They Had More Dollars Than Sense

Putting You Money Where Your Life Is


I feel sorry for the three guys that left Clearwater Florida last Saturday with Marquis Cooper piloting a 21' single engine boat into the Gulf of Mexico on a fishing trip.

From what I understand about the timing of the trip and the weather forecast the expedition was ill conceived from it's outset.

Take the word of a man that's spent thousands of hours on the water and put nearly as many hours on engines while at the helm of water craft ranging from 21' open bow ski boats to a 32' 12,000 pound twin engine Sea Ray I lost to thieves in another life...

As a boat captain, I wouldn't have gone out of sight of land that day in any boat less than 30 or even 40' in length and without multiple engines under the circumstances these guys wandered into on what amounted to a 21' single engine dingy.

I know that to all of you "land lubbers" the edge of the ocean is a beautiful, wonderful, fun place for people to fool around on and in.

But...let me let you in on a little secret.

The middle of the ocean...the part that starts about five or six miles off shore and extends for what seems forever to the next continent or other major land mass will swallow you whole without a trace in an instant, and the ocean can rise up from a near flat surface to a raging hell in a matter of an hour when a thunderstorm forms on top of your head or a cold front comes through like it did last weekend to these three athletes and their so called "Captain."

I understand that they've found one poor guy alive clinging to the capsized boat, but at this point in time I give the other three a less than 1% chance of being found alive and the odds of finding their bodies may be even less.

I guess that you could say that this is a perfect example of having disposable income killing people that aren't smart enough to pay attention and understand the risks they're taking.

I know...let's call the government and make them pass a law making boating against the law unless you pass some sort of test and pay some form of additional "luxury tax."

Yeah...that's the ticket...more Obama government taxation and intervention.

It's unfair that only mean old ever greying, ever balding white guys and professional athletes get to go deep sea fishing any way. I want a new government program that loads homeless people and "working families" up on ramshackle government boats and hauls their disadvantaged butts twenty five miles offshore with a few buckets of stinky squid and cigar minnows so they can learn how to tie a stainless leader to a piece of 50 pound mono filament line to a 0000 Penn Senator fishing reel.

...er...sorry... I lost my mind train of thought for a moment...

Any way...I always say that money doesn't solve the problem of being arrogant or even STUPID, so when people get zillion dollar sports contracts win the lottery and then go out and buy a Lear Jet or a thousand horsepower car or a Yacht and proceed to make fifty foot deep craters in the ground, wrap their skulls around telephone poles, else disappear into the Bermuda Triangle that it's just Darwin laughing at modern society from his grave in Topeka, Kansas (he's actually buried in the Cemetery at Westminster Abby.)

How was that for my "insensitive essay of the week" submission?

Time now for a little nap before packing up the rest of my possessions in anticipation of heading back to St. Simons to cook Chili.