideal time to be helpful. Drew alongside and I lowered my window, gave a little toot on the horn and waved my hand. This blonde beauty looked across at me then turned away and continue to look ahead. I gave another little beep and put my hand up in a hopefully friendly "I need your attention" kinda way, to which she gave me the finger.... Now I'm not quite sure how many times she is beeped at for being a stunner, or for some fault on her car, but I don't drive a white transit so I would have thought she may just have got an inkling that I was not just about to be leery... anyway she drove on... lets hope a big HGV didn't rear end her... in the non leery sense...

as for OP's quandary.... I wouldn't have said anything, but hoped someone else would have! May well have gone to harbour office and suggested they speak to the Dad, so long as they didn't call him Sonny I am sure it would have gone down better than anyone else suggesting he considered changing the way he was handling his own kids...

 

[KevB]

I think you did the right thing in keeping it to yourself and there was no harm done. We can't interfere with everything in life we disagree with.

 

[henryf]

Hello mate, how's it going. Please don't think me an arse for saying it but I couldn't help noticing the lads struggling a bit in the tender and there not being a kill cord fitted.

I'm nothing to do with the marina, just another boat owner and a fellow dad but ever since the Padstow tragedy where that father and his daughter were run over and killed by their own outboard and the mother lost her lower leg I have nightmares every time I see someone using an outboard without a kill cord. I don't want to spoil anyone's fun but at the same time I couldn't live with myself if I said nothing and one of the lads got lacerated by the prop - it looks as though they're having a bit of a job to stop the engine.

As I say I don't want to spoil anyone's fun and I'm not casting any doubt on your abilities but I didn't know if you were aware of the incident and the fact it happens quite a lot.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and happy fathers day.

Cheers.




For what it's worth I've stopped a few people out on the road. I remember once stopping someone on the A1 who had sparks coming from their tyre, it was the metal cord brushing against the tarmac.

As for the lady giving you the bird I couldn't have helped myself. "Don't flatter yourself darling, you've got all 3 brake lights out on the back of your car. I don't give a **** but at best you're going to get 3 points and a sixty quid fine, at worst someone's going to come and slam you up the arse in a bloody big lorry which will really ruin you day. Make sure you don't chip a nail next time you flick me the bird."

I think most people appreciate any concern you show them and you really would feel terrible if something had happened. Even the lady in the Disco would have felt terrible once she realised you were trying to help rather than pester.

Henry