Shock Trauma trip

MXer478

MXer478

New Member
Oct 10, 2007
281
San Diego, CA
Not sure if I shared my story from this past summer but heres a little story to pass the time! Especially since it's raining here.:smt089

So, there I was! It was May 07 and I was out with the family on the new boat. We decided to go out on Mission Bay in San Diego because the weather wasn't too bad that day (First mistake). I originally had decided not to attempt wakeboarding because the bay was kind of crouded with boats. We ate lunch, relaxed and had a great time! At around 1600 the bay had cleared out a bit, I decided to take a few laps around the bay on my new wakeboard! I got in, took a few laps and that was that....

So, here we go, I'll try to explain as clearly as possible.

I'm up on my board and I decide that I'm done for the day. I let go of the tow rope. I'm now facing aft and I notice a boat had kind of turned towards me... My wife (driving the boat) notices the boat as well and she races back to try to position our boat between the other boat amd me. So, I'm facing aft, the boat is coming towards me and my boat now comes from my right side. She was successful at getting our boat between that boat and me but her momentum swings her around the front of me and to my left now. So, now I'm in the middle....my boat is on my left and the other boat is passing on my right...about 7-10 feet from me at around 20 knotts. The people in my boat are screaming at them, waving a big orange flag and honking. I'm looking at them like "WTF?". I put my arms up like "Dude, what are you doing?".....they looked at us smiling and waving.

Here's where it went poorly! To my suprise their boat snagged my tow rope! It comes across the waters edge at I'm guessing 20 knotts, it closelines me. Bad! My neck whipped back so hard that the back of my head hit my back between my shoulder blades. I can still hear the sound that it made when it hit me.

So, my immediate thoughts were..."I'm done"...either a broken neck or at least a huge chunk out of my neck to include everything inside if it. It first I tried to breath....it worked! I looked at my boat, our friend Cindee had seen the whole thing....so was freaked out. Later she had nightmares about it. But anyway, I swam to the boat. Got out and asked my wife if I was ok(visually), she couldnt see anything. It started bleeding from some skin being removed at this point.

So, I look around....the boat didnt even stop! They kept on going! I was pissed!

So, I got my board out of the water, got in the boat and chased the bastard down. After a few choice words that I had, he says "I dont know how to drive a boat!" . He was on a rental, he couldnt speak much english. I wanted to jump in their boat and beat the snot out of them:smt021, but my neck had now swollen up and I was starting to feel tightness in my throat.

I went in to the dock, luckly an emergency crew was right there, I walked up and asked them to check me out. Next thing I knew, I was strapped to a board, IV's in both arms and my wetsuit was cut up on the floor :( Off to shock trauma I go!

After 20k in medical bills (Im in the military, so that was covered) everything turned out ok, just lots of tissue damage and a bad case of whiplash. I was lucky.

So, thats my story!

Moral of the story......

go to the lake instead, no rentals there!:smt038
 
Glad you ended up OK. That's a tough call on what to do with that instance specifically and the general inept, irresponsible public at the wheel of boats. Initially, I like the idea of handgun carry permits, but I guess we're not supposed to be judge, jury, and executioner. On the other hand, this guy seriously endangered your life.

I'm sure we've all had instances where other 'boaters' (using the term loosely) came too close or threw too big a wake or whatever. When your guy snagged a line, that could easily have been wrapped around a limb or worse. I think I would have done the same in chasing him down, but I think I would have made efforts to involve the CG and/or other water authorities specific to that area. He likely would have been cited and the rental operator would have been aware and the authorities could then advise the rental operators of their responsibility to check out renters before turning them loose.

I've seen several ski rope accidents go much worse. You're lucky. Next time, shoot the b*stard! He's a danger to himself and others and he could contribute to the gene pool making matters worse for future generations.
 
:wow: HOLY CRAP!

Someone was wastching over you that day!

Glad to hear your doing OK.
 
Oh yeah, I was lucky.

We ended up contacting everyone. Harbor patrol, the rental company, we wrote the number of the boat down, got all that info. Harbor patrol didnt do much BUT the rental place was helpful. Asked me not to sue, I'm not the type....However, I told them it sure would be nice if I got that wetsuit replaced (medics has to cut it off), they hooked me up.

I did get the drivers info from the rental place, my health insurance went after him for the damages but I never heard the outcome.

