Boating Accident 38 Cigarette & PWC?
 

First I heard of it. Erie? Or St. Clair?

Detroit River near Boblo Island, (I heard)

Bummer!

Condolences to the family and friends of Chris Austin. R.I.P.

Not trying to start rumors, but there is an older white and red 38 top gun that is stored in my boat storage yard. I have not seen it since the holiday.... Does anyone know what color the boat involved was? I boat in the area quite often and this is the first I have heard of it.

I know the boat. It is a white and blue top gun. Was on a poker run with him last year. Tradegy for sure.

That's sad.

I'm really concerned that I might run over a PWC someday on the local lake. They just dart around without looking. After getting cut off about three times by one guy I tried to call him over to explain to him that he needed to look before turning or I was going run him over. I was not yelling at him. He proceeded to come along side and turn and hose us down with his drive. Then he went and hid for the rest of the day. I wanted to chase him down and beat his azz but I kept a cool head. It's really sad that what looks to be a really nice kid died like this. I hope I never hit one. :(

Are there any more details on this accident? Just curious as to what the "investigation" results are.......

I couldn't agree with you anymore, these Jet Ski's have to be more careful and respectful when operating their craft. A bigger boat is not going to lose if there is an accident and no one wants to see or be involved in an accident. The actions of this guy make me sick as there isn't to much you can do about it but I only wished that you could have got his Registration Numbers and called the Police and Coast Guard to report him.

I haven't read anything in our local Newspaper or seen anything on our local T.V. News Stations other then, they are asking anyone who may have witnessed this accident to call local Authorities. Sad for all involved.

There is a comment about this story after one of the online articles. Some lady says, "The guy on the boat should be locked up for life", which pisses me off. Although it is very sad that a young guy died like this, it is most likely not the fault of the boat driver. The article also said this happened around 8:30pm, and I believe jet skis are prohibited from being out after sunset.

I almost wish a safety course was required to operate jet skis, any idiot with a couple grand can purchase one and be out on the water right after.

At the LSC fun run last weekend, I had two of them zigzaging back and forth in front of me in the middle channel as I was running 55 mph and trying to pass a cruiser! They looked like they were teenagers...

I call them water bugs, you never know what they are doing. Very sad, they scare the heck out of me darting in and out.

[ The article also said this happened around 8:30pm, and I believe jet skis are prohibited from being out after sunset.]
[I almost wish a safety course was required to operate jet skis, any idiot with a couple grand can purchase one and be out on the water right after.]



In Michigan those who are at least 16 years of age and born after December 31, 1978, may operate a PWC legally only if they have obtained a boating safety certificate.
Only those born on or before December 31, 1978, may operate a PWC legally without restrictions..
Also in Michigan It is illegal to operate a PWC during the period that begins at sunset and ends at 8:00 a.m. “Sunset” means that time determined by the national weather service.

Its sad to have lost someone to an accident like this but to be honest I'm surprised it took this long to happen and there haven't been more of them. All these parents who buy their kid a 20,000 dollar-70plus mph jet-ski need to give their head a shake. I boat in the same waters as this happened and I can tell you first hand how many close calls I've had with jet skis. Every time I go out one is either trying to race me or is criss crossing my wake not paying attention to what is going on around them. I hope people don't get a bad taste in their mouth about power boats and think they are the culprit causing accidents. In my opinion the age restriction on these things should be higher, or limited to HP. Maybe this will be an eye opener for some people. My heart goes out to the Austin family and they have my condolences.

A tragedy to be sure- but I've had several experiences with them like you describe. Unfortunately, most of the people I encounter on them think they're in an amusement park or something and ride accordingly... with no regard for anyone else on the lake. It would be horrible to be involved in an accident like this, but the sad fact is that most of the people injured on PWC's put themselves into the situation- not the other way around.

I agree 100% - same thing happens on LSC daily

Exactly! The driver of the Boat Didn't do a damn thing wrong! And then you have people who don't know any of the details saying (mentioned in an earlier post) that the driver should be locked up! That lady needs her mouth slapped for even thinking that let alone writing it on the net. Things could have been worse, the boat could have lost control if taken extreme maneuvers. Kudos for how the boat handled things, Livingston channel gets crazy at times! Then what 4 or 5 more people injured because of a reckless sea doo driver.??? I won't hesitate to report some of these kids that are driving like a bunch of Donkeys! We all have too much invested in our boats to let these sea doo'ers wreck it for us and attract the attention of police, sherrif and coast guard. Its bad enough these days to go out and not get hassled, we don't need any more excuses for them to come out and give us a hard time. But this is just my opinion...

