An eyewitness to a high-speed powerboat accident that left a 19-foot vessel written off has counted the boat’s two teenaged crew “lucky to be alive”.

But owner and co-pilot of Trim Down For What were happily unscathed ­— although the powerboat’s driver told The Royal Gazette: “The boat’s been totalled — trashed.”

Bermuda Power Boat Association Commodore Jody Carreiro confirmed yesterday that the dramatic flip close to the rocks of Coney Island wasn’t the fault of the driver.

“What it boils down to is mechanical error — something went wrong with the steering and they didn’t have control of the boat.

“They’re both fine — the boat took most of the damage.”

Fisheries staff at work by Coney Island feared the worst when the boat, travelling at about 50 knots or 60mph, veered into the shallows as it headed into the Old Ferry Crossing west of Ferry Reach just before 4.30pm on Friday.

“They were going past the pylons when they overturned at high speed and they were both ejected — helmets, life jackets, cushions and bits of the boat went flying,” a member of staff said.

“We knew it was pretty serious — I was thinking at that spot and with that impact, they would have been dead.”

Bermuda Maritime Operations reported a panicked call from Fisheries staff who saw the boat launched out of the water after striking rocks. It crashed within 50 feet of the Coney Island breakwater, hurtling the 17-year-old and 19-year-old occupants into the water.

However, requesting not to be named for privacy reasons, the driver said both men were “fine”.

Speaking from the scene of yesterday’s friendly inshore-offshore race, he said: “The boat was running nicely, heading up to the pylons, when all of a sudden it headed left, rolled on top of the reef and sunk — I was actually stuck in the boat until she went under. It all happened so fast I couldn’t even think, but we were both able to walk away from it. Things like this have happened before — it’s the risk you take.”

The two men were rescued by the Fisheries patrol boat Grey Dog.

According to the Fisheries worker, fire, police and EMTs attended the scene, and were satisfied no alcohol was involved.

However, the badly damaged Argo powerboat — which was left half-submerged at the nearby dock — was “not even worth fixing up”, the owner said.