No disrespect to the family or anyone else, but the hard cold facts are that the person was driving in a way that he could not recover and avoid disaster, it comes down to,
Driving too fast for the conditions, it’s the driver’s fault.
It does not really mater if the boat broke, a wave hit wrong or whatever. We have all been there, 5 MPH or 200 MPH the fun stops with little notice, sometimes we save it through some miraculous miracle off driving skill, dumb luck, or a combination of the two. Our Egos will usually chock it up to skill; Reality is that being lucky factors in the highest.
There is some level of risk in everything we do

My condolences go out to the family and I look on the bright side that, while he no doubt would have liked a different outcome for himself and his family, he was having fun when it was his time to go!

If it was a mechanical failure or a heart attack, how is that driving too fast for the conditions? Should we drive our boats at 10 MPH or less just in case something breaks or in case we have a medical issue?

The bottom line is that sometimes accidents happen and it isn't always because of negligence.

It very well could have been inexperience and negligence but we just don't know that right now until an investigation shows that.

I prefer to give the man the benefit of the doubt until I hear otherwise.

So if you're driving on the interstate at the posted speed limit in your Ford Explorer and the tires blow out and you roll over three times, it's your fault because you were "driving too fast for conditions". Perhaps you would be more comfortable on a sailboat.

My condolences to the family.

My Friend and Fellow boater
 

I can say that anyone who really knew him would tell you that he had a HEART as BIG as a GIANT and LOVE for POWERBOATS just as BIG. He would go to any length to help everyone at anytime. DON'T judge this friend of mine for what may have been something beyond control. Yeah I know he loved to push the envelope but he did so in an awareness of his surroundings. You say what about those on the lake who are having fun with kids and tubing but just like every other boater on the lake you have to look 360 WAY before you do things which many of these family boaters I've observed DON"T DO. Talk about unrespectful boaters!!!!!!! This truly has rippped a piece of my heart and I can only imagine what this has done to his family. I know he is in Heaven and when you hear THUNDER its him and God at it again. Until we meet again my friend. Speed

This is definitely a tragic accident and our hearts go out to the family. What type of cat was he driving? Can't make it out in the pics. Also, is there any information that there was mechanical failure somewhere on the boat?? We've been following the story as fellow powerboaters and are sorry for the loss for this family.

Turns out there was a ranger on the lake looking for this boat before the accident because of speed complaints.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_745784.html

I don't think this case is about performance boats versus jet skiers versus family boaters. It's about one driver on a lake that isn't well suited for going really fast.

Yough Lake is a long, narrow lake upstream from a dam. It winds through a valley with steep sides and has a lot of turns with low visibility including a sharp bend near the dam. The boat was tied to a tree at the point of that bend with it's nose sticking out of the water Saturday evening after the accident indicating that the accident occurred nearby.

The water gets deep fast and there are few docks on the main channel so boat sometimes cruise nearer the shoreline because it is narrow. You have to be careful where you drop a skier or swap riders on a tube to make sure you give other boater a lot of time to see you (ie. not behind a blind corner).

Mid-afternoon on a holiday weekend, there were a lot of people on the water. I was pulling some fairly timid tubers that afternoon on the lake, and hit pockets of traffic on a couple bends in the river where I had trouble maintaining a speed of around 20mph.

The boat is a DCB Mach F-34.