Boater saftey (sad story)

[jmvotto]

http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/sto...d0hrKWg2g.cspx

Make sure you know the water abilities of the passengers in your boat, we sometimes can take familar lake surroundings for granted.

This past weekend a passenger fell off the back of the boat around 6:30 pm and and never surfaced. he was 45 yrs old with a wife and kids. they are still searching for the body. Our lake is 20mile long and abot 1 to1.5 mile wide nad about 125ft deep. I know the driver of the boat and its such a terrible terrible accident.

Boat safely and always know your surroundings

[kaneboats]

So sorry to hear this. Even a good swimmer can get in trouble in a hurry if he bangs his head when he goes over the side or something.

[Sled491]

Never a good time to go, but that age is really bad, kids at a very needy age for there dad. Very sad.

[jmvotto]

They finally found him yesterday in 105 ft with an underwater camera, toxicoligy reports are pending with all involved. sad, sad, sad

[RobertJ]

How sad and my heart goes out to the family and friends. As the father of three young children and a husband myself I an only imagine the pain the wife and kids are going through.

I don't want to get on a soapbox but, life jackets are the best way to avoid incidents like this from happening. We wear our life jackets about 90% of the time that we are out on the water and we require our guest to as well. I know it doesn't look cool but I am kind of a safety freak and I already look like a goober anyway. The other day we had 13 people on board ranging from 4 - 50 years old and 13 life jackets were being worn. I do keep good quality extra life jackets with us, not the cheap uncomfortable orange ones. I find that if you have a good comfortable vest for your guests they are more apt to wear them. Stories like this make me consider changing our rule to 100% of the time.

[jmvotto]

Amen......

[BensonWdby]

This truly is very sad.

One thing that is often overlooked is the importance of communication. Not always easy to keep in the foefront after a night out. I sometimes get grief for overcommunicating when I am driving. But I always tell my riders what the boat is going to do next. This is expecially important with the '99 MObius which has very low freeboard.

Whenever I shift to forward or reverse, or am going to make a turn, I say - 'reverse', 'Engaged', 'Hang on', 'Turning', something to let them know a change is coming. And I give them time to respond and/or grab something. And I watch them instinctively brace or grab something. I normally will get a visual on everyone on the boat before I throttle up.

Whenever there is a skier in the water we always wait for the skier to state 'Clear' as an indication that they, their ski, and the rope are clear of the prop. And normally I make sure I can see the entire skier and ski before engaging the prop.

These are simple things, that if you do all the time, become habits, even when judgement may be 'influenced' after a night out.

[Razzman]

The MOST important factor in my opinion in boating safety is awareness and sourroundings, everything else comes next. It doesn't matter what your crew is wearing or aware of if your not! My main job is driving, i'm aware of where crew & rider(s) are, where the rope is, everybody is seated and underage are wearing vests before the boat moves an inch. I'm not a vest nazi as i believe adults can make their own choice. Anyone under 18 wears 'em though even though the law in Cali is 12 and under.

My wife monitors everything going on while underway and makes sure everyone stays seated and no hanging out. I'm always watching for safety hazards, other boats and such so she handles the cabin to make it easier on me.

Imo i have to believe these precautions wern't followed in this unfortunate accident. We've all seen people way to lax in the way they run their boats and eventually accidents will happen. Sad

[RobertJ]

Again this is a tough story to read and to think of the impact on the victims family and his friends. I agree with the posts about safety and communication and I would not classify myself as a "vest nazi" but I bet the wife and children of the fellow listed in the accident wished the boat owner would have been a "vest nazi". I am sure the owner is having a heck of a time dealing with the loss of his friend and I bet lawyers will be involved before it is over. So yes adults do have the priveledge of making choices on there own. No vest if asked to wear it, no ride, see that is a choice.

[Razzman]

Robert, the "vest nazi" reference wasn't directed at your post, it was my personal reference to one of our local lakes where the sheriff's dept feels the need to stop you 2-3 times a day and extole the virtues for 10-15 minutes of everyone wearing a vest. I should have clarified that i guess.

As the captain of the boat it's definately your choice. I choose to allow them to choose, again another choice. I don't wear one but then that's my choice as well.

And yes it's quite tragic and i as well feel for the families involved in this unfortunate accident. I still wonder how he fell out of a moving boat.