Bass Boat Crash

[DJD]

and the film crew in the chase boat crew watched him float for 10 minutes,
what r friends for?

the kill switch sure made it much more manageable

Yeah what was the 10 minute deal about anyway? Thats sounds fishy doesn't it?

[billm_usa1]

10 minutes isn't a long time. As long as the guy is floating face up in the life jacket. You really need to acess the situation. Hauling him up over the side of the boat if he had a broken back or broken neck wouldn't be the smart thing to do. Which begs the question....What would you need to do if you saw this happen ?

Then what is the right thing to do ?
Do you float him to the bank ?
Call 911 ?
Get the Coast Guard ?

[RoadToad]

Man, that guy is lucky to be alive! Watching the slo-mo you can see exactly when he gets knocked out. The boat lands kind of sideways, he slams his head on the gunnel, and the next time you see him he's going into the water limp as a dishrag. And I find it ironic that all the captions say is "Always wear your life vest kill switch," nothing about "Don't drive your boat like an idiot!"

What would you need to do if you saw this happen ?

Then what is the right thing to do ?
Do you float him to the bank ?
Call 911 ?
Get the Coast Guard ?

OK, I'll bite...

"Do you float him to the bank?" NO!!! Not as long as he's breathing and not in danger of freezing to death. I would move him only if the risk of him staying in the water - namely, hypothermia, is worse than the risk of moving him - namely, compounding a potential fracture and causing permanent paralysis. It would appear that the weather was warm enough that hypothermia wasn't an immediate danger.

Call 911? Absolutely! Any time someone takes that kind of blow to the head, escpecially if they lose consciousness, they need to be seen in an ER. I don't care if they wake up a few minutes later, and don't want to go. MAKE THEM GO if it is at all possible! They could wake up 5 minutes after the incident, have nothing but a headache, and still die a few hours later.

Get the Coast Guard? Hopefully calling 911 would accomplish this.

[mhall]

Take a Look at This
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UEETjztLqI

I nearly did this myself at age 15 in a 17 foot Bomber bass boat. It caught air stood up in the front end and I killed the throttle and came down HARD and took on some water. No damage to me or the boat and I haven't done it since thank goodness. When that boat raised like that in the front end on that video I had a major flashback. Scary stuff be careful out there guys.

[fisheater]

Man,what a nightmare.Good reason to start small in boating and work your way up.That could very easily be anyone of us if our first boat did 70mph and there was someone to show off for.

[Fishin is life]

starting off small is alway the way to go...i had a 17 footer with a 115 for 7 years before i recently upgraded to 70+ mph boat....im still getting used to the faster boat and refuse to push it out of my comfort level even though i know it will do it....seeing these type of wrecks should help us all remember to wear our kill switch and a life jacket....its not worth losing your life just because you're in a hurry

[riverrat12]

Man,what a nightmare.Good reason to start small in boating and work your way up.That could very easily be anyone of us if our first boat did 70mph and there was someone to show off for.

John, you see what I'm still in at 45 years old LOL. I DON'T LIKE SPEED on the the water esp. the river, to many things I can't control. When you and Doug goin to get down to the river...Chuck