The guy who sent me this email knows the owner of the boat and says he is not the brightest captain in the world but amazingly no one was seriously injured. Trying to run on the autopilot in the ICW is just asking for trouble when your fighting staying awake.
I was awake for ~30 hours the last two days - our friends were traveling
home from Louisiana in a 44' Sea Ray (~$750K new) when their auto pilot went
south. The boat turned and struck the bank at ~15kts (~18mph). Two of us
went to take the two women on board to the hospital with minor injuries.
The two men stayed on board to protect against looting. The owner of the
boat was thrown over the helm and knocked unconscious, has a minor
concussion. The other guy was knocked about and also beat up but nothing
serious. The queen bed in the forward stateroom was vertical - if someone
had been sleeping there they would have been killed. I arranged salvage and
just now relinquished Coast Guard contacts. We went as soon as possible
back to the wreck and stripped personal stuff and electronics. The boat is
a total loss, the diesels and generator are submerged. I came home and
slept for 12 hours - never a dull moment here..
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