During the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout speed runs, a twin inboard pontoon veered left, throwing the driver out. The boat continued to run in circles for over 9 minutes before it was stopped.
Originally posted by pbslinger: During the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout speed runs, a twin inboard pontoon veered left, throwing the driver out. The boat continued to run in circles for over 9 minutes before it was stopped.
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With an unobstructed pull between the switch and wherever the driver had attached it to himself, I doubt the lanyard would break. On the other hand, I could see it getting tangled in something and breaking without triggering the switch. The throttle on our Formula is side mounted with the switch mounted about 6" under the throttle. I could easily see the lanyard getting caught on the throttle if I wrapped the other end around my right wrist.
Posts: 11816 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007
Watching the video was very underwhelming. I expected some big moment where he was ejected. Nope. He did a slo mo topple over the side. It actually looked like he didn’t try very hard to stay in. I’m sure that isn’t the case but it certainly seemed like he could have stayed in.
Posts: 7540 | Location: Florida | Registered: June 18, 2005
HaHaHa! I've been to that race many times. My brother even used to have a Playcraft tritoon like that. I found the video mostly funny, once it was obvious no one had been hurt.
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Posts: 24753 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009
Originally posted by pedropcola: Watching the video was very underwhelming. I expected some big moment where he was ejected. Nope. He did a slo mo topple over the side. It actually looked like he didn’t try very hard to stay in. I’m sure that isn’t the case but it certainly seemed like he could have stayed in.
I don't know if the boat hooking was from steering input or uneven deceleration of the engines. Assuredly pontoons aren't great at going around corners, and when you have two motors that far apart and one slows faster than the other, it can create unwanted turning. I'll assume the boat has two big blocks which likely have lots of deceleration drag when you cut the throttle.
I think it'd be harder to hang on than you think when subjected to that kind of sideways force. Especially when you aren't prepared for that sideways force and have no design features to deal with it.
Posts: 7689 | Location: Over the hills and far away | Registered: January 20, 2009
When I was in the CG we responded to a man overboard in Crystal River. Upon arriving we found the driver and a passenger had been thrown overboard when a steering cable broke and the boat began circling at full speed. The driver wasn’t wearing the safety lanyard.
The coxn motored into the boats circle and let it run into our hull pushing against our larger 25’ Boston Whaler. Then I jumped over and pulled the lanyard.
We took it alongside and went and found the passenger ashore. We had him point where he last saw the driver, and we went searching. Located him deceased, and I was the lower ranking guy, so I stripped down and swum down to him and retrieved his body. Then we took the boat and the driver to the pier where our involvement ended once the body was turned over to the local EMS and we had the sheriff do the notification.
Always wear the kill switch lanyard.
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Originally posted by 41: Nothing more funny than going down to the local boat launching ramp on the weekend and watching people put in.
There are a couple of YouTube channels that are pretty popular that post videos of idiots on boats (frequently involving boat ramps) and/or post videos of people (many of whom happen to be idiots) going in and out of some of the really rough inlets in Florida. They’re usually good for a few minutes of light entertainment.
The ones I remember off the top of my head are BroncosGuru (mostly idiots on boats), Wavy Boats (rough inlets), and Boats vs Haulover (rough inlets).
I will never understand why so many idiots in little lake boats decide to go out rough inlets to the big bad ocean on nasty days.
Posts: 6319 | Location: CA | Registered: January 24, 2011
