The Boat Crash Thread
 

Wrecks Happen - for a small percentage it is an unfortunate reality of going fast on the water. I guess OSO is concerned that insurance companies may use eyewitness accounts posted on OSO against the claim filers so it is frowned upon to elaborate on these crashes. I understand this and don't want to participate in the hosing up of an insurance claim for any of my OSO brothers.

However, the posting of these crashes in the past has always served to sober me up to the reality that going fast on the water is a deadly serious business that can have consequences. We too often get caught up in the "I'm Faster than you, he's Faster than Me" b.s posting that takes place on-line. It gets the blood flowing and our hormones up and we make our boats faster and faster. But we too often forget that we are PLEASURING BOATING, NOT RACING.

I have heard sketchy accounts of at least FOUR SEPARATE Incidents this past weekend where Performance boats have lost control and sunk to the bottom (not to mention the other unpublished incidents at recent poker runs that sent people into the drink).

I worry because we no longer have these accident threads to learn from other's mistakes and to shock us back into a sense of reality. Be careful out there people. Have fun but remember that our first priority should always be to get our boats and passengers back to the docks safe and dry.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

well said.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

on the money

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Point taken, but unless it is posted by the OWNER/CAPTAIN it is all heresay.

I can't learn(and don't want to) from erroneous information. :rolleyes:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

We're just glad you're O.K.!!! :evilb:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Seriously.........that is HILARIOUS!!!!!! :D

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

well said ,i feel like its a privlegde to drive a boat with no speed limits,but if we keep screwin up who knows what will be taken from us !

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Couldn't have said it better myself. Now if the insurance companies would quit using creepy lawyers toi avoid paying out on accidents we could all live better.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Ever drive through a big city and learn the names of the tallest buioldings.. Mostly insurance companies ..hmmm

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Though it's likely that you'll get more accurate information from the person or people, such as a boat's owner or captain,involved in an accident than you'll get from people reporting (and often misreporting) what they've heard, even first-person accounts guarantee nothing.

Do you really think a guy who's just wrecked his boat is going to come on here and post, "I was going too fast for the conditions" or something like that? For any number of good reasons, owners/drivers tend to keep their mouths shut after accidents. I'm no lawyer, but I'd be willing to bet that even the worst lawyer on the planet would advice against posting the story of your accident on a message board.

My question is: In a thread such as this, is the goal really to "learn from" an accident or "learn about" it, because they are too very different things. In either case, you'll have a tough time because the people who could provides most of the details, those involved (and keep in mind they'll see things differently even if they're only inches apart), won't be talking.

And who could blame them? There is no upside. And there's plenty of down.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

the more negative they read... the higher it gets.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I've already been "yelled at" for trying to get stories about what happened in a crash recently. I totally agree that insurance companies read what goes on here and on other boards. However, I think they (insurance investigators) are going to get to the bottom of the truth one way or another.

I really don't think it's cool to blame others on here who are trying to get info on a crash claiming "big brother is watching and we have to watch what we say". Because the main point is, in all reality it is every single persons responsibility to be accountable for their OWN actions and not do something to jeopardize their safety or the safety of others. It all comes down to accountability. Something too many people in this world are lacking.

Accidents are accidents and should be handled as such. Unfortunately a lot of the times (especially recently) negligence and other poor decisions come into play. And you say we have to worry about what is said and look out for someone who just threw all of us under the bus. I don't believe that is mine or any one else on OSO's responsibility.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Reading about mishaps on OSO_ has made me a much safer boater.

Thank you.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I agree that these threads can be informative to safety, and yes, we all want to "know what happened".
But, we're a pretty loose group here. We are on here to talk and joke with other performance boaters - and share information, or help one another out. We all like to crack a joke, or take a little jab at a buddy on here, but all those things can be taken out of context.
I'm less concerned about the insurance Co.s - they are gonna raise their rates every year, and we all know that.
My concern is the groups that want to impose speed limits, unncessary NO-WAKE zones, and more legislature to confine our freedom on the water.
Maybe we need to take it upon ourselves when and where to make a joke, or jest about the fact that it was a "stepped" hull etc.., the people that don't know anything about this hobby/sport don't get the joke, and certainly aren't taking the time to educate themselves. And then they attempt to use our freindly ribbing against us for their cause.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Totally good valid points, especially from Thisistank. But I'm a little ... um ... mystified, if that's the right word, how reading about mishaps has made 42Fountain a "safer boater."

