To Live Another Day
 

I'm wakeskating with a friend's family and my wife and son and I take a normal fall. When I come out of the water and begin to clear my eyes I hear yelling, as I turn back instantly a boat full of people screaming at the driver rush by about 15 feet away. They keep yelling and I keep turning and notice a rope and then see a tube rush by about 10 feet away.

It happened so quick I had no time to react and my driver had no time to offer protection either. In a narrow waterway perhaps the only thing my driver could have done is gotten me to hold a safe line while the idiot sped by.

Sometimes you think if you saw a boat coming you could dive out of the way, this happened so fast I would only have been able to put my arms up to deflect a little impact.

Ironically, I get up again and another boat is following me 100 feet back for about a minute. They finally decide to pass and seem perplexed when I mouth FU instead of waving back. Needless to say I was peeking over my shoulder the rest of the day.

I always look behind and am aware if there's another boat while I'm riding..... you can't always avoid everything but it helps to be aware of your surroundings

This was unfamiliar water to me and I don't have that habit because where I ride it's not an issue. I spent hours and hours riding with this friend(driver) in past years and he is quite competent. I would have expected that one of us would have recognized the issue before it became a close call.

The lesson learned is for both driver and rider to be aware. You certainly cannot count on the good common sense of other boaters. I watched our wives gabbing away so no one was acting as a good spotter.