RobnBern
Member
Good morning all,
Yesterday we learned that a couple of neighborhood girls were seriously injured in an accident when the boat operator "failed to see" the dock and snapped the towable with the 10 and 12 year old girls, slamming them into the dock. Our daughters friend was the most seriously injured: femur fracture, skull fracture and flail segment in her chest. She had to be flown to a trauma center. The other little girl fractured her pelvis.
I'm trying to find the local news in the area where the accident happened, the girls were on a trip with friends. The take away here is that as operators we must understand the dynamics associated with water sports and power boats. A simple snap turn 60' from the dock isn't really wise but when you've got a 70' tail carrying two people, it's absolutely unforgivable. We've all got a close call story in our closets, where we did something entirely stupid but escaped harm. But, we need to remember the awesome responsibility we have to ensure the safety of our passengers and others. They trust us with their lives and often don't even realize it.
Which brings me to another point. Do you know who your loved ones are "heading to the river" with?? So often today's parents just let their kids go boating with the assumption that the family/operator knows what they are doing. A few weeks back, my daughter wanted her girlfriends (sisters) to come to the river with us. The parents didn't know us and said no. So, we called and talked to them, got them to talk about their concern and they ended up "interviewing us". Did it feel strange? At first. But, we were taking their two daughters 50 miles from home to go boating and jet skiing. They had no idea who we were, what our knowledge base was, nothing.... Good on them.
So, as operators let us remain vigilant in our safe operations of our vessels and ensure that when we depart the dock with 7 souls on board, we return with the same number. Boating is for making lifetime happy memories (except for our bank accounts).
If I can find the article, I'll update. Be safe everyone. As the summer draws to a close, there will be a ton of irresponsible operators who think a few weeks of ownership makes them "veteran" skippers.
R
Yesterday we learned that a couple of neighborhood girls were seriously injured in an accident when the boat operator "failed to see" the dock and snapped the towable with the 10 and 12 year old girls, slamming them into the dock. Our daughters friend was the most seriously injured: femur fracture, skull fracture and flail segment in her chest. She had to be flown to a trauma center. The other little girl fractured her pelvis.
I'm trying to find the local news in the area where the accident happened, the girls were on a trip with friends. The take away here is that as operators we must understand the dynamics associated with water sports and power boats. A simple snap turn 60' from the dock isn't really wise but when you've got a 70' tail carrying two people, it's absolutely unforgivable. We've all got a close call story in our closets, where we did something entirely stupid but escaped harm. But, we need to remember the awesome responsibility we have to ensure the safety of our passengers and others. They trust us with their lives and often don't even realize it.
Which brings me to another point. Do you know who your loved ones are "heading to the river" with?? So often today's parents just let their kids go boating with the assumption that the family/operator knows what they are doing. A few weeks back, my daughter wanted her girlfriends (sisters) to come to the river with us. The parents didn't know us and said no. So, we called and talked to them, got them to talk about their concern and they ended up "interviewing us". Did it feel strange? At first. But, we were taking their two daughters 50 miles from home to go boating and jet skiing. They had no idea who we were, what our knowledge base was, nothing.... Good on them.
So, as operators let us remain vigilant in our safe operations of our vessels and ensure that when we depart the dock with 7 souls on board, we return with the same number. Boating is for making lifetime happy memories (except for our bank accounts).
If I can find the article, I'll update. Be safe everyone. As the summer draws to a close, there will be a ton of irresponsible operators who think a few weeks of ownership makes them "veteran" skippers.
R