Again, people involved in accidents aren't coming on here and saying they made this or that mistake. I haven't read "I overtrimmed it" or "I turned too hard" or "It started chine walking and I couldn't control it." I've never read anything like that here, and I don't expect to.

Please direct me to a thread like that if I'm wrong.

Does simply knowing that fast boats can crash, and that crashes are worse when they're going fast, make anyone a safer boater? Because really, that's all you get from the retelling of these incidents, at least as they tend to evolve in threads.

My god guys, if we don't know that turning too hard can cause a boat to roll or overtrimming at high speed can lead to a loss of control or that drinking and driving a boat is dangerous and stupid, we're lost. No amount of information about recent accidents will save us.

I think it's a whole lot more honest to say we're just curious. We want to know what happened because everything about this sport, even the bad stuff, fascinates us.

I have read tons and tons of useful things here ... truly amazing stuff. But the accident threads are born out of curiosity and not much more. Besides the cautionary lessons of all accidents, things like accidents are usually the culmination of a series of things gone wrong rather than one thing, there's just not much to gain from hearing these stories. Especially second-hand.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

But a few people still don't know what the lanyards are for. :evilb:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I still don't see how that little peice of string is going to keep me in the boat when it spins. Hell, the dang thing comes unhooked with just a slight tug.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

D.A.P. :D :D :evilb: :evilb:

http://www.neatorama.com/images/2005/square-poodle.jpg

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I agree that "hearsay is hearsay" regarding accidents. Unless it comes from someone directly involved, the truth was probably stretched in some way or another.

I don't think anyone is going to come on OSO and say what they did wrong when they had an incident.The fact of the matter is when you hear of an accident, like 1 person drowned after a boat accident because they were NOT wearing a lifevest, that reinforces (maybe subconsciously) to us to wear lifevests.

Sometimes accidents (serious or not serious accidents) can remind us that boating can be a dangerous sport and we all must try to make good, sound judgements while boating.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I can't speak for DT 42, but my take on where he is going would be that sometimes when we hear/read of these things it does make us stop and think about our own boating habits, and that is not necessarily a bad thing, that is to learn from anothers mistake or misfortune.

I fully agree with your comments regarding "general stupidity" in regard to how one handles any boat, especially a high performance one. And really agree with the comment regarding drinking of any sort when boating, yet so many do this on a regular basis. I applaud the law makers here in New York for the recent changes in the law, and making a BWI as serious an offense as a DWI, with consequences and hefty fines. I only hope they actively begin to enforce this stronger law. I'm all for a cocktail at the end of a day, once the boat is back in the slip, I just don't want to share the water with some dumb a$$ that is half in the bag and thinks he's invincible.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Hey leave me out of this :D :drink: :drink: :D

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I find it interesting that when a car wreck is covered in the news that no ones focus is on whose brand it is (Unless it is a Hugo)

What concerns me is how quickly everyone piles on the boat manufacturer when an accident happens

yea there are some boats that are seemingly more prone to needing care in the way you drive them, but with that said the focus of any of these reports should be on what happened, not so much on who made the boat

If the manufacturer was having a lot of accidents with there boats then they should be addressed. Finding fault in the boat manufacturer should not be the focus, it should be in the driver who went past the boundary of their skills or the boats capability

By the way, some times it is just plain "an accident" if it were something different it would be called and "ON PURPOSE"

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

I guess being a high profile item people take more interest in when something happens bad. Like the guy in California that crashed his Ferrari at a high speed,tore it to Pisces.it gets attention.

Also just think about the sport bikes that any 16 year old can buy that does around 180-190mph stock,run low 10's in the quarter,you hear about them crashing also. There insurance is higher than our sport boats .Price ratio,,I bet because of the accidents & capable speeds?

