Video and eye witness account courtesy of Charlie Freeman
Local resident Charlie Freeman was one of many who witnessed a runaway boat on the Amelia River west of Centre Street on Tuesday, November 12. Charlie’s account of the situation follows:
“A 16′ boat left the dock downtown and powered up in the river… Throttle stuck and when the driver tried to fix it… He took his hand off the wheel and the boat went into a sharp circle, throwing him and his buddy out… Think we had the entire police force there at one point.. Boat finally ran out of gas (after hitting one sailboat anchored out) and was towed back….”
Other witnesses reported none of the two boaters were hurt. The Fernandina Observer will update this story when further information is available. We thank Charlie Freeman for providing the video and eyewitness account.
Fernandina Harbor Marina Manager Joe Springer offers the following advice:
“You never know when something like this is going to happen, that is the reason “kill switches” were installed. The only thing that went wrong in this incident, is the boater did not have the other end of the kill switch attached to himself.
If he had, the minute he went overboard, the engines would have shut down. Please, everyone should use this as an example that you may be next and to use your “kill switch” whenever your boat is in operation.”
November 13, 2013 9:07 a.m.