Dose of reality on safety

[jondavis08]

Thought I'd pass along an incident that happened to a close friend of mine last week. My neighbor/best friend/ riding buddy had a very close call. To start he's by far the best wakeboarder on the lake if dedicated he could probably find himself at an amateur level tour caliber. Instead, he's a Dentist/dad during the day turned into a shredder on his free time. Last week he was in the middle of a set and went for his 540, which he has landed several times. He just about landed it but his board got stuck in the trough of the wake and caught an edge and went down hard face first. He was immediately knocked out and laying face first in the water. With the boat fully loaded it wasn't easy to get the boat back turned around and he probably was laying down face first for 2-3 minutes. Luckily there were 3 adults on the boat at the time and two jumped in to get my buddy flipped on his back and onto the boat. He was very lucky as his wife who is a doctor was on the boat as well as his brother who is military trained for water rescues was as well. Unfortunately, his kids were on the boat as well.. They were able to get him onto his back and breathing and awake eventually and an ambulance we waiting at the launch. In the end, he spent 3 days in the hospital and is finally back home recovering. He took in a lot of water in his lungs and is still recovering from his concussion.

We have a good size crew that rides every week and this has been an eye-opener. First, we all were excited about the idea when our kids were old enough to spot for us. We all have ridden serval times with just one adult(usually our wife) and kids spotting. In this case, there was no way my buddy's wife could have turned the boat around, jumped out, flipped him over and got him back to the boat by herself. Next, he was wearing a comp vest. It's hard to say but if a CGA jacketed got him to flip on his back the result wouldn't have been nearly as bad if he was on his back. Lastly, he only wears a helmet with hitting a rail and didn't have his at this time. I always wear my simply because I want my son to. It really bothers me that there isn't enough research on the effects of wearing a helmet while wakeboarding. Some believe that the extra cushion will help prevent concussions or at least lessen the blow. Others believe that the increase in the surface area creates a bigger risk. Not sure what the right move is here but I will continue to wear mine.

Lake sports are great and a wonderful way to spend family time but sometimes we need a scare to remember why safety is always important. Just saw an article about a 7-year-old in Portland that was standing on his trailer tongue as his dad pulled out the boat. He slipped off and the dad ran over his head and the child passed away.. Another incident that we should all learn from. Being a "buzz kill" and making everyone obey the safety rules is important...

[nyryan2001]

Agreed on all.... thanks for sharing.

[migs]

Agreed. Just a reminder, that when its your boat & you're the captain, youre #1 responsibility is everyones safety on the boat

[funkster]

Thanks for sharing. Information and real life experiences is a powerful eye opener. This was probably the best case scenario with the crew he had onboard. I actually had this happen to me also some years ago. At the time, my buddy was an average boarder who was progressing towards inverts. On this particular day I was teaching him how to backroll. Long story short, when he landed he caught an edge and went face first at boarding speed and was knocked out cold. He was face down wearing a coastguard approved vest. Our spotter wasn’t boat savvy nor was he a strong swimmer. More so just a flag holder. I quickly had to decide what was the best option for safety. While turning around I had him pull in the rope so it wouldn’t get tangle making it take longer if we needed to quickly get back to the dock. I then got the boat positioned close enough for him to take the wheel safely without endangering the down rider or myself. I jumped in, flipped him over and got him to the swim deck and conscious. Needless to say he was fine and everything worked out good given the situation but it could’ve been much worst. Since that day I always make it a point to have our third a competent person who I can trust in a life or death situation. Having regular safety discussions when things go south could mean someone living or not. Remember, it could be you that is the one face down in the water!


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[srock]

If you are at it long enough there is a good chance you will have a bad day. After years and hundreds if not thousands of hours I will shamefully admit that after being distracted behind the wheel I looked up to see my rider 3 feet off the boat next to me. That was an incredibility sobering moment.

