Panther

Sorry but accidents happen folks.....

I give him credit for coming on here and telling the story....

Having been witness to a few of these accidents, with experienced drivers (one was even a racer), it happens when you least expect it.



as to your question, best jacket I would think would be a Lifeline. They provide impact protection to a certain extent.
http://www.lifelinejackets.com/pleasure_jackets.cfm
http://www.lifelinejackets.com/comp_jackets.cfm

On the brigth side, it's probably time for a bigger boat!!!

Frank

kreed

iTrader: (2)

Agreed on the bigger boat part ! I recently sold my 27 Carrera that we used in LI sound and also had a few hard hits. Never stuffed it like you did, but alot of complaints by passengers to get a bigger/heavier boat or just slow down. Its hard when your tryin to keep up with 33 to 36 footers!. So I did. Got a bigger boat. We'll see how we fair in the spring. LI sound can get snotty even for a 36 ft boat! I always watched the weather conditions and sometimes that didnt work! Good luck and hope everyone heals up!

kp7165

Aside from the few d*ck-head comments, thank you all for your responses.

I've been boating in the sound with my 25 OL for over 5 years now. I have always thought of myself to be a safe driver and have never had any injuries on my boat whatsoever. The conditions on the water that day were very calm, less than 1 foot seas, no wind, perfect for 60 mph in my 25 OL. I've taken my boat across to Claudios in Long Island a couple years ago when there were 6 footers and had no problems.

Some of this is a little fuzzy to me so bear with me.

I came across a very large wake or rogue wave, 6 miles southeast of The Pavilion. I have never seen a wave this big on such a calm day, I'm thinking it could've been two consecutive ferry wakes because I went airborn twice but there were no boats or ferrys around us. The first wave seemed to come out of nowhere, as soon as I noticed it I was already airborn. The bow of the boat went straight in the air and came down and slapped the water. The boat landed so hard that I was thrown around at the helm away from the wheel. When the boat landed the second time it was turned to the starboard side and sling-shotted everybody to the port side. My two passengers on the port side of the boat went overboard and my wife, standing behind me, was thrown onto the passenger bolster on her left ribs and I was slammed onto the floor in front of the bolster. Everybody but my wife sustained severe bruising and muscle strains, she was much worse with 7 broken ribs, shattered spleen, and a collapsed lung.

As far as I know the boat was not damaged, just minor overheating. I haven't had any desire to look at it yet since the accident.

We are doing much better now, 5-1/2 weeks since the accident, and my wife's ribs are still showing cracks and her lungs aren't 100% yet, but she's feeling alot better. Thanks you all for your wishes.

kp7165

I wish! I've been wanting a bigger boat for a while now. It's weird because I was looking at a 33 Donzi ZX the week before this accident. Gotta build a new house first! I don't know if this accident will help me convince my wife to go to a bigger boat or if she will want nothing to do with it!

Panther

I feel for ya man!! The sound can be downright nasty! On one trip with my wife to Norwalk in my old boat (30' Scarab), the winds were Northeast about 15-25 mph and it was 4-5' easy and nasty, we were glad to get into the harbor!

Also, if it makes you feel any better... On Labor Day I was out boating with a friend in his 41' boat and we were both running in some 4-5' waves at around 75 mph when he launched, tripped and stuffed.... He was ejected from the boat, I had to rescue him...If I was not there he may have drown... He got lucky and only broke two ribs... The boat didn't fair so well, the transom blew out, the side delaminated and he blew an engine in the process....

It was a very scary moment and he has more than 20+ years experience driving speedboats/raceboats...

Unfortunately for me, it was the 3rd time I had been witness to something like that.....

It happens to everyone......


The bigger boat idea might just work!!! My wife hated the rough ride on my Scarab so I convinced her the Apache would be better and she learned the first time out that it was!

risky

Best of luck to you, I had some crazy things happen but never this, glad to see your all doing better.

tangent70

Like it was said earlier, accidents happen. Wish you a speedy recovery

502ss

iTrader: (3)

It sounds like a nasty accident and it could happen to any one of us but your wife may just surprise you. I know a few people that have had bad motorcycle and car accidents with their wives/girlfriends with them and there was some initial hesitation but they did it again. Maybe the best thing you could do is share this thread with her....well maybe some of this thread. Help her understand that it could happen to anyone.

Good luck!

Velocity Vector

iTrader: (4)

Tell your lover I got her covered...Hope she's doing better who know's she may insist on being the captain from now on.

spilman

AWESOME!!



I hope she is healing 100%...My father always insisted on teaching me to keep a constant look at the horizon as well as close proximity to path of travel...but this still happens; more than it should. Good Luck!