What gives you the right to ask such ignorant questions ?

Probably the same right of some to question the integrity of one of the crew members when they weren't in the boat and have no idea what happened.

People can assess blame all they want regarding this tragic accident. The jury will make their decision based on the case put in front of them.

We would better spend our time taking a hard look at the safety procedures each of our organizations have in place and how they can be improved. All forms of racing have specific inherent dangers. It is up to the organizers, sanctioning bodies and participants to address these to the best of their ability. Racing can never be completely safe and some safety measures are financially impossible, the trick is finding the balance between reasonable safety and personal acceptance of risk.

I would urge any racer (boat, car, snowmobile ,whatever) to take a look at the safety systems in place wherever they race. Only then can you make a decision whether you are willing to accept the risk. In the end it is your life.

with all due respect.... we all sign waivers before we start in any of these events... and we know the what the consequences can be tragic or not... I find it very disappointing that when horrific wrecks happen everybody wants to point fingers of why it's someone elses fault...... Ban go fast boats and all events?? maybe we should ban kids with tobaggens they might get hurt and then we can sue? Respectfully submitted

I agree with you 100% for the most part, however i was at that race and it seemed to take forever and a day for the dive team to get to the boat. now i dont know what injuries they had, we had heard they drowned

SBRacing makes a good point . There is always risk involved in these events . I believe that as much as there may a responsiblity for the organizer to have appropriate safety measures in place these measures may or may not be adequate and is always subject to ones opinin of what consitutes adequate . The one thing that has been missed here is there is also a responsibilty by the racer to assess the adequacy of the safety measures and then decide if HE wants to take that gamble . I believe the responsibility street goes two ways not one. Just my 2 cents .
RG.

Very few of us racers have the capability to make rational dissensions on the events safety. All you hear on the internet and at the races is how great each orgs safety is. It is as good as can financially be expected from the orgs would be my best assessment. Could it be better, heck yeah. The cost would most likely be so high that the promoter couldn't put the race on. Or us racers would have to modify our boats to the point no one could afford the boats. We racers are not rational thinkers when it comes to being able to do something that we have this burning desire to do. I have NEVER seen or heard of a racer not competing once they got to a race site because they didn't feel the safety was adequate. OSS was by far IMO the best safety driver org. With that being said they also went out of business being one of there main expenses was safety which made it impossible to get race sites due to the expense to put on a top notch event. Its a no win scenario!

Randy,
We as racers do have the capacity to make decisions regarding safety. It is as simple as asking. What are the assets available? What are the procedures? For example:

If there is one ambulance on site and it leaves with an injured person, does the race continue? In the national sports club racing organization I used to race with, the answer is no. There must be at least one staffed ambulance on site at all times.

I agree that cost is certainly a factor, but that doesn't mean we as racers shouldn't take a hard look at the safety of our events. Ultimately, we bear the responsibility for our own safety, as well as the safety of spectators, officials and rescue personnel.

When I race the boats were required to meet UMI regulations as far as safety equipment. Which included a knife for each occupant. for cutting seat belts. Again a very tragic event but its still one of the most dangerous sports in the world and that's why we do it .

Perhaps there should be no divers at all?

This way a participant fully understands that they are on their own and no contract they sign on can have a gray area that they were guaranteed a certain amount of safety in any certain amount of time.

I wonder how many would race in a canopy boat then ?

Every race team has the option of also hiring their own safety staff, ie: helicopter, diver, etc. The other accident that weekend did infact have their own assets, and the results were still tragic.

Racing has risks, the people who are racing know this, yes they ALWAYS have the option of running or not running. They make their own decisions and deal with the consequences. Not the family after the fact. JMHO