news giving wakeboard boats a bad name?

[sandm]

we had a guy here last week in a malibu 247 mis-interpret the channel markers and run the boat up on a rock at 15mph and capsize it at around 11pm. 8 adults and 4 kids aged 1-12 on the boat. 2 died, 61 and 41yo. all others ok.
newspaper and one tv station have been making a HUGE deal about the guy having a cooler of beer on the boat, no one in lifejackets and that several of the jackets were of the orange "dealership" type that had never been opened. charged with 2 counts of felony manslaughter and one count of gross negligence.. they did blood test and came back with no alcohol in him at all and say that alcohol did not factor into the crash at all.
about the only point I can even agree with are the younger kids in jackets..

news won't let it rest that it was a wakeboard boat and they show others with towers when doing the stories.

just wondered what some others on here think.. it's getting old listening to it on the news and trying hard to sensationalize it.

[mmandley]

Well not entirely on the same topic but this is what i learned a while back. Here the weather guy is always wrong. So one day i was pretty missed about the weather always saying one thing and it being another.

So i called the local station and griped at the highest person they would let me talk to. I said with all the dam technology today, cant you even come close to the correct weather.

His statement and i quote.

The News is entertainment. Take it or leave it. Change the channel.

[tazz3069]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! Did you change the channel?

I agree about the life jacket thing. Anyone in my boat that is under the age, wears a jacket, PERIOD. The jackets in the boat should have been unwrapped and ready for use. Sounds like a new boat owner too me. The guy probably did not know the water, plus he was driving at night. I have been on the lake pretty late a few times. I can not see anything unless it is a full moon out. The news is probably highlighting the alcohol. Even though there was evidence that he was not drunk or even had a drop of alcohol in his system, there was alcohol in the boat. An unfortunate accident happened and probably should not have happened. Experience goes a long way. Sad too hear what happened. I do hope that everyone recovers fast. My regards to the family for their lose.

[spoon03]

The type of boat had nothing to do with the accident. It didn't matter whether it was a wake boat, fishing boat, or deck boat. It was operator error that caused the accident, as is the case in about 90% or more of all types of accidents. The boat type shouldn't be getting a bad rap.

[jester]

This is a sad story and the news will always only show one side of it. That is the side they want to show. A new boater or even an old boater could have the same issue. Night time running is not like during hte day at all. The water is black and to see a rock is hard and some rocks in the day are hard to see. You might even have run the area in the day but at night be off by 50 feet and not even know it until it is too late. I do agree that the little ones should always have on their life jackets and the other life jackets should be unwrapped and ready for use.

[Sled491]

Back home there are no laws about running at night other than the standard lights. I was coming across the lake after fishing and just missed a Jet Skier with no lights. This was about midnight and both of us were going full throttle.

I agree with the earlier statement that this was probably a new boat owner. This goes back to thye statment that has been made by many, just because you can afford a boat doesn't mean your a boater. This guy spent the money but ot the time. Now he'll pay for the rest of his life. Was it worth it?

[sandm]

I am in awe at the fact that boats can cruise across a dark lake at midnight with nothing but a dinky red/green light and the lame tower light. I wouldn't feel good about that. can't believe the laws haven't changed yet..

don't know about the guy's experience with boating, as they have never said. can't say that I would know the marker lights up there and which side to go on, but I also know that I would never navigate a dark waterway at night without becoming VERY intimate with it during the day.. really common sense. the lake is one of only a couple in our state that have any sort of marker lights like that, so they are not common at all.

maybe we are not what most do, but we carry 4 jackets for adults in the compartment under the jockey box in easy reach(no kids jackets as we don't have any kids and expect any parent that does bring a kid on our boat to provide own jacket and they wear it at all times), but we also have 4 of the orange ones under a seat up front so we can carry 8 passengers in the boat. if in a wreck like the one above, I don't think it really matters where the jackets are if they aren't on the person, as shock/panic and an upturned sinking boat would make any storage bin inaccessible imo and I would bet that there are very few on lakes that make every person on the boat wear a jacket all day.