In addition, I to was 10 feet from being hit after falling of a wake skate. I came up from the water saw a boat, was hit with spray then I heard screams as a tow rope and tube whizzed by. I won't forget the faces of terror in the passing boat and my shaking wife, child and friends as I climbed back onto my boat.

It only takes a moment of lapse for disaster to happen. I think I will review "what to do" with my wife and son before our next outing.

[scottb7]

Jeez, now i gonna be scared to have my wife pull me when the buddies aren't around. Thanks...

[Gtsum2]

Very sobering story. Thank you for sharing. I never, ever thought of things like this back in my 20Â’s when we boarded every weekend...now that IÂ’m getting back into it and have a family, sharing of these stories are much appreciated



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[nyryan2001]

And don’t think folks can’t get hurt surfing.

just last night I was admiring a scar from when I took a 450hp surfboard across the face. While surfing it sliced perfectly into the prop wash in front of me... then it caught the 450hp prop wash broadside and came back at me on the sharp side of the thin surfboard at a 45deg angle across my face. Sliced completely through my upper lip, nearly knocked me out. Upper teeth nearly knocked out were wiggly for a year.

that was 7years ago, it never healed completely. I’ve trained myself and my boys if you have to fall forward throw your arm and bicep up and cover your face into your armpit.

[Skidave]

My uncle knocked himself out doing inverts on his SkySki. It was mid-day on a small lake community and we were the only boat out there. My cousin was 10 or 11 at the time and not very aware of the urgency of getting him out of the SkySki and in the boat. Luckily, proper vest and he was floating with his face out of the water.

I wear a helmet. Doesn't provide 100% protection for everything. I still got a good gash on my head with a helmet.

My wife and I always use a wave from rider to driver after a fall to make sure all is good. No wave means something's wrong. My uncle always thought that wave was not needed.

We are using our 11 year old as our observer this year. But there is a lot of education going on as he sits and observes. I know he cant pull me out of the water, but he can use his skills and knowledge to assist mom or other adults. Nothing replaces an adult, but I've had some adults on the boat that are more useless than my 11 year old.

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[Tallredrider]

I'm a big believer in a real life vest. I cannot believe that the comp vests are really that much more comfortable. The wakeboard might hold a guy face down, but the comp vest sure did not help.

I see posts of people surfing all the time without a vest. Drives me nuts. Often throwing beers from the boat to the rider. All it takes is a surfboard to the head or a rogue jetski to make a bad situation a tragic one.

I believe in helmets. I was wakeboarding and working on my surface 360's once. I backslapped and hit my head. I had just finished ridiculing my buddy's lack of testosterone because he brought a helmet. I put the helmet on, and unintentionally did the exact same backslap. I now wear a helmet whenever I wakeboard. The difference was significant.

[Luebowski]

I stopped wearing a helmet last year since I have no tricks in my rides and hardly ever fell. Went harder this last weekend, and just going wake to wake somehow landed weird and hit the back of my head on the water hard enough to ring my bell. Back to a helmet permanently now, like the rest of the riders in my crew.

Glad your buddy is ok, and thanks for sharing

[96SNEFI]

Jeez. I did a bunch of OTF's when I was figuring out how to ride a more advanced waterski. Never unconscious. Don't know about concussions. Had to figure a different way to fall due to seeming to always slam ear first into the water. No helmet. Always a proper ski life vest. (I'll have to check for any certifications after all these years )
I've always required a wave from a fallen rider. I would hurry back waves be danged only to end up scolding them to wave if they're fine.
Now that I'm a few years older, I wouldn't try to do anything particularly on the edge with a light crew. I'd wait for more adults.
It's hard to imagine what could go wrong short of staying in a padded cell just to be sure nothing might happen. We all take risks. Heck...driving a car in traffic.

[scttp]

Very good point about a competent third, and if not, the driver needs to be extremely competent and able to single handedly get the rider onto platform and in boat.

CGA vest may make it slightly easier to rescue someone, but only slightly. If they are face down with a board on their feet there’s no way it will flip them over.

Thanks for posting.


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