Public Lake Dangers

[webbdawg99]

I remember when I was growing up how nervous and even mad my mother would get at other "idiot" boaters around us. She was always concerned about our safety and was especially fearful when we'd fall in the middle of a busy lake. As much as I wish waterskiing was more in the public eye and not isolated to private lakes, this video is another great argument for staying off public water.

 

[E_T]

@webbdawg99 the guy on the jet ski was the girls brother who was intoxicated. He wanted to scare her for some reason!??!?! Luckily he only hit the board.

[ForrestGump]

Wow! What an idiot.

[Skoot1123]

Knucklehead - Good grief!!!!

[webbdawg99]

@E_T I have to ask, how do you know that?

[E_T]

@webbdawg99 you have to remember my intergalactic satilite pics up everything across all water sports

[webbdawg99]

yea....thats not gonna cut it. Saying you read it on another forum would've been an acceptable answer....but you still dont KNOW that. I was thinking it was someone you may have known.

[E_T]

@Webbdawg99 From wake world.com the guy who posted the video raceman693

[MISkier]

A few years ago, someone ran a waverunner into a windsurfer on one of the lakes I visit on vacation. The result: broken pelvis. And, we are not talking about a 100 acre lake. It is several thousand acres. Plenty of room to avoid that.

 

I've had them chase us while skiing and jump the wake or follow directly behind us with skier in tow. When any of that happens, we drop the skier at shore and stop skiing.

[6balls]

@MISkier I drop the skiers off then go chase 'em down for a little "chat". I have no problem lighting that crap up like a Christmas tree.

[jimbrake]

@6balls - I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of your "chats".

 

[kmenard]

I always keep some lake lice repellent in the back of my boat for such occasions. http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3369/3666112469_bbfb8d6813_z.jpg

[EricW]

Who said there was no way to haul both the boat and jet ski home from the lake???

[04196]

@kmenard - freekin' awesome pic

[LeonL]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You can take a person of average intelligence, put him/her on a jet ski and within 20 minutes they've lost 40 IQ points. It's some kinda rule or law or something.

[Fatroll]

Crotch rocket on water...pure stupidity

[Brady]

I have a pair of jet skis on the back of my houseboat. In our family, they have one very important use, and that is to assist setting up and taking down the portable slalom course when we go to Powell. Period! People on jet skis get a false sense of "being the man!" They make a quick turn and nose dive, and instantly they think they are Gods! Or better yet, they come in behind your boat and hit the wake and jump all of 2 inches! "Wow, man, did you see the air I caught!!!"

 

Any sport where you can master and become elite in 20 minutes.......and ruin everyone else's water in the process is not for me!

[OTF]

Target practice, just have to lead them further than ducks

[BlueSki]

I was just on vacation and a middle-aged jet skier started to jump the wake while my nine-year old was slaloming. We stopped but he buzzed out before we could chat. I wish I had a flare gun on board.

[mwetskier]

any decent tournament boat can chase down any jetski. the trick is you just have to work them like your a herd dog. they may have higher speed so they just think they can out run you but they cant turn very sharp at those speeds. so if your patient and determined you can out manouver them and eventually box them in. once they realize they cant evade you forever theyll finally stop for a chat. then you can explain that what they were doing is dangerous for people you care about and if they do it again there might a collision that they would probably not survive. they always leave you alone after that. ask me how i know.

[BlueSki]

Good points, but my son wanted to keep skiing and going on the hunt with the spouse on board would likely have limited marital bliss. I remember the jet ski, so a hunt down in the future would be fun.

[Andy]

We have a deck boat on the lake with what must be a rear facing drivers seat. Fortunately they only pull tubes...

[rockdog]

What a f*#wit. If I ever see my son do that to anyone let alone his own sister, it will be a millennium before he sees water time again. Alcohol and jet skis seem to go hand in hand these days too I think? And don't their eyes light up when they find a slalom course in the vicinity!

