I have been guilty in the past of never wearing my kill switch or a PFD....never again!!!

This morning I went to the boat ramp to launch my sons 17' Yamaha jet boat. The boat has been down for a couple of months getting the engine rebuilt.I got it cleaned up and running and thought I would surprise my son when he got home from school by having it ready for the weekend. Well I put the boat in the water and everything was running great so I decided to leave the ramp area and head for home. I'm running along about 35-40 mph and the damn thing just quits, and without any power in a jet boat you have have no steering, sure enough the boat starts turning to the left and runs right into a channel marker (Telephone pole). I was not hurt but was almost thrown from the boat, the boat did receive some serious damage.

It just makes you realize how quick things can go wrong, one second everything is great the next second you are totaly helpless. And this was at a speed that is less than half of what our high performance boats are capable of. I have been thinking all day about what I could have done different and i'm at a loss, I could understand if I were operating the boat in a careless/reckless manner but I was not, It was just a freak accident.

Be Safe!!!

WOW! Glad you are OK!!

were you on the left side of the boat?? If you were you could have moved to the other side and it would have turned the other way. In a small boat weight shift can make a big change in direction.

That was the Great Skipper in the sky, giving you a warning! I would heed it.

I think they need rudders even small ones would give you some
directional control jet ski's really need them
I been in some close one's with jet ski's

top dj nice avatar....photoshop???

Glad to hear you OK!! What did your son think?

Thank god your ok, At first I thought it was the gun, boy, that would of been bad news for sure. Have the little guy perform some magic on that thing and it will be OK. Tell everyone lisa and I said hello!! Are you going to make the run here next week? if not I am sure we will catch up with you guys soon. Trying to plan for the Keys for the races, I just have a couple of weddings to hit and I am very busy with annuals in my neighborhood. Why is it that they are all due around this time of the year???
Talk to ya soon.
Keep on flyin'
Billy & Lisa

Good to hear you are ok. I know the feeling "No power No steering", that is a problem with pwc & jet boats.

joey