HALIFAX – RCMP had to chase down an out-of-control boat after two boaters were tossed in the water during races at the Pictou Lobster Carnival.
About 90 minutes into the annual modified lobster boat races, on Saturday, two men were thrown from their speeding boat into Pictou Harbour, while the vessel looped around in circles.
The crew of a nearby fishing boat was able to grab the men — 48-year-old driver Clinton MacKeil and 58-year-old owner of the “Strait Ahead,” Dave MacCarthy.
“It kept going in circles. We were lucky every time it made a circle, it got a little farther away from us,” MacCarthy told Global News.
RCMP members brought MacCarthy on board the patrol vessel.
Mounties then manoeuvred alongside the boat, allowing MacCarthy to jump back on board and gain control of his vessel.
“(It’s) something you see in the movies, but it happened in real life,” he said. “Your adrenaline is going … You just do it. It had to be stopped one way or another.”
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Watch the rescue and recovery efforts beginning at the 1:31:00 mark
(Video posted by UpTheHarbour on YouTube)
RCMP credit the quick action of its members and people on the scene with preventing further injuries, property damage or loss of life.
MacCarthy was unharmed, but EHS transported MacKeil to hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.
According to the RCMP release, on Monday, one witness said, “This was the most amazing thing I had ever seen…if not for the action taken this could have resulted in far more tragic consequences and these heroic efforts resulted in lives being saved”.
The boat is outfitted with a so-called kill switch, which cuts off power to the engine when disconnected to the driver. It’s unclear why the kill switch failed.
“The tether line came off of me or broke. Everything just happened so fast and away we went,” MacCarthy said.
The RCMP will not lay any charges in the incident.
According to those in the racing circuit, accidents like this do not happen often, but can be very dangerous. The boat could have hit the two men, the spectators or the many vessels in the water.
Eddie Nickerson, President of the Nova Scotia Boat Racers Association, said safety is paramount, which is why patrol vessels are always on hand.
“I consider our sport pretty safe. We try our best to make it as safe as possible.” Nickerson said.
The announcer in the video referred to the incident as the “first dunking of the year.” Later on in the video — at the 1:43:53 mark — another boater wound up in the water, but he and his boat were quickly recovered.
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