Wear your life jackets

[stream2.5]

if that story doesn't remind all the hard headed kids out there... perhaps a video will kick their brain inti gear....

 

[kfallscody]

I actually have seen that video before, gives me chills when I see it......

 

[stream2.5]

having been there myself..... flyiing out of boats is no fun. remember it only takes a split second for things to go bad...

 

[kfallscody]

While I have never been ejected from a moving boat.. I do know how fast things can go bad. Is not until you are being held up by a PFD.. or wishing you were being held up by one.. that you realize they are worth every penny. The life jacket I use is a self inflating model that uses water pressure to trigger it, instead of a disk that dissolves. Sure it cost a lot more but is worth every penny... and I hope I NEVER have to rely on it.

 

[GungasUncle]

Not to veer this topic too far off course - but the above video is a perfect example of why bass boats do not need the ultra high horsepower engines you usually see on them. They're very stable fishing boats - but when they're cranked up on plane, they're very unstable, and at high speeds, it's just one bump away from disaster. The fellow in the above video was going too fast for his boat's design, and then made the mistake of crossing the filming vessel's wake. You can see from all the footage leading up to it that the boat is seriously unstable when on step, the way it teetered with every little ripple it hit. Then as soon as he starts to angle toward the wake of the filming boat - you can see disaster in the making. I'm quite surprised though, that the boat didn't go end over end, and you can see in the slow mo, that the kill switch really did save this guy's life - as when he ejected, the motor came right over top of him. Had the prop been spinning, it would've sliced him up good and probably been the fatal blow.

The life jacket and kill switch saved him - but using his head and not pushing the boat beyond it's safe handling range would've prevented the whole mess to begin with.

And Cody - thanks for having the guts to post up a story of your own mistakes and misfortune for the rest of us to learn by. Seriously - thank you.

 

[stream2.5]

speed and HP had nothing tro do with the spin... dumb boater only, he skipped off the wake and tripped the boat, obviously you have never truly ran a bass boat at high speeds, most when ran properly are VERY STABLE and easy to drive... he was no where near the capibility of the hull, just well bove the ability of the driver... he was trimmed improperly and tried to cross a wake with the nose down.. bow steer happened and around it went....

 

[TTFishon]

Sometimes I wear mine and sometimes I don't. In the case of the bass boat crash I probably would've been wearing my life jacket.

 

[GraphiteZen]

if that story doesn't remind all the hard headed kids out there... perhaps a video will kick their brain inti gear....

That man's inexperience is what crashed him, not the wake or the boat.

 

[TTFishon]

I guess you got to learn somehow.

 

[GungasUncle]

Speed did play a big part in that crash. Had he been going slower - trimmed properly or not - the likelihood of having that crash would've been greatly reduced. The amount of side-to-side wobble noted earlier in the video also says to me that the boat was exceeding a safe speed - no matter who the driver was or what their experience level. A different type of boat - like a deep V, would've been able to handle crossing that wake. Yes, if his bow had been trimmed up on the bass boat, he MIGHT have made it - or it might've still gone air born and lost it.

 

[Wickerdave]

Thank you so much for sharing, I just asked my wife to find a way to sew one of my whistles and small horns to the jacket, and as soon as we get moved to Oregon I'll be picking up one of the auto inflatables. Also kind of makes me want to get back to church.

 

[Chromatose]

Since I fish alone quite a bit from the bank & after a near miss while fishing in ice riddled water, Long story short. I wear a mustang manual even when I am out alone wadding in the winter months. Good Post!!!!!! Great Reminder!!!!!