Unfortunate accident in Houston

[Dave S]

There was a few tragic accidents over this past holiday weekend in Houston, one pertaining to a wakeboarder and 3 kids on a tube colliding, one of the children was killed. I am not putting blame, judging or point fingers as the investigation continues I do not want to spread rumors, just making people aware that accidents happen. I am supporting the wakeboarding though for the record. The guy, which is remaining anonymous and private at this time, is a member of our local club.

Hopefully, you will be just a little more cautious when those crazy tubers are trying to jump your wake.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/20...s/22jetski.txt

[jwanck11]

There was a few tragic accidents over this past holiday weekend in Houston, one pertaining to a wakeboarder and 3 kids on a tube colliding, one of the children was killed. I am not putting blame, judging or point fingers as the investigation continues I do not want to spread rumors, just making people aware that accidents happen. I am supporting the wakeboarding though for the record. The guy, which is remaining anonymous and private at this time, is a member of our local club.

Hopefully, you will be just a little more cautious when those crazy tubers are trying to jump your wake.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/20...s/22jetski.txt

Ridiculous!

My support/thoughts go to the family of the deceased - and also to all those involved that have to live with the realities of what has happened.

At the end of the day does it really matter where the "fault" lies? Each driver has the responsibility of doing the right thing which is to err on the side of caution... and safety.

Such a tragedy - accidents happen.

[MoneyPity]

I agree with jwanck11. It is unfortunate that two children hurt and one died of injuries.

The issue of fault is only good to learn from and so that others understand what not to do. if we have boat(s) and riders( tube, ski, boarders) coming at us from other direction we will try to move over for more separation and indicate to our rider to not cut back and forth over the wake and go to far side of wake until we pass. If our rider does not acknowledge the sign to not cut we will cut our throttle back to get our riders attention. If that doesn't work we chop the throttle which is not prefered.

This is a concern we have had for years now as lakes become more crowded. It used to be jet skis but now it can be almost any type of riders.

Every time we go out on a crowded lake and we make sure our riders understand our rules on the water because of these unfortunate accidents.

Again our sympathies to all involved. It has to be devastating to all.

[KonaKing]

Ridiculous!

My support/thoughts go to the family of the deceased - and also to all those involved that have to live with the realities of what has happened.

At the end of the day does it really matter where the "fault" lies? Each driver has the responsibility of doing the right thing which is to err on the side of caution... and safety.

Such a tragedy - accidents happen.

+1

[Domsz06]

I read about that yesterday, and my prayers and thoughts go out to the families. I was out this weekend, pulling my friends and brother and there were several times I had to stop dead in the water with a rider behind me as that was the safest thing to do. We didn't stick around much after that.

Did see a few tiges out, they were sexy rides, made me miss mine....

[TRD]

We could have been in this situation this past wkend also. We were only out for about 20-30mins my rider was down and in the water and here comes a big boat w/ 3 people in the boat facing the rear and not watching where they were going, watching the young kid on the tube. She came w/in 40' of us and the tube was w/in 25' or so after she turned away. All I could do was scream and position the boat between her boat and the rider. My hands were shaking for about 15mins after that. I have never been in that situation before. Really scary.

We have just introduced that everyone under 26 must take a course. I really believe everyone should take one anyways. I have taken both open water and lake courses that were offered.

Our prayer do go out to the families, I couldn't imagine something happening to my son out there just trying to have fun.

[thtrog]

Very sad....prayers go out to the families.

[Domsz06]

We could have been in this situation this past wkend also. We were only out for about 20-30mins my rider was down and in the water and here comes a big boat w/ 3 people in the boat facing the rear and not watching where they were going, watching the young kid on the tube. She came w/in 40' of us and the tube was w/in 25' or so after she turned away. All I could do was scream and position the boat between her boat and the rider. My hands were shaking for about 15mins after that. I have never been in that situation before. Really scary.

We have just introduced that everyone under 26 must take a course. I really believe everyone should take one anyways. I have taken both open water and lake courses that were offered.

Our prayer do go out to the families, I couldn't imagine something happening to my son out there just trying to have fun.

i ALWAYS put my boat in front of the rider... Even though people may still get hurt, and the boat for sure, the boat can be repaired and hopefully the people being hurt won't be as bad.

I never powerturn in the water, except on busy weekends. There were several WBing boats out in the area not paying any attention and I had to make them realize. Also a guy was swimming, yes swimming away from shore, we yelled at him to get out as he was very hard to see and I almost ran him over.... WTF???

[TRD]

i ALWAYS put my boat in front of the rider... Even though people may still get hurt, and the boat for sure, the boat can be repaired and hopefully the people being hurt won't be as bad.

I never powerturn in the water, except on busy weekends. There were several WBing boats out in the area not paying any attention and I had to make them realize. Also a guy was swimming, yes swimming away from shore, we yelled at him to get out as he was very hard to see and I almost ran him over.... WTF???

This is what I was always taught. This was the only thing I did right. I panicked; I didn't reach for my whistle or my air horn, which is always w/in reach of the driver. After it was over I asked myself why. It all happened so fast the only thing I could think to do was scream for her to hear, like she would hear that over the engine. When all 4 of us got us a yelled I guess she heard us.

[wakeatx]

Real good idea to have one of those canned air horns within reach on a busy day. Those are hard to ignore.

[Domsz06]

i think if I ever get another boat I will mount air horns on the tower instead of the wimpy horn that no one can hear. then wire them to the horn button

[TRD]

i think if I ever get another boat I will mount air horns on the tower instead of the wimpy horn that no one can hear. then wire them to the horn button

This may not be a bad idea. I could easily mount it to the tower.

This story is why I don't sling my son around as much as he likes. He always wants to go faster, but he is only 10 and I couldn't forgive myself if something ever happened. This story is just so sad. I really can't image how these people feel, they really do need our prayers.

[Carter13]

We could have been in this situation this past wkend also. We were only out for about 20-30mins my rider was down and in the water and here comes a big boat w/ 3 people in the boat facing the rear and not watching where they were going, watching the young kid on the tube. She came w/in 40' of us and the tube was w/in 25' or so after she turned away. All I could do was scream and position the boat between her boat and the rider. My hands were shaking for about 15mins after that. I have never been in that situation before. Really scary.

We have just introduced that everyone under 26 must take a course. I really believe everyone should take one anyways. I have taken both open water and lake courses that were offered.

Our prayer do go out to the families, I couldn't imagine something happening to my son out there just trying to have fun.

Same exact thing happend to us three years ago while pulling my wife. I have a portable air horn that I keep next to the driver.
Nice thing about the portable is you can aim it right at them. It gets their attention really fast.

[talltigeguy]

Very sad. Sounds like he actually landed on the tube when jumping??? What a terrible thing to have happen. Certainly blaming is not going to bring the boy back, but you have to wonder how they could have even gotten close enough to a jumping wakeboarder.

[Domsz06]

Very sad. Sounds like he actually landed on the tube when jumping??? What a terrible thing to have happen. Certainly blaming is not going to bring the boy back, but you have to wonder how they could have even gotten close enough to a jumping wakeboarder.

Tall.

I'm not sure where they were boarding at, but where we board at you can barely fit 2 boats side by side in certain areas. this last weekend there were several times I got passed by 2 boats. That's when we decided to leave. The river/and channel's where people board at are very narrow in area's. It's very easy to get close, and with someone not paying attention you could easily jump onto someone.