what have you hit

[ThePinkPanther]

Pretty well most every sandbank in Moreton Bay at some time or another!

You can always pick "experienced" Moreton Bay Boaties by their shiny props - like a right of passage or something ...........................

[ozscott]

Doing a night rescue with VMR Victoria Point many years we hit and mortally wounded a dugong!

He was way, way out from where they normally are and as they swim along on or below the surface it's nigh on impossible seeing them sometimes, especially at night!

We followed the poor bugger into the shallows thinking if "we could save him" but he looked pretty bad so we all went back to Base really upset, demoralised and one of our lady crew members broke down and howled, that only made it worse for us!

I still like to think it looked worse than it actually was and he or she made it through the night!

Nearly hit one the other day. They aren't the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm surprised they have lasted as a species. Sharks would easily take them out and they like surfacing right in front of a boat on the plane. Dodo's with fins. Pretty cute though and their call is lovely when the bay is quiet.

Cheers

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[Watto79]

I am going to take a punt and say it has little to do with them lacking some grey matter but more the speed in which they move!

Coming up against a boat moving at 50 km/hr plus, they are a little under gunned..

Hence the go slow zones in known habitat areas that they frequent, least gives them a bit of a chance..

[ozscott]

I was being a bit tongue in cheek. Having said that surely they can sense the direction of an oncoming boat from a long way off and do the maths. While dolphins are much quicker they appear to do all the relevant calcs. When I nearly hit one I had been on the plane with a 2 stroke on a straight bearing for about 200m before it suddenly surfaced right in front of me.
Cheers.

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[Watto79]

Yeh cool, sort of gathered that bud.

No idea, possibly but you would need to ask a marine biologist what their senses and possibly hearing are like..maybe poor compared to that of a dolphin..

Dolphins are a different beast for sure, they swim at lightning speed and certainly appear to have the necessary skills to stay out of harms way..

[TomTom22]

Few years ago was attending a bucks party out on the Condamine river, my mates outboard had stopped working so he asked if he could borrow mine. no problem. load the 7hp honda on his little punt and off him and a few lads went to check some lines. about 40min later they come back around the bend in the river using an esky lid as a paddle. turns out the leg on my motor was a bit longer then his and hit a submerged tree that he had run over at least 10 times the past couple of days. knocked the motor up off the transom and into about 4m of water, which apparently took a few dives to get back. but we put it on the tail gate of the ute and dropped the oil and gave the carby a clean and everything a good spray of WD-40, new oil and fresh fuel and it was back on and running better then before. i think he thought i wanted to choke him but it was pretty hard to be angry when there was a young lady who seemed to of lost her clothes bringing me cold beers the whole time.