This is so SAD! I hate these things!

[iwaterskihard]

Seen this on the news today and it just makes me continually shake my head! All I ever ask is why? Why? Why do they allow these things on the lake?

B.C. boating accident kills Edmonton girl

CBC News Posted: Aug 27, 2011 12:36 PM

A 10-year-old girl from Edmonton is dead after a boating accident on Okanagan Lake near Kelowna, B.C.

Okanagan Lake, B.C.
Police say the accident happened at about 8 p.m. PT Friday night about 1.5 kilometres off shore when a WaveRunner and a 21-foot pleasure boat collided.

The girl was a passenger on the WaveRunner, a type of personal water craft, which was being driven by her 18-year-old brother. He suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The two people in the boat were not injured.

Several doctors who were having dinner at a nearby restaurant tried to revive the girl, police say, but they were not successful.

The girl's name has not been released.

West Kelowna RCMP are investigating, but police say alcohol and speed are not believed to be factors.

[jmvotto]

Very very sad, On saturday I had 9 teenage girls in the boat with me, boarding and tubing. One guy on a jet ski was a riding passenger to his young son driving and it was erractic if not dangerous, we had to avoid them a couple times.
where is the Po po when you need them to warm erractic drivers.

one thing for sure no PWC's at our lake house....

[sandm]

it's sad, but I can't say that I'm for any kind of ban/outlaw. they are really no different than motorcycles, and we see many many deaths every year from them. it would appear from the story that they were not drunk or speeding, so maybe just being in the wrong place/wrong time? heck, might even be the boat owners fault?

I do have an issue with people that operate them erratically, but like any motorized machine, some people operate with safety in mind, and some don't. I do have to say that a speed limiter would not be a bad idea. no reason to be doing 35 on one of them, but with anything, someone will figure out how to bypass..

[Suprahunter]

35 how about 80 some of the new models that have 250 hp. They are the most dangerous boat on the water . At least a licence with training is needed at best a restricted area to operate them away from other boats.

[sandm]

license with training won't help much. look at states like mine that require motorcycle training.

all the training in the world is no offset for one second of poor judgement.

[cab13367]

Sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, I think it's just a fact of life in boating that there are lot of people out there with no common sense or are just purposely irresponsible/wreckless. For example, in just one hour on our local lake Saturday, we witnessed the following:

1. A boat wakesurfing against traffic (our lake is counter clockwise only when towing).
2. A boat following us too closely as we were pulling three kids under 10 on a tube.
3. A PWC crossing our wake back and forth as we were wakesurfing. I honked the horn and we were waving frantically to get her attention and she newer saw or heard us. Total tunnel vision.
4. Got cut off while wakeboarding causing my son to come to an emergency stop. The offending boat was also towing a rider and when their rider crashed, they turned to starboard and toward us instead of to port away from us.

My son who is 15 and has been (legally) driving my boat for a couple of years now under my supervision, said it best. He said the hard part about learning to drive a boat is having to deal with all the people that are doing things they are not supposed to be doing.

We are always on our guard out on the lake because you never know what the next idiot is going to do.

Sorry for the rant.

Al

[c.rix]

very sad to hear for sure

But when I saw the title and saw boating accident a couple things that comes to mind are...

A. jet ski, wave runner, pwc whatever you want to call it hitting another boat
B. Boat pulling a tube not paying attention like they always do
C. The worst combo by far jet ski pulling a tube

On the lakes that I go to its only a matter of time until something like this happens on saturday I saw 2 boats tubing driver looking backwards the entire time almost clip another tuber somehow missing each other and the tubers could have literally gave one another a High five but I think they crapped their pants cause both boats stop tubing had a little yelling spout and left the bay

[iwaterskihard]

Well I just looked and here's an update. Appears it was the boat that hit the WaveRunner and not the other way around.


Police say it could take weeks before all details leading to the death of a 10-year-old girl on Okanagan Lake Friday night are known.

Investigators with the RCMP, West Coast Marine Services, Transport Canada and B.C. Coroners Service are all taking part in the investigation.

The girl, from St. Albert, Alberta, died when the Yamaha Waverunner she was on was struck by a boat.

The incident occurred about a km from shore, south of the Cook Road Boat Launch.

Police have confirmed the operator of the Waverunner was an 18-year-old Kelowna teen who was carrying his 10-year-old sister.

Sgt. Ann Morrison says the teen is expected to be released from hospital on Monday.

She says the boat involved was a 20-foot Cobalt operated by an adult female with an adult male passenger.

Neither was injured.


But on another note same lake different area. How good is this next one?


Firefighter lucky to be alive


by Daniel Hayduk - Story: 64126
Aug 29, 2011 / 11:30 am



A volunteer firefighter is lucky to be alive after being run over by a personal water craft on Okanagan Lake Sunday afternoon.

RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says that shortly after 1 p.m. on August 28, a personal water craft (PWC) with two occupants struck a boat near Kin Beach on Okanagan Lake.

The PWC, which Molendyk says was being operated by a 9-year-old, was attempting to ride the wake behind a boat being operated by a 27-year-old from Carrs Landing, reportedly a volunteer firefighter.

"These kids were trying to jump their wake the whole time and the fireman was yelling at them to get back and stay away. They didn't, they just ignored him," says a witness, who asked not to be named.

The PWC then drove over the back of the Malibu Response ski boat, crushing the man -- narrowly missing the other two passengers on the boat, a 37-year-old man and his 5-year-old son.

Molendyk says the man suffered facial abrasions and a possible concussion.

The 9-year-old driver of the PWC was also hospitalised, while his 18-year-old passenger was uninjured.

Another witness, Winton Williams, says both men on board work for the Kelowna fire department.

"The men in the boat are a credit to firefighters everywhere. They were very calm and I could easily see that they were the type of individuals who would respond well under extreme stress and danger," says Williams.

"It is very lucky no one was killed," says Williams.

Witnesses report the boys on the PWC were driving recklessly just prior to the accident.

"They were weaving in and out of boats on the lake and jumping boat wakes including the boat they landed on. The 18-year-old had traded spots with the 9-year-old just prior to the crash. It was the 9-year-old who was driving when it came up over the boat and landed on the driver."

Molendyk says charges in the incident are possible.

"Investigators are looking at the possibility that charges could be laid because of the age of the person operating the PWC."

Some of these craft can go over 100 km/h and Transport Canada says no one under 16 is supposed to operate a PWC.

Only a few days ago a child was killed on Okanagan Lake while riding a PWC. A 10-year-old Edmonton girl died on August 26 when the PWC she was on was struck by a boat.

[jpetty3023]

The worst thing about the posted story is that a 10 year old child is the one who died and she had no control over the watercraft or her horrible fate that day


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[moombadaze]

Sad, just sad.