Nancy and I got out for a rare day-sail on Biscayne Bay near our home. We left Matheson Hammock County Park and headed NE along the coast toward Miami.
Nancy is passing off the Coral Gables shoreline.
More Coral Gables shoreline.
Nancy with Coconut Grove in background. Coconut Grove is an area of Miami.
Downtown Miami in the distance.
Biscayne Bay in the winter is a great place to practice your racing skills for various national and international competitions. Here are some young ladies (Canadian?) putting their skills and their Lazers to the test.
Nearing Miami. We will take a break on the beach to right center. This beach is officially known as Hobie Beach. It got its name because in the ‘70s Hobie owners (including us) often launched their Hobie 14/16s from this beach.
Hobie Beach on Biscayne Bay.
Our day ended on a sad note. When we arrived back at Matheson Hammock Marina, we were greeted by a couple dozen police, fire rescue, and coast guard personal. It turns out that about the time we were arriving at Hobie Beach, a horrendous collision occurred 5 miles back near our track from Matheson Hammock Park. Two high performance catamaran power boats had collided, apparently at speeds upwards of 90 mph. The occupants were not wearing helmets or PFDs according to 2 witnesses we happen to talk to at Matheson. Two people died, another is in critical condition in a Miami hospital. My camera battery died, so I have no pictures of the scene at the marina.
This is one of the boats which was brought into the Matheson Marina. This 44 ft boat rammed the 2nd boat. This boat had 3 persons on board—2 died.
(picture from the second link below)This is the critically injured 3rd person on that boat as he is being air lifted off Biscayne Bay to a helicopter for transport to the hospital. Downtown Miami is in the background.
(Photo by Jack Garcia/Miami-Dade Fire Rescue)This picture shows the damage to the 46 ft boat that was rammed. The 2 persons on this boat survived with minor injuries.
(picture from the second link below)You can read about the accident at the links: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/29/1949321/steven-posner-killed-in-crash.html
and
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334754/Clvie-Warwick-British-businessman-killed-high-speed-boat-crash.html#comments
The people who died in the accident were Steven Posner—real estate tycoon—and Clive Warwick. Warwick was a 60-yr old British adventurer who had recently climbed Mt Everest.
As I like to say, accidents happen unexpectedly, and they often happen fast—real fast in this case.
Keith