[jackski]

This always happens when you have a new "technology" placed in with traditional. In the years previous to ATV's and ATC's we could ride in the back woods with little restriction or complaints. The idiot's that drank and rode would only do it once as the pain from the crash was too much for them. As soon as ATV's arrived, drinking and driving and theft of cutting equipment etc., rose to the point that most of the places we rode became off limits. Then of course licenses, permits, etc.. Same with jet skis. Prior to them there were some but few problems. As soon as jet skis came on the scene, all rules had to be changed and new ones implemented. Now you can't even put a portable slalom course within 200 feet of the shoreline, besides licensing etc.. The moral is, if you create something any moron can use, they will try to prove themselves to you while drunk.

[A_B]

Another reason I enjoy lake ownership...

 

There was a death (jet skier) on Devil's Lake about an hour north of me several years ago. A well known Developer from our area ran in front of a SN headed into the jump ramp with jumper in tow.

 

That lake is lucky there have not been others fatalities, it is a crazy place to be on the water on any given weekend after lunch, mainly due to the jet skis running 80 mph in all directions.

[XR6Hurricane]

This was our last encounter with a jet skier. They came around a bend in the river, straight at us, on the wrong side of the channel. The channel runs through the center of this bridge between the two abutments because it's shallow with rocks on the other side. At the last second they swerved to their LEFT without warning. Keep in mind the closure speed was about 60-70 mph so this all happened real quick (the GoPro makes distances look greater than they are). It wasn't the best place to be skiing, I'll admit. Some of my friends like to ski through the curve because there is great water on either side of it, but I try to avoid the curve now.

 

We had a rental place on our local lake for a few years and it was a nightmare. When it closed, the village board said, "Never again will a business license be issued for a PWC rental dock." Amen.

 

 

[kona]

@LeonL average intelligence compared to what, Sheep ?

 

[mwetskier]

@davelemons - many skiers report being harassed by a jet skier and then the guy skoots away without any chance to educate him on the extreme dangers he exposed everyone to including himself. even in this thread. how do you plan to get his 2 inch high registration number when he runs away from you at 70 mph and what makes you think any govt agency is going to care enough to follow up on a no accident complaint? what you should want is to get his attention and then educate him. man to man.

if you know a better way to help him understand hes endangering people you care about id love to hear it. without a law forcing the jet skier to paint his phone number in big letters on the sides of his jet ski i dont know a better way to speak directly to him do you? once you 'chase him down' you gain 2 things. you personally school him on the fact that a ski boat can catch him if it wants to and you make it clear that his actions wont be tolerated. you may not like it and i guess my i.q. is 100 points lower than yours but this way works better than any thing else we;ve tried over the years. ive only had to discuss it one time with any jet skier and then ive never had a problem with that guy again. and as a bonus the word gets out among the other jet skiers too.

[MISkier]

Today, I was at my in-laws cottage in northern MI. The lake is divided into two halves with about a 300'-400' channel between them. Many cottages line the channel with their docks, lifts, boats and one side is basically a point. At the very apex of the point, I saw a dock that was collapsed and bent (aluminum frame) and basically unusable. There was a 3'x5' sign on shore where the dock begins that said in huge letters "Jet skis suck". I didn't have a camera with me. I wonder what the story behind that could be.

[Brady]

There is NO place for jet-skis on lakes. There is however, one absolutely appropriate location for jet skis--the ocean!

 

[xrated]

Yikes! That is why we ski dawn and dusk on our lake, no morons. Then again we do things a bit different up in southern Canada where I ski and chances are such actions by a jet ski would be the last act before a new crappie crib was made.

[6balls]

If you drive after them like a nut-job I'm sure they run and I can see #davelemmons point. They are also stupid fast. If you drive at sane speed and wave 'em down usually they stop b/c they are morons who still don't realize they've done anything wrong....they think you want to complement them or something. They stop, I shut down the motor, stand up and we have our "chat".

 

[alex38]

ive always thought pwc's put a little (understatement) too much power and responsibility into the hands of inexperienced boaters too fast and too easily.

[estrom]

I keep an air horn handy by the driver's seat and am very liberal in my usage if some knucklehead gets too close. 99% of the time, it is jet skis, but I've used it at other boats too.

[jipster43]

The real tragedy is lawn darts have been outlawed and PWC's have not.

[OTF]

@jipster 43, outlawed yes, eradicated no. I know where you can get some :)

[Brady]

@6balls I would pay lots of money to see you "chat"