I'm getting the same grief from my older daughter now that she turned 14 and does not legally have to wear one while underway. I have eased up a little bit and let her take hers off if we are just idling along and she is sitting on the bench seat, but of course now her 12 year old sister wants to shed hers too. Can't win.

I am usually just putting along at 40 MPH or so most of the time, but you just never know when the unexpected can happen, and if someone went under in the murky lake or river water you would never be able to find them in time. It's just not worth the chance when it comes to your kids. Even at those speeds, I still wear my lanyard just in case.

I run 80+ mph every weekend for usually 14 to 20 miles nonstop, year round as I have been for the last 6 years in my current ride. Then turn around and do it again usually totaling 50 to 70 miles an outing in anything up to 3.5' lake chop. It's a calculated risk that I willingly accept. You just need to make sure the odds are in your favor. I ran in 40+ mph winds a month or so back which was challenging in an air entrapment hull. I found I could run 60 mph with the wind but not into the wind. Know your ride and its limitations and you will be fine.

While I struggle to put words together to describe the type of people Anthony and Tammy and Art and Melissa were I am haunted by the question….could we have done more? Should we have made a pact to all wear life jackets before departing the island? Should we have made a gentleman’s agreement to keep our speeds in check? Should we have driven at all? There are dozens of questions that you ask yourself in hindsight of any tragic event. For me, I will be more cognizant to not second guess what I know is the right thing to do – use your judgment and proactively make those decisions for yourself, your passengers and your friends.

I will miss you Art, Missy, Anthony and Tammy. I will miss you in the poker runs we had scheduled this year. I will miss you on the docks at Cumberland. I will miss that welcoming smile and that damn Cowboy hat Anthony! I will miss seeing the bond that both couples shared with their soulmates. Most of all I will miss talking to my friends.

Two quotes from this weekend from both Anthony & Art that I will never forget.
“Son! – can we get some Jason Aldean on this thing?”
“Hey buddy – let’s go burn some fuel”

May the lord please look after the families and friends in this time of need.

Matt

Matt - That was incredible. Thank you.

We're all members of the same community. No need to beat each other up.

DELETE .... Some of yall will never get it. This is the difference between new OSO & old OSO and with that being said, dockrocker you should know as you have been here for a while and know how the old OSO was. Delete this.

Here is a lesson to be learned. Excellent post and truly sorry for your loss.

Delete - serves no genuine purpose.

People ( including myself) loose friends all the time in boat racing. You can count on losing some one every couple years if you are in the sport. It's risk we take. That being said. I had a V drive race boat for pleasure. Any time I drove it I wore a chute jacket with neck deflector and kevlar. Kevlar pants as well. But people still die wearing all that protective stuff. My opinion. Tunnel or cats for the most part are a wing on the water, A race boat. You always have wrisk at speed but cats are pretty much designed for racing. ( like a hydro) Not too many unlimited hydros out on poker runs. But all of them have roll bars , capsules oxygen etc. People still die with all that too

I am sure this thread is very painful to all that knew these folks, but if some read it and glean anything that saves a life at some point, or just makes everyone give a thought as they prepare to go boating it may in fact have a great purpose.

Here's a possible lesson learned.
Clearly both families owned Lifeline and/or "Lifeline-style" jackets....and apparently wore them during poker runs, judging by these pics.
Maybe the lesson is that things can go wrong when you let your guard down and don't expect them to, instead of when you expect them to and prepare for it?