Some of you might have seen this thing on the news about some Australian tourist in Hawaii was charged in the death of a 16 year old girl. This Australian was accused basically of recklessly driving a Jet Ski which caused a collision with another jet skier, the 16 year old girl.

I was not there to see this of course but if true then his reckless actions killed another. It seems as if people seem to give up common sense and caution when they hit the water but if these same people were driving on the road they probably would be more cautious.

Now this guy is in a world of trouble. He could face prison time. He will face a civil action too. He just went out there to have fun and now one person is dead and he is in big trouble. A family lost their teenage girl to a reckless jet skier. I feel bad for the teenager who lost her life, feel bad for her family and friends. In some ways I feel sorry for the tourist because if he was not so reckless he'd be a free man having fun on vacation in Hawaii but he did this to himself. His girlfriend might be in trouble too for erasing the video of the incident in the hopes of covering up evidence of what really happened.

I recall when British singer Kirsty MacColl (sang on a song by The Smiths and other work) died in a water related accident in Cozumel, Mexico in 2000. She was doing some scuba if I recall and she surfaced and a speed boat hit her even though that area was off limits to boats. She saw the boat coming and I don't think was in harms way but one of her sons was so she pushed him out of the way but she was hit by the boat and died of course. I feel bad for her and for her sons and other family members. Breaks my heart that her kids lost their mother.

I just think that sometimes common sense goes out the window when people get into the water, whether a pool, lake, ocean, stream, river or other bodies of water.

What do you guys think. Do you guys have any stories about water and danger? Just curious your thoughts.

Trust me I live on an island, I see people do very, very stupid things on the water. There's only a few people I'll go out with them on their boat, people who realise just how dangerous it can get.

Yeah I was in Thailand a couple of times and once I rented a water scooter, not really a Jet Ski and it was fun. I didn't drive it recklessly either. It was fun to cruise around in crystal clear tropical waters. The other time in Thailand I was in a different coastal town and rented one again with some friends. We each had our own rental. The water was not as clear there as the first location and there were some swells in the water and one actually knocked me off from the side and I was in the water as the scooter just drove off. Looked like it was going slow but I could not catch up to it so fortunately the guy running the rental place was watching the renters carefully in the water and got on his scooter and pulled me out of the water and we chased down mine.

Point is thank God now reckless drivers were going bonkers out there otherwise I could have been hit too.

Thanks Echosonic, for this reminder to all of us about being cautious on water!

I learned through my limited motorcycle experience (in 1969 I had a 1963 Triumph Bonneville), that the guys who'd take reminders of: "Drive Carefully," with a slight arrogant attitude of: "I know! " - as if it was stupid to underestimate their ability, - they would be the ones most likely to get into a crash, and be seriously injured. Plenty of them did! - Even dead, others permanently injured and brain-damaged.

But the guys who'd say: "Yeah! - Thanks for the reminder! " - with a tone of Humility and Gratitude, would be the ones who really were cautious, and tended to avoid accidents.

Thanks again. It's quite possible that your reminder may actually result in an accident that didn't happen, - that otherwise would have!

It just takes a split-second error to screw-up! - So let's be Cautious!

My cousin had his windows blown out by some waves and lost all his electronics. He learned a lot that night.

Just about a month ago, an artist's stepson was killed by a jetski. Link...

We live close to a like and I've seen so many youths on jetskis that have no reguard for other people's safety. All they are looking for is some boat to go by that make a big wake so that they can jump it. It's sad...

I remember Kirsty MacColl. She had that great song 'In These Shoes'.

In These Shoes

Mmmmmm. This brings up a time in '92 or '93 in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence river. I was in college at the time and this dude was trying to impress some girls by hammering away on his jetski....dangerously close to the Riveredge hotel swim area and a whole bunch of docks. I was on one of the docks, he did a pass by and sprayed me.....did it a second time and slammed into the dock.

I told him he was lucky and respectfully voiced my opposition to be sprayed but told him all was forgiven and no hard feelings. He then grabbed one of his chicks who gave him a beer and he stuck his middle finger in my face telling me to "eat it".

I slugged him right in the nose, took his beer and told one of the girls that if she was prettier(she was hot though) I would buy her a drink. I proceeded to walk off with the cooler and drove back to Wellesley Island.....actually Tennis Island just off of Wellesley.

This happened back in 1979 just outside of Reno Nevada across the border in California. A fellow I was working for took his boat out and was of course drinking. He somehow managed to run over a water skier who had fallen. Chopped off the dudes leg. You would have thought he would have been re-morse full for doing such a thing. But actually he was too busy running around putting everything he owned into his mothers name. I have too admit that is one sorry story but true...Lonnieboy

We had a drunk guy back over his best friend with a speedboat, he then fled the scene, while drunk of course.

In another life I worked on boats for the Operating Engineers union. We were working on the Fort McHenry Tunnel, in Baltimore, with a big pump dredge.

48inch pipe was floated on pontoons for miles in and around Inner Harbor, all marked with signs and lights, but warnings never seemed to faze brazen boaters and their un-metered drinking.

