+1

My thoughts and prayer to the family, God Speed.

Celebrate their lives boys. Did not know them but from what I can tell they lived it right. All the best to their families.

Was Jim from the lake Hartwell SC . Area. ?

Police have identified the boaters as James A. Melley, 49, of Buford, Georgia, and Garth Thomas Tagge, 61, of Atlanta. Melley was driving the boat, and Tagge was the throttleman, police said.

Condolences to Garth Tagge's and Jim Melley's families and all their friends. RIP

Thought the video was supposed to be taken down due to respect for the families? However, Offshore Lake of the Ozarks has it posted.....very hard to watch. RIP :( :( :(

Accident was just on GMA a minute ago. About 20 or so second segment.

Two distinguished and respected gentlemen taken way too soon from their families and close friends.

All performance boat enthusiasts are feeling a loss today. RIP

Such a tragedy. 24 years ago our father was killed in a hydroplane accident. One of his competitors gave us a card with a note inside that read " only because we dare to be different and reach out and extend ourselves to the limit, we separate ourselves from the norm"

The best quote ever for all of us!

RIP and Gods speed!

Finally, it seems as though http://missourinetwork.tv/ has removed the video from their page that OLOTO had published.

The video comes and goes all over the internet. It's on YouTube this morning.

It should be mentioned that the fire/rescue boat and Tims restaurant shuttle boat got both men out of the water pretty fast and immediately administered CPR all the way to the restaurant while waiting for first responders to arrive. They seemed to do everything possible to give these gentlemen a chance. Thanks to all involved. It was just a terrible accident.

Yesterday was a rough day...I cant even begin to describe how I felt seeing that happen, let alone 150 feet in front of me...and just talking to them an hour or so before the incident.

Garth and I were joking about how bad we were at remembering names, and he joked he would remember someones phone number before their name.

They were 2 awesome, down to earth guys and will greatly be missed.

Rest In Peace Garth and Jim

If anyone has a contact to anyone in their families, please PM me.

RIP
What a gut wrenching sight.
Deepest condolences to friends and families
Did not know either but impressive accomplishments and sure looked like more would have been on the way
The LOTO showing sure was awesome

:( :( terrible news... Were they OSO members?

Just a curious question. Why is it considered disrespectful if someone posted the video? I realize its a tearable tragedy to the people that died and their families but I'm sure everyone here saw the footage. I think it should be seen as people need to see the danger in this sport. It effects everyone of us in the boating world even to the point that another person on this forum has opted out of the shootout game.

Would you want your father, brother or son's death becoming the viral video of the week?

While I agree the video is pretty awful, I guess if it saved a life down the road, so be it .
Having watched it , it will come to mind every time I step into a boat from now on .

There is a picture of the guy crashing the Donzi on the opening page of oso. Is that different?

All due respect Brian, he lived AND the story had a great follow up.

To actually see my friends die was awful, and the video was edited to run on a loop. Just horrible. If I was a family member I'm not sure I would've been able to refrain from a visit to the OP of that footage.

There may be a time and a place where something like that has a positive but it would be simple to point out an error or example. I'm not sure there was either to learn from in this case.

With all due respect Greg. So you saw the video.You could have not sought it out. It wasn't playing on your tv when you walked in your home. You had to go look for it. weather it was playing on a loop or not no body is benefiting financially on it as that would be a s*itty thing to do.I realize it was a tragic event and Im sorry for your friends none the less. Also and I'm walking on eggshells here with no disrespect intended to the friends and family, but we all watched these shootouts knowing this could happen. So its not mutually exclusive. I still think it needs to be seen as an example. Just trying to be honest. Again may they rest in peace.

There is no words to explain what others and I saw. Rescue boats and Tims Shuttle boat did all they could do while waiting for the first responders to arrive. If I may add the boat that came thru after the accident occurred may have thought it was the radar boat or spectator since they were on both sides. Prayers go out to the family's during this difficult time.

Godspeed

I believe 2 boats came through after the accident. They obviously had no idea the accident had occurred. At that point, another boat or 2 closed the course.

