Commentary—A Collective Loss In Cape Coral
Just two days ago in the late afternoon, Craig Millet, his wife, Brenna and their friend Rebecca Knight lost their lives in a high-performance boating accident on the Caloosahatchee River in Cape Coral, Fla. Passenger Neal Kirby, a Cape Coral local, was the only survivor. His injuries are extensive and his recovery from them will be long and painful. But his prognosis is positive.
Now is the time for mourning and compassion within the tiny go-fast boating community. Photo from the 2024 Fort Myers Offshore New Year’s Fun.
That is the only good news to come out of this incident. Otherwise, the entire episode is devastating. The performance-boating community is tiny, it’s so small that if you’re a member of it you are likely no more than a one degree removed from the four people involved and their families.
The last incident of this scale occurred the day before the 2016 Pirates Of Lanier Poker Run in North Georgia. That incident claimed four lives. Last Saturday’s incident happened couple of hours after the Fort Myers Offshore Turkey Run.
This weekend’s deadly turn is far too fresh for tone-deaf, insensitive babble about causation or boat brands or hull type or anything of that sort. There will be plenty of time for all that. The accident is still under investigation. Reaching any sort of conclusion is profoundly premature, purely speculative and wildly inappropriate.
Read More: Commentary—A Collective Loss In Cape Coral
and then