I have noticed the same thing...

I boat near Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario. There is a beautiful beach there and lots of people boat and swim there.
Ona good day there will be a thousand swimmers and fifty or more boats anchored at the beach and these idiots on PWC come flying in at 70mph into the group. Lots of heads bobbing around and sun shining and its amazing no one has been decapitated yet?

I yelled at a couple of them as we were rafted up in a group of six and of course you know what that is like when a huge wake happens in calm waters.

I told them they had 400 square miles of lake to do that, why did they feel the need to do it so close to shore where all the people were.



Their answer...middle finger!

Nobody out in the middle of the lake to show off for, that's why they do it by the beach.

The jag-off's at the local place do the same thing. Fly up to the beach, fly off the beach.

Yelling doesn't work too well but full cans of beer do! Believe me they won't forget that! When these kids wanna race ill drop my tabs down and go by them spraying water 30ft on each side of the boat! They don't see that coming either. Just make sure you have a faster boat than them, and a few lose beers in case they try to 360 splash you.. HAHA

I should carry a paintball gun for jet skiers...

carl,,we had the same thing happen a few years ago,,it happened to be a older guy in his late 50's..we were going down river and he made a rt turn in front of us..we almost ran the phucker over,cut the throttle at the last minute and turned real hard..boat came off plane and he popped out from under the boat with blood on his head....ended up giving him a ride home and towing the pwc also..

i made a post under hers stating how i felt about her comment.
+1 made a Quoat
i agree! i carry 2 weapons aboard one is the sid eof my hull on my x18,,it shoots a wake like a solum skier 30' back x 15' high when you turn really hard,,i can knock them phuckers rite off the pwc..i also hace a ols SS fire extanguisher filled with tidy bowl...so if you ever see a person on a pwc that looks like a grape you know who did it..

any more news ?

I almost ran over two guys on one jet ski :kiss:on saturday... I noticed them in front of me way off to the left of the channel that i was in. So I dropped my tabs and drive and throttled back. My wife asked me why I slowed down, I told her "watch these little a-holes will cut right in front of us". Sure enough, the cut right in front of us withou ever looking to see what was in the channel. I hit my horn, they just looked at me like I was the idiot. I am just fearing the one day, I won't be able to predict what one of these little water bugs is going to do........ Even if not my fault, I can only imagine the feeling of knowing i killed or injured one of these jet ski a-holes....

The PWC problem in LSC is one of the reasons I decided to move from Oakland County to the west side (north of Holland). I found that it's not just the PWCs, but far too many boats in a relatively small area, and many of those are inconsiderate operators or may not know the basic rules of the water. And the dangerously shallow waters in many places just add to the stress. The enjoyment factor we get boating on Lake MI is just awesome -- it's a truly relaxing experience, which is the main reason we go out in the first place. Sometimes during the week, it feels like we have the entire lake to ourselves. I read somewhere that LSC is the one of the most congested inland waterways in the country, which isn't surprising when you consider it's the most popular place to go boating and you've got four million people in southeast MI with a good percentage of them being boaters. I find that being super defensive in boat operation works well -- assume the other guy knows nothing or just doesn't care about anyone else. It's best to be safe then sorry.

Congested? Feels wide open to me, but I grew up going to LOTO and that is a congested lake!

Damn lake lice always make me nervous when they are around. Too easy to turn them without looking, and too likely to be operated by the inexperienced/young/drunk.

What a shame for this poor kid though no matter what.

Heard today on the radio that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have concluded their investigation of the fatal boating accident and no charges will be layed. They also said if anyone seen this accident to call them in their Leamington, Ontario Office.

Thats Great News.....Good To Hear!!!!

That's Awesome! Good New's!!

I also never found Lake St. Clair to be crowded. Most folks are anchored either fishing or hanging out on the Moot. I like to run the rivers though to Erie or Lake Huron. I love Lake Huron. Also, as much as we would all like to, you can't throw full beer cans at these guys. That's assault. It's also alcohol abuse. :)

That's great news....but trust me, there's a scumbag ambulance chasing lawyer trying to convice the dead guys family right now that he can get them some money from this accident. The boat owner will be getting served civil case papers in short time. :mad::hothead:

I hope your wrong! The boat owner is a Stand Up Good Guy, he has to live with this the rest of his life. He has suffered enough!