The boat was a cigarette shaped cabin cruiser. They were meeting a tow, in a sharp bend, and they ran out of the channel and into a charted shoal.

This was basically a case of "The qualifications for the size of Pleasure Craft that someone can handle depends on the size of their check book".

This "Master" did have a grasp of the "Rules of the Road" but he apparently has not paid attention to the "Prudential Seamanship Rules or the Good Seamanship Rules. He also has no idea about the handling characteristics of the various vessels that he will be meeting and overtaking in a commercial waterway (such as the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway). This gentleman also has no idea that he is responsible for any damages caused by his wake (wake damage to docks, shorelines, breaking up tows, etc) under Admiralty Law.

He was definitely going too fast (30-40mph) to have met a tow in the GICW. It is never wise to meet a large vessel in a bend. He had more room than he claimed by the simple fact that the tow he met did not ground their stern on that shoal.