The law is 100 yards from any other boats and 200 yards away from boats with people in the water. The fact that he snagged my rope proves how close he was.

So, all is well now!
 
MXer478 said:
Oh yeah, I was lucky.

I did get the drivers info from the rental place, my health insurance went after him for the damages but I never heard the outcome.

So, all is well now!
Click to expand...

I hope they hooked him up good. Crazy story, glad your doing ok.
 
MXer478 said:
The law is 100 yards from any other boats and 200 yards away from boats with people in the water. The fact that he snagged my rope proves how close he was.
Click to expand...




Thank you for sharing your near tragic adventure.

I’m very glad you are doing well.

I love this forum and the experiences that are shared.

I hope my reply is taken the right way and does not offend you.

As I read your post I tried to take away a lesson. In a dangerous situation the thing to take away is safety. What can we learn? How can we protect our families from the same? What could you have done different?

Obviously if you had not gone boating that day you would not have had an issue. Does this mean we should stay home, hiding safely under our beds? Of course not. Same thing with going wake boarding.

Since you said the boaters on your boat were waving a flag at the other boater, I assume they had it up and visible before the boat got close. Good job. Unfortunately the other boater did not know what this meant. We can complain but we can not control the behavior of other boaters.

Below are some possible suggestions. You may have done these and more. I’m trying to offer these for the benefit all forum members that will take the time to read it.

#1) The Boat Driver:
Your wife tried to position your boat between you and the oncoming boat. She was not successful. One suggestion is to practice this maneuver with a life jacket floating in the water representing a down skier as you are safely on the boat.

As long as you are practicing maneuvers with the wife driving I suggest you also practice another maneuver. Take your throwable Type IV and tie a rope to it. Now pretend that floating life jacket is a person you are attempting to rescue. It takes some practice to get proficient at tossing one of these things if you have not done it. A suggestion is to toss it like a Frisbee not football. Now trade off and have your wife practice as you drive.

#2) Make yourself visible:
Something you did not mention in your above post but you may have done. I have been in a similar situation as you described. I don’t wakeboard but I do ski. Guess I’m old school. I hold the ski high out of the water so it’s visible to an oncoming boater. Again, maybe you did this. Normally when I do this the oncoming boater turns away, giving a large margin of safety.

#3) Avoid a bad situation:
I was not there that day. I don’t know the size of body of water nor the traffic. Where we boat there is a river called the Fox River of Wisconsin. It is legal to water-ski and wakeboard on the river except in the no wake zones. There have been fatalities where down skiers have been run over by boaters. Its tempting to go to this spot when the wind is making the lakes too rough for skiing. I am amazed at how many skiers I have seen on this very narrow river. You mention a law that requires 200 yards minimum distance. This must be a local law or is not enforced in our area. The river is not that wide for most of the way. In areas less then 200 yards, more like 100 yards total its not unusual to get a mixture of go-fast boats, house boats, pontoon boats, ski boats, cruisers and fishing boats, all boating at different speeds. Most stay on the right like a roadway but passing (overtaking) is constant.

Take those skiers going about 17 MPH passing a house boat going 5 MPH as a go-fast and pontoon boat are heading in the opposite direction going 50 MPH and 20 MPH respectively. The boats will miss each other by not more then 50 feet assuming everyone is evenly spaced. Realistic distance can be as small as 15 feet. Often the boats being overtaken are startled. Dangerous? Yes. Again, I know of no local law being in violation however if you do find one it’s clearly not enforced in this area.

I talked to a member of the sheriff patrol boat asking for clarification of two boats at speed, traveling in opposite directions on the Fox River. He said the only thing they would enforce is to miss. So a 0’ margin for all legal enforcement purposes. Again, I’m not saying ‘legal’ I’m saying what is enforced.

I will not allow our family to ski or tube in this situation. I am in the minority, the safety Nazi, the mean dad that says ‘no tubing today kids’ which is replied to with a hymn of child voices saying “AawwW!”

#4) The lollypop (slang)
Your last chance at safety is to dive. You are wearing a life vest. You will not get to dive to depth due to the buoyancy of the flotation device. Next time you are out floating about practice this technique. Swim as fast as you can, bend your body at your hips 90 degrees with your head down to the bottom. Now lift your feet straight up in the air. You will briefly go down. Practice this a few times.

Thank you again for sharing your experience and I’m glad you are doing great.
 
