Correcting the myth about Parker Strip..

It was mentioned several times that Parker Strip was completely outta control, and dangerous. I mentioned passing people in the water by 35' - 50' and people thought I was outta my mind.. Those people don't realize how narrow this strip of water actually is though.

Here's the actual truth about Parker Strip from Alan Nelson aka BoatCop on hotboat (incidentally head of all water sherriff water operations in parker for La Paz County), on whether or not it's the highest death toll this side of the mississippi (as one person put it).

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Back in the '70s that may have been true.

But in the last 20 years, the accident rate has been greatly reduced. Over the last 20 years we have been averaging around 18-20 reported accidents per year. Now that's for the entire County. Maybe 2 or 3 of them are from parts other than the Strip. As far as fatalities, we've had no more than 2 fatal accidents per year over those 20 years, and in more than half those years there were none. (albeit in some of those accidents there were multiple fatalities in the same accident)

Last year (2006) there were 10 total reported accidents and one fatal accident in the entire county. The fatal was down in Cibola and not on the Strip.

According to the 2006 Watercraft Survey, The Parker Strip has the 3rd highest Boat use of any waterway in the State, only behind Lake Havasu and Lake Mohave. Realize that the Parker Strip is only 12 miles long and 200 yards wide at the most, and Havasu and Mohave are huge in comparison.

For us to have THE lowest accident rate of any major waterway in the State is nothing short of miraculous. Just as a comparison, the Bullhead City/Laughlin area has less than 10% of the boat use that we do, but has twice the number of accidents.

Now I'm not saying that there's any correlation between the drastic drop in Parker Strip Accidents and my tenure here, but the numbers began dropping around the same time I came on-board with the County Boating Program. But.............

Alan


(Message edited by riverdave on May 24, 2007)

I'm not sure if it's still true, but not long ago, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri was the most dangerous inland body of water in the country.

Dave, I think your input here is great, i understand you are a "local" on the hot boat forums and came over here because of the bonecrusher incident, I saw you had a comment on a water in the gas post and just wanted to say thanks for posting and I value your input.

I agree, I like getting 3rd party opinion from other boaters on how the wakeboard community is viewed.

That still does not make the strip suck any less for riding...

and still doesn't make buzzing boats at a high rate of speed a good idea

RD-
I know you are an OC guy like me. Did you see the report on the River by the OC Register last year or year before? I detailed each area of the river and the number of fatalities and injuries over the years and Parker was by far the worst area. Worst west of the Mississippi? Not so sure about that.

Alan has been a huge help to all of us that boat on the River. I wish more agencies would have guys come on message boards and help keep the public informed. If you guys don't know Alan here is his web site.

www.boatcop.com

I found the OC register Article

http://www.ocregister.com/investigations/2004/boating/

Dude.... why not go back to hotboats.com and preach over there.

He's more then welcome here. Learn to share the water. I'd love to take Dave on my boat in exchange for a 90mph blast across the water. It's not my thing for a daily boating experience but it sure would be fun once.

BTW, nice picture in your profile.

yo... maybe consider posting in the non-wake section.

Either that or maybe Dave can create a hotboat area. LOL!!!

(Message edited by guido on May 25, 2007)

(Message edited by guido on May 25, 2007)

I guess I'm being a bit harsh. Sorry Dave. Post on. I think I got burnt out by reading the thread about the rollers. That one kinda went on forever. I'll trade you a ride behind our boat if you'll take me for a ride in the mullett, er, Hallett.... J/K. (sorry couldn't resist. It's friday, right?)

Hmm I don't know what you guys are talking about. That place is butter. And everyone loves each other!!! (Tack remember those guys racing around us as we floated!!) You just gotta be hitting it at 5 am. Roadrunner by 7:30 for grinds & Bloody Marys and all is good! (Old pics btw)