Off topic and a special thanks to Mudhole.
I assume that most people on here are boaters of some form and could benefit from this information
On January 9, 2009 a good friend of mine, Rob Murphy, was spearfishing off the coast of Jupiter, FL. After surfacing he noticed a large sportfishing boat heading towards him. His dive boat, with dive flags clearly displayed, was near-by (less than 100 feet) and in route to pick him up. The captain of the sportfisher appeared unaware of the impending collision despite the attempts to get his attention by both Rob and the dive boat captain. At the last minute Rob tried to dive below the oncoming boat but one of the props caught his legs. He was Truma Hawked to the hospital where his legs were amputated just below the knee.
He was determined to get back to spearfishng and just 2 months later on March 11 he was back in the water (with the help of an electric scooter) and managed to shoot a 20lb grouper.
Last week a fisihing tournament was held in his benefit where he was walking around on a new set of prosthetic legs. Mud Hole stepped up and donated a Calstar GF700L and Fuji SIC guides which I built for a live @#$%& to help with his recovery.
[
www.rodbuilding.org]
I just wanted to say thanks to Mudhole and raise some awareness for dive flags and laws. In Florida boats must stay at least 300 feet from a boat flying a dive flag. Be careful out there.
Here is the news article after the accident
[
www.cdnn.info]
and when he made his first dive after the accident (video to right)
[
www.wptv.com]
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2009 08:16PM by Scott Youschak.