I have noticed some people get enjoyment out of others misfortune :(


Besafe :D

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN,but in an event of an accident the most important thing is no body get hurt, every thing else damage wise can be repair or change,

every time that speed is in place the possibilities of an accident increase, why some times lack of experience, some times people do't know how the boat handle, some times people are under the influences of alcohol( and that is reckless and negligent) i guess my point is that as long speed is involved accident will keep happening, you can be the best driver but your boat don't have brakes, what happen when someone cross in front of you and you are running at high speed? some times people go to different places they don't know the water but they are out like they are from there.

in my job i deal with professionals drivers , race boats ,that have all the safety equipment( close canopies, 5 point harness,air systems), and some times in the event of an accident get ugly. now every body know they are faster boats out there than the average race boats, why? well they are not restricted.

my job is extremely hard , because the people in that boat that i will go after is my friend, is my weekend family, we look at the races from the air we see a lots of close calls an we have some accidents, an every time we have one my heart is in my throat until i have them out and i'm sure they are ok. so imagine what happen when you are out there by yourself or with a group of boats doing high speed, are you as safe as you thing you are? this is the question that you have to ask you self. PLEASE BE SAFE

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

works for me. Be safe.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

that poor f ing dog, that dog wants to be put to sleep cuz it looks so gay :evilb:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

You make some good points, however, most of us own boats capable of high speeds experienced or not.

It doesn't hurt to be reminded of the sometimes tragic consequences of unsafe operation or bad choices.

I am willing to bet there are either new boaters here, or on the other hand some that have led a charmed life not fully comprehending how close they have come to disaster.

For instance I often see boats go out of there way to jump tanker and tug boat wakes in Galveston Bay, something I was guilty of in the past.

When you see a picture of a boat that broke clean in half doing just that, you may well reassess that choice.

How many new owners of step hull boats know that they can spin out in conditions that a traditional hull would not?

I agree there is always some brand related ribbing going on here, you just have to be around a little longer to realize that much of it is just that.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

very well said. it is a double edged sword for sure,

we will leave threads that are fact and not hearsay.

we will monitor the threads and in some cases liek today we might take one down temporarily for admin review.

please be safe and think smart.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Not buying XR drives from Canada will also make you a safer boater.... :evilb:

How is the beak running Robert? I might be moving back to Knoxville this fall.... :cool:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Hey Masher,

The beak is running fine but I don't think it can hang with your rocket - maybe it would have been faster with one of those Canadian Moose drives :)

If you move back to Knoxville you'll have to come up and see us on Cumberland.

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

Glad to hear it!
I will take you up on that... I should know more in a month.... :cool:
Some minor tweaking Friday for LOTO :cool:

Re: The Boat Crash Thread
 

After my famous "Safety Article" last fall, we went to the next step and had a "safety Summit" meeting during the Miami Boat Show. At that meeting we formed a board of directors to take over Be-Safe and let it become it's own entity having nothing further to do with Extreme Boats Magazine.

The Be-Safe Board is currently:
Brad Schoewald - A career officer in the United States Coast Guard and Cigarette owner.
Bob Leach - President of Eliminator Powerboats.
Dave Hemmingson - President of Dave?s Custom Boats aka DCB.
Jim Nichols - Producer of LakeRacer Poker Runs on Lake Havasu.
Lenny Richileau - High performance marine insurance professional.

About 20 people in the high performance business helped to craft a document (that is still in draft form) as a guideline on how we thought a safe boating event should be run.

If you got to www.boatingsafe.org, click on "Safe Boating Practices" and download the document.

The only rules we could find were on the Poker Runs American and NJPPC web sites. We started with those and took it from there considering how speeds have increased since the Ten Commandments were written.

Be-Safe is nothing more than a place to store information. It's not going to organize Poker Runs and no one will be charged to use the document as a guideline for events. You can choose to use it or not. Be-Safe is simply offering the information if you want it.

This document was written by people who's livelihoods are incumbent on the continuation of high performance boating events. The reason we wrote the document and formed Be-Safe was an attempt to keep you safe and keep these event happening so we have something to photograph and talk about.

Please Be-Safe.

Ron