Let me clarify, on Facebook I have almost 2k "friends" and pages liked. The videos placed on facebook feeds AUTOPLAY as you scroll through the news feed. This video was on a loop and every time it was "shared" it would appear in the top of my(and lots of others. including the families) feed and play automatically. I did not and would not look for it. I have not watched the OL video from LOTO since Mike passed. I will admit I watched it when it appeared he would pull through but not since his passing.

It HAS BEEN monetized as it was placed on youtube for exactly that reason. The site Offshore Lake of the Ozarks also refused to pull it down until it had over 500k views. It was also on Good Morning America today so it has been likely sold to them. More money.

IN MY OPINION, it's completely in bad taste. This was a racing accident, on the cutting edge, and there will not likely be a lesson that can be learned from repeated watching of the video(s).

With all due respect please go to the beginning of this thread. I started this and made one request, and that was to keep this thread positive and about prayers for the family. If you want a debate start another thread. We are a boating family and community and I want this thread to be just that. Support for one another and the family of the departed who loved and lived to the end enjoying our sport.

Thanks

I keep my Facebook to 350-400 friends and couldn't get around seeing it all day yesterday. There were a few shares today.

Sorry we got off topic. Garth and Jim were my friends and some of my biggest cheerleaders when I got my Skater. Sad to say we will never get to run together.

My very firstt 100+ ride was in Garth's boat on Lake Lanier when he had known me about 5 mins back in 2003. 130++ and I was sold on cats.

Thanks Cash. Yes Lanier is great! Its my home lake too. Love it here. They were great guys and respected by so many.

I hope this isn't viewed as disrespectful, but why did he stay on the throttles until the boat was out of the water? I honestly have no idea if lifting off of the throttles could have brought the front of the boat back down.

I never met these guys and I feel sad that I never will now even though we shared Lanier.
Sincere condolences for the families.
Since I started reading here over 10 years ago the stories of deaths always impress me with a sobering awareness of safety. This feeling really struck me more this year with so many deaths and four while we were at the Lanier poker run. It feels almost personal when I have attended an event where people lost there lives even though I didn't know them. So very sad.
Prayers for the families.

Photo courtesy - Jay Nichols

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RIP - I remember talking to Garth at the ramp in metro park last year after Skaterfest. Nice guy, I was in the market for a 36' Skater at that time and he was very helpful answering questions. This is sad news.

My father was killed in a racing accident 24 years ago right in our hometown Detroit. TV was interrupted locally as breaking news and made nationwide headlines. You can't control what happens with media. Although tragic to watch I hope looking makes all of us realize the danger involved in doing what we love.

I am sorry to hear about your father. You are right that you can't control what happens with the media however technology today is much more aggressive with social media. I am sure watching it on breaking news is hard, but to have it continuously shared, taken down, reposted, edited, etc., can be a bit much for the families to handle. I agree, it should be taken down.

If the families wish to do something down the road to create awareness and prevention that is up to them, not the public.

Did not know Jim, but had the pleasure of knowing Garth. He stored his Skater at the same place I keep my boat. Came over and borrowed a tool from me one day. Great guy. Got to spend a day with him a few months later on that Skater on Lake Lanier. It was a really big deal to me as that boat is out of my reach and it was just an incredible experience He was a class act. Godspeed to both.

This is nuts! this crash is the same blowover that has claimed so many amazing folks from our beloved sport the technology exist to stop blowovers we are playing russian roulete with aerodynamics using impact lift or compression lift yet we have no way to control it we as a group can figure this out, dragboats did with removeable capsules that has saved many lives time for some serious thinking and a way to retro fit to exsisting hulls.....Godspeed to these fine gentlemen

I think the idea is to drive through it.....if you pull back it blows over since less forward momentum is forcing the bow down. I could have it wrong though.

If you back out of it hard, there is also massive weight transfer towards the front of the boat, pushing the bow down. There's a few theories. The best one is to never put yourself in the position.

RIP Guys. So very tragic.

Wow, another tragic loss. It's been a rough summer. RIP

If you go through the video clip frame by frame noting the time stamps from the time the bow started to come up until it was past the "point of no return" it is less than 2 seconds. After that point there is no turning back.
I have watched numerous videos of Garth's boat as well as watching it, and him, in person and can say that although on the edge it never appeared to be out of control. They were very in tune with the boat and it setup. Gust of wind, one bump to much on tabs or drives is all it takes.