Several years ago my wife and I and another couple happened to be having a sunset dinner on the waterside deck at a Houston's restaurant on the west side of the ICW in Pompano Beach, Fla, adjacent to the north side of the East Atlantic Boulevard Bridge, which only opens on a fixed time schedule. While sitting there a small sail boat came by, a Catalina 27 as I recall, powered by an outboard. They blew an air horn, mightily, for an opening but, predictably, got no response from the bridge tender. Realizing the bridge wasn't going to open, the helmsman swung the tiller over, facing the boat back up-stream but was able to make little progress against the down flowing current, even with his motor racing. Slowly but surely, the boat was dragged backward, between the bridge dolphins and the shore-line, toward the fixed span. With this, I and the other husband, jumped up and ran along the dock toward the bridge calling out to the endangered sailors to drop their anchor, which was hanging off the bow pulpit. There was no response from the panicky helmsman who simply kept twisting on the throttle--already at the stops--ever harder. Realizing that this fellow hadn't a clue, we raced up the embankment to the bridge and out onto the span where the masthead was only slightly above our heads as it made its inimitable approach. Once it got within arms reach, we reached out and grabbed the back-stay and leaned into it, holding the mast, and the boat, away from the bridge. The excitement became more pronounced when the erstwhile helmsman evidently managed to damage the throttle and kill the motor entirely and went on for some while until a sympathetic power boater that happened by backed down on the boat, passed them a line, and snatched them away from the bridge and, thankfully, out of our aching arms/hands. As we walked down the bridge and embankment, shaking our heads, the duo disappeared into the darkness. Arriving back at our table, my wife announced "Well done Captains Courageous, but now you've had your excitement for the weekend, your dinners are cold and wine warm!" N'ary a thank you in sight!
Bridges, currents and outboards are not a good mix!