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Yeah, I've replayed this event about a thousand times in my head, thinking about how it could've been avoided...... There was a lot that could've been done differently. As hindsight is always 20/20. But to add a bit more.

My family did put the flag up as soon as I went down. Waved it all the way back to me, then continued to wave it until I got hit and they were gone.

I had taken my wakeboard off and I was holding it vertical in the water, pretty bright blue side facing said boater!

I think the 200 yard law is a local one, it came from the Harbor Patrol. It is a good sized body of water that runs in a counter clockwise direction.

The boater had no problem seeing me or my boat, I actually think they came in for a closer look! But, you're right....I'm the same way. Safety first. I too am the safety nazi....my wife is always complaining about that! Well, until this happened!

But, as always there was always more that could've been done.
 
I'd recommend sticking to your plan. I'm a big stickler for a having a plan. Most of the time I stick to it...that day I didn't. My original plan was to not go boarding....but I made the choice to do so after the fact. In my line of work I've seen these things happen so many times.....people make a plan, then change it during an event and something goes poorly.

I'm not saying that this was the reason for the accident. But I sure wouldnt have been in the water if I had stuck to my original plan.

So, like I tell my Marines, three rules to live by.

Have a plan, use common sense and take care of each other.

nuff said!:thumbsup:

Jeremiah
 
Glad it worked out. You certainly are very very lucky!
That's a crazy story for sure.
WOW!
 
Not going to sue? You need to sue. That @$$hole's carelessness could have left your family without a son, husband and father, all at once! Not to mention the fact he could have taken out your boat as well along with your family aboard. Your wife has since suffered from nightmares because of his neglect. Could you imagine the nightmares your family would have to endure had you been decapitated by the rope? You put your @$$ on the line for this country to ensure our freedoms and promote democracy. This careless act could have taken your life and you weren't even in the field. All the clown could say is, "I don't know how to drive a boat" and that's his excuse for injuring you?! Then the rental company says please don't sue? Come on Marine, you pick your battles and this surely is one to pick. You and your family deserve compensation beyond the medical bills. You think this situation happened by accident? He "consciously disregarded" the fact you were in the water and the fact your wife had the boat positioned next to you. He knowingly made that choice to drive the boat in your immediate vicinity. His boat had a steering wheel, right? Turn the wheel right, boat goes right, turn the wheel left, boat goes left. We all know this. You think he would have said the same thing if he had run you over in his "rental" car on the interstate while you were say, changing a flat? You need to do the right thing for both you and your family. Sue this clown S.O.B.!
 
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Although i share your enthusiasm about this matter....it's done and over with. It's ok, I've had others actually try to kill me in Iraq....it wasnt like he was trying to kill me on purpose. He was just an idiot! I'd rather spend the time home between deployments with the wife, kids then spend it in a court room battling some idiot.

Fragmag,
I am the Maintenance Control Chief of a F/A-18 squadron. Basically I supervise an office that runs a squadrons maintenance dept, signs the A/C safe-for-flight, etc...
 
Wow! Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad you're ok.
 
MXer478 said:
Although i share your enthusiasm about this matter....it's done and over with. [
Click to expand...

Done and over with on a neck injury? Oh, to be young and naive again... It's very likely to come back to haunt you as the years progress.

While I certainly sympathize with the idea of giving people a break there's just too many people at fault to let that slide. I'm sure the idiot is still being an idiot and the rental company is still renting to folks just like him. And you've basically just let them off scot free. This doesn't help you and it certainly won't help the next poor guy that ends up killed by idiots like these.
 
MXer478 said:
Fragmag,
I am the Maintenance Control Chief of a F/A-18 squadron. Basically I supervise an office that runs a squadrons maintenance dept, signs the A/C safe-for-flight, etc...
Click to expand...

Cool. I work in an office full of Marines. I teach at the EOD school here at Eglin Air Force Base. Funny thing, it's a Navy run school on an Air Force base, but it's a joint service school so all four branches are here. Good to see some current active duty military representing here. I just got out of the Army in Sep 07. Anyways, glad to hear you're ok.
 
Ok, I've never sued anyone....what would I be sueing for??? I guess I shouldve called a lawyer and talked with them. Too late now right? I've just always looked at sueing as just a way to get money from an insurance company. I've always felt that these people are the reason that my insurance rates are too much! So, do I really want to a part of them? I don't know...I was covered medically, so what would I sue for?
 
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