Bad Day

[ngavchris]

Just when you think you have had a bad day on the lake because you broke down or had a dead battery, think how this guy feels. The word is that he hit a large wave, which threw him out of the boat. Boat kept going and this is where it stopped. I have been on the lake for many years and this is my 1st for seeing something like this.
FYI: Not sure if anyone else was on the boat, not sure if he was hurt. Did not appear that anyone was making an attempt to move the boat. That bank is about 4ft. tall.

http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz359/ngavchris/BadDay.jpg

[Mani]

Wow, you're not kidding. That's a terrible day! Was the owner of the boat alright?

[csuggs]

Ouch! That hurts.

[jonyb]

Hope everyone's okay......

Something similar happened to me one time, and if my friend hadn't been in the boat, then mine would've looked the same way, but I would've still been in the boat. In 2005 I had a Baja H2X, powered by a Merc 454. Me and a friend had launched and were going to the party cove at about 11am. Another friend was behind us in a similar boat. Out of nowhere, there were a few big waves that we didn't see in time. The boat went up the first one, skipped the second, then went straight up in the air on the third. When it came down, I came out of the seat, crossed the boat, and the back of my head banged the outside deck on the passenger side. I then somehow flopped down to the floor and was temporarily paralyzed. My passenger may have thrown me down there so he could get to the controls to stop the boat. When I flew across him, the plastic radio cover took about 15" of skin off of my back. So my passenger got to the other side and shut down the boat. I laid in the floor and couldn't move while I bled all over everything. After about 10 minutes, I started getting feeling back in my arms and legs. The guy behind us said he saw the prop. The thing about that boat with the 454, it was really heavy at the transom, so when the boat would skip a wave, the transom went down first. We started back up and went to the closest marina to get bandages or something to catch all the blood. they had nothing, so we went on to the party cove. The people we raft up with there had what I needed and there were a couple there that were EMT's.

I wasn't wearing the dead-man switch that day. Since that day, I wear the tether everytime the boat is moving. Even though we cruise at 25-30, that doesn't matter. It can happen to anyone at anytime. If my passenger would've been hurt that day, we'd probably both be dead.......

[iwakeboard]

It happens to the best of us, it's way too easy for anyone to get ejected from their boat. I've wore a dead man lanyard ever since this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfHGu69Q-80

[Okie Boarder]

Yikes! I imagine that must have been quite an ordeal.

[ngavchris]

It all took place before we got there so I dont know what happened to the individual. Daniel helped a guy who was being towed in and that is how we found out the scoop. Yes, that is very scary. This occured on Lake Allatoona, which is one of the busiest lakes in the nation. This was at the entrance to the river channel and it makes a hard 90 degree turn which really intensifies the wakes there. There were boats all over the place yesterday.

Jony glad your still walking.