One night(we worked 16 hour shifts) we were tied up, all playing cards and eating when we heard this huge engine roaring by. We thought aloud to ourselves, "Someone's gonna get scragged". After about 30 minutes of hearing this boat zoom back and forth, we heard a deafening crash, then silence.

We fired up the boat and went looking in the direction of the sound. We all knew where to look...in the direction of the pipe. We just happened to catch a glimpse of a hand sticking out of the water. I put a boat hook to the hand and it grasped tightly, and we were able to pull out the only survivor(a female) of, what turned out to be, a horrible accident.

The next morning, the Coast Guard pulled out one of those Donzi Jet boats that you would see on Miami Vice. Up with it, were the bodies of two brothers, both in their mid 40s, with wives and families at home.

This was a case of not using trim tabs to level out the boat at higher speeds, combined with drinking, and a general disregard for boating safety.

If you are a boater, jet skier, or operate any kind of vessel on the water, please be considerate of those around you, and watch out for the other guy. It could be someone like that.

These are all very good words of caution. My brother and I are out on my little 14 foot Lund fishing as often as we're able. I can't believe the disregard to safety that we see. It truly is baffling.

It's because of these speed demons that we try to exclusively fish on lakes with posted idle speed limits. That seems to help... a little.

Stay safe out there.

Dylan

There, but for the grace of God....

This happened close to here recently. Link...

Yep, same here, people are reckless on land OK, but it's truly worse on the water. Scooters and jet skis are forbidden in the bay of Cannes (watch out when you pass the limits though), but we can't go by forbidding everything, can we?

Well we've definitely stepped up the drunk driving laws. Looks like we need more deputy's on the waterways as well. People who ordinarily don't drink and drive think nothing of jumping in a speedboat with a snoot full

What kills me is, you can buy a 60' cabin cruiser with several thousand horsepower, then drive it with absolutely no training or certification.

Apaerntly, some people don't believe that you need any training or a license to drive a motorcycle either....

Link...

Often, alcohol is involved....

...and stupidity.

Ron White, the comic, said, "Ya can't fix stupid!" It sometimes fixes itself. Too bad innocent bystanders are involved.

stupid is as stupid does ,,,,,,, back in 1980 or 81 i had a Piper Cherokee 6 airplane that i sold to a friend about a year later his dad got his ticket, so he is flying back to the field and it started to snow , he went into panic ,,,, he shut off his radios and flew into Logan Airport ,,, he was arrested and the plane was impounded for like a year ,,,,,, how he didnt slam into a 747 blows my mind

I like snorkeling a lot. Some boats and even wind surfers think they can do what they want and travel at high speeds through water where swimmers can be. I'm constantly listening for boat sounds in the water but surfers can't be heard. I was hit by a surf board once and I can tell you it hurts.

Jet skis are one of the most annoying devices ever made. In Thailand you could see people renting such a thing, go up and down the shore line for half an hour and irritate the hell out of everyone else in the water. They are horribly noisy, quite dangerous for swimmers and the fun exists of needless boring movement over the water. Further observation learned me that jet skis are mostly used by semi-retarded ape-like assholes, who are into any form of obnoxious loud and brainless entertainment. Personally I wish all jetskis would explode. Fast wind surfing and fast boat movement should be forbidden within ten meters of the coast.

Problem is that the most interesting and nicest seas/oceans are found in countries where rules are not that important.

I read an article the other day that stated 3/4 of drowning victims had their fly down. standing in a john boat is never a good idea.

My best friend is a volunteer fire department diver. Last Summer they were doing a training dive when a boater went over their Diver Down flag. The crew member on the dive boat yelled for him to leave the area. The boater not only didn't comply, he went back and forth over the area while yelling obscenities. They radioed the communications center, gave the registration number, and got the Sheriff's Department involved. The next thing you know, his son is radioing the offender asking why there's deputies in his yard,( they figured out the owner by the numbers). The boat hadn't been registered in like 6 years, Dad borrowed it without permission, was quite drunk, and tried to endanger the divers intentionally.

Water + Booze = Common sense "out the window"

I do most of my boating on New Hampshire lakes. That state strictly enforces boater-safety training, in part due to some serious accidents in recent years.

Those accidents usually involved vacationers, medium to large power boats, & alcohol. Sometimes high speed after dark, too.

When my wife & I took a boating safety class (prior to taking the required NH license exam), our fellow students were silent throughout most of the lectures. When the instructor got to alcohol consumption while boating, they all came to life. Basically, they wanted to know how much they could drink & get away with, while boating.

We're careful, & don't drink on the water.

I also like to snorkel. I normally don't do that in Southern California but when in Hawaii I do. Fortunately I have not had any boats, wind surfers, jet skiers or the like run me over. I can't imaging being run down by one of those.

One thing I used to do in Hawaii is (I used to live there) was go body boarding off of Ala Moana Park. I'd have to jump in and cross the channel where boats would leave the harbor. I'd cross and go out to where the wave would break. If I got hit by a boat I'd say it's my fault because I chose to cross the channel. But with that said, it's inexcusable for people to be run down by water craft in areas where no water craft are allowed or where they are allowed but people are using these craft recklessly as in the case of the girl who died in the jet ski accident mentioned above or Kirsty MacColl.

Where I used to cut across to catch waves -