candyman35

jtmiller02

MERRIMAN, ASHLEY 5/12/1985 BENTON, TX

20 years old...sad

29goingon42

I didn't know that man or boat but i'm at LOTO every weekend. I don't know the particulars nor do I want to play monday morning quarterback. When this happens it makes me feel very humble and realize how dangerous our passion can be.

Please everyone have a safe summer.

Ms PatriYacht

Life Jackets, why do you think they should be wearing life jackets........... that must be the norm there. In all the pictures posted from the poker run last week, I did not see anyone wearing one . If people don't wear them on poker runs I doubt they wear them when out for a cruise. Everytime there is an accident we talk about life jackets but most of the pictures from runs show no life jackets. Even though many of the boats travel faster than race boats, they have none of the safty gear. I don't know if it would have made a differnce in this case, but I am sure it would have made it easier for the divers and everyone else involved. So sad for all involved God Bless them.

berns29scarab

that is an absolute shame...my heart goes out to those involved. i've been boating for years, and if i'm doinf anything except cruising i wear one as well as anyone on board. it says the deceased waas wearing a PFD unless i read it wrong. here in Jersey NO PFD NO ENTRY in any poker run.

Buddy OO

LIFEJACKETS-----I was just quoting what the 3 fire rescue divers said on the dock at Port Arrowhead marina as we watched the Spectre being pulled in by Mo. water patrol. We have recently formed our own LOTO Powerboat club, amd I hope we can promote safer boating thru our safety awareness programs and any club function will have mandatory pfd;s and there is a reason they have kill switches on a boat--- hook them up---Loto has gotten so rough and the waves are very unpredictable, we all must respect the limitations of our vessels and practice safety to preserve our boating pleasure.

open87

iTrader: (2)

a simple pfd can save a life , i just don't understand why people don't wear them..... i tend to think that people are "too" comfortable in a boat and have this notion that nothing will happen. that's when things do go wrong , when ya least expect it..... god bless .......

TopSpin80

This is a sad thing to happen this season, I hope it doesn't happen again.

The only person in this years TOPPS poker run wearing a PFD was board member Jana in her 29 Fountain.... others around here need to learn from her. I guess our problem is we haven't seen any really bad accidents on clear lake in performance boats.

Ernie

rich allen

Agreed.. We can talk all we want about how great jackets are, but until we start using them as a matter of routine, might as well keep our Monday morning quarterbacking to ourselves. I for one, don't practice what we preach either. Lets face it,most people dont think they need them on,nor do they want one on all the time. We boat owners dont wear them regularly, so our passengers are only copying what we do, or don't do. But we sure know how many we have on board, when loaded with people, so we dont break any laws. When we were kids, no-one wore seatbelts in cars, nor would anyone wear a helmet when riding a bike. It just wasn't cool. But now, that has changed, and for the better obviously. Maybe, someday, that will happen in boating as well. But, it has to start with the boat owners. God forbid it became a law, cuz we would all scream that our right to look cool has been violated. My .02

Ms PatriYacht

Who ever ran the LOTO poker run last weekend sure did not push jackets, I don't believe it was the club. If you look at Jetson's pictures I could not see one life jacket on anyone, most people were spralled out on their seats like they were at the beach I am glad your new club will promote saftey that might help the reputation of the OS down there.

I've been guilty also but I guess on a BT I have a false sense of security. A year back we jumped on a friends smaller and faster boat and we hit 90, yep no jacket and I was pissed afterward that I was so stupid. I felt even more stupid when I read afterward that on the same weekend an OS hit a wake in the same area and stuffed it.

Sorry I know I am a preachy mother hen, but regardless of PR or out for a cruise if you start hitting those high speeds we should all be wearing life jackets.

Something else that came up on another accident thread, during a poker run someone hit a wave wrong and knocked everyone off balance including the driver. The kill switch stopped the boat and everyone was flung forward, one of the passengers was tossed in the cabin and I believe had a broken neck. When I told someone this story he immediately talked about making sure cabin doors were shut when running. We usually do but I never gave thought to it, so that's something else to think about.