By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Hunter Bland is still sore, still stressed out mentally and still not sure when he’ll get behind the wheel of his bass boat again. His apprehension is understandable after he and fishing partner Conner Young were ejected from Bland’s boat shortly after blast-off at the Lake Seminole FLW College Southeastern Conference tournament last Saturday.
Bland and Young both escaped injury after a part associated with the hydraulic steering control broke on Bland’s boat and caused the boat to suddenly veer to the right, sending both University of Florida students careening out of the port side of the boat and into the water.
Video of the incident was captured by Young’s GoPro camera, which was mounted to the rear seat pedestal. A version of the video posted on Bland’s YouTube page, which was edited from its original 11-minute length, shows the pair a few minutes into what was going to be a 30-mile run to Spring Creek.
With Bland driving, he decelerated and maneuvered the boat to the right as he prepared to overtake the boat they were following. When he did, the boat made a hard right turn toward the bank and Young and Bland are seen being tossed out of the boat, which did a complete 360-degree turn. Bland believes the boat was traveling at 55 to 57 miles per hour when the spin occurred.
“It was scary,” said Bland, a senior from Ocala, Fla., who is studying natural resource conservation. “Flying through the air like that and hitting the boat on the way out was pretty traumatizing.”
Bland said his memory of the incident is a little scattered.
“I remember coming off the wave and everything was going good and then something randomly happened,” he said. “I remember flying through the air and hitting the water and seeing the wrap of the boat and being stuck under the boat and getting out from under there.”
Young, who is from Sorrento, Fla., was wearing a PFD that inflated upon water entry while Bland’s PFD had to be manually triggered by Young.
“I remember coming over those waves,” Young said. “I’d looked back for a second to see if anybody was passing us. Then the boat cut at a 90-degree angle. I don’t remember being ejected or hitting the water. I remember the boat turning and then being in the water. It felt like a long time.
“I’ve flat-spun in a boat before, but never been ejected. It’s another game when you’re ejected.”
Abbreviated Day
This is Young’s first year on the Florida fishing team. He typically runs his own boat at qualifying tournaments, but he and Bland decided to use Bland’s Triton after the two fished together last month for the first time at Bienville Plantation. They practiced during the week leading up to Saturday’s tournament in Bland’s boat and had not encountered any maintenance issues.
Bland and Young were boat number 4 in the 140-boat field. The two had already passed boats No. 2 and 3 and were readying to pass the lead boat when the incident occurred.
After they were able to climb back into the boat, other competitors stopped to check on them. The first was a team from Wake Forest University and others followed even after they had called FLW officials to request assistance.
“The coolest thing was where we spun out, there was a cabin right there and the guy who was staying there must’ve seen us and he ran down and jumped in his boat and ran across to us,” Young said. “He sat with us for a while until the FLW boat came to get us.”
Bland (left) and Young hope to fish together again later this spring.
Bland and Young were taken back to the launch ramp to dry off and gather their wits. The father of another Florida angler had brought his boat and Bland and Young were able to use that to fish from toward the end of the day.
“I don’t know if there was a day that I wanted to catch a fish more,” Young said. “We wanted to walk across that stage with a fish so bad.”
They stayed close to the ramp and only idled and used the trolling motor. They were able to fish for the final 90 minutes of the day.
“We were hoping to get on one of those ledges and find a school of 2-pounders,” Young said. “But we didn’t catch anything.”
Regardless, they were thankful for being able to get back out on the water after such a traumatic experience.
“My girlfriend rides horses a lot and when I told her what had happened, she said she would’ve made me get back in the boat and drive up and down the river,” Young said. “When you love to do something, you can’t be afraid of it. I’m thankful we’re alive. We’ll get back out there again.”
Positive out of a Negative
Both Bland and Young have been surprised at how much attention the video of the accident has received.
Bland said within three hours of the video being posted, it had close to 3,000 views. By mid-day Thursday, the view total was approaching 500,000 with thousands of shares across social media platforms. CNN picked up the video for a report on the incident, as did TMZ.
“Overnight, it went viral,” Bland said. “I can’t even hardly go to class now because of the PR involved. The amount of the attention is just insane, but we’re starting to achieve our goals of realizing how important it is to have a kill switch and to wear a lifejacket.”
Young said he’s grateful that he and Bland were not injured, but their accident can serve as a powerful tool when educating young anglers about the importance of boating safety.
“We knew we had it on video and we both said we wanted to make a difference by pushing the safety aspect,” Bland said.
“I know there are a lot of high school anglers and college anglers out there who question the need for kill switches and lifejackets,” Young added. “I think this demonstrates why they’re so important.”
According to Bland, the steering assembly is currently being replaced on his boat, which is less than two years old and still under warranty. He said the problem appeared to be with a nylon nut that secures the hydraulic steering rod.
“It should never have happened,” Bland said, “And I probably won’t ever know why it happened. I do endless maintenance and am always checking things out. That nut came off and we had no control over it literally.”
