jeeeeze, you'd think he would know better. I wonder if alcohol was involved? The passenger seat appears to have smacked the dash, brutal. Don't those things have nav. lights or markers on them? I wonder if it got lost in the lights of the horizon/land? Harsh way to go. RIP
Sad deal to all involved.
Early eighties I had a buddy that went out of Huntington Beach Harbor on board a Fountain destine for the Queen Mary area for some partying. Fast forward 2-3 am and in their way back into the harbor they hit a large marker that was placed by the Naval weapons station with no lights/markers. Yeah it was just inside the no wake zone and apparently they were at speed and hit it head on. Luckily no one lost their life that night but most were hospitalized. He sued the US government for not marking the marker and won $2.3m...he was dead less than a year later of overdose...what a wast of life as he was a good kid.
I've always said if you are going to boat at night boat slow. Not sure what the minimum planing speeds are in a cat like that are, but he probably wasn't going that slow to remove that much of the deck.