Dramatic Saturday

I pull up to the marina, before the rest of my crew arrives, and it is cold and windy... not good wakin conditions under either of those circumstances, much less combined. After setting up the boat, we launch and head out. Victoria is whitecaps, so we go through the 5mph zone by Golden Gate waterski club on that island, and decide to ride past there, as the water was decent. Pulling my friend for our first run of the day, we go past a boat that is flagging and waving us down, obviously in distress. I stop, pick up my rider, and go over to this new Nautique, appearing to be stuck in some reeds. An older man, the owner of the stuck boat, swims out to me with a waterski rope, and hops on the back. We tie it to the rear tow eye, and attempt to simply pull out the boat. There was another man from the stuck boat in the water pushing and twisting. After giving a lot of gas, I'm realizing that the stuck Nautique is going nowhere. The man tells me to give it some more, harder, I reluctantly give it a try, and the rope snaps. It slashes open the mans wrist, gives two small bites to my friends left leg, and cuts open the upholstery on the back of the boat. I immediately throw a towel back to him, he wraps it hard around his wrist, everyone is pulled into the boat, and we fly over to Union Point; being all sacked up at the time didn't quite help out gettin up on plane quickly. All the while, 911 is busy despite four cell phones frantically attempting to get through. One of my friend's dad is a firefighter, so we call him directly and have him get an ambulance meet us at Union Point on highway 4. Thanks to the folks at Union Point for the quick response on their part and getting us some ice quickly. Two ambulances came, preliminarily bandaged him up and took him away on the stretcher.

I got a call from him today, giving his address and further contact info, and he is doing well.
(12 stiches at the hospital.) He said he took off the bandage put on at the hospital yesterday, and couldn't believe how much flesh had been actually taken away. Hopefully he won't be losing his hand (I don't think that will be the case, unless it gets terribly infected).

He is an absolute stand up man, gentlemanly in everyway, remained extremely calm throughout the whole ordeal, and will pay for the new upholstery. My crew and I reacted swiftly and effectively, for which he expressed sincere gratitude on seveal occasions.

So if I flew by you (I don't think I did any jackass moves to anyone bc the delta was so deserted due to the crappy conditions), sorry but it was a bit of an emergency.

Apparently the boat was stuck on a submerged log/tree and was locked onto it with the tracking fins. It was a very windy day, combined with the fast current in that slough and probably drifted onto it. So yeah, don't use a waterski rope, that was not a brilliant move on either of our parts. I have a friend who is blind in one eye from a rope snapping while tubing at a lake. Thank goodness nobody got slashed in the neck/large artery(because it did take a bit of time to get all the way to the nearest marina), or an eye, which simply cannot be replaced.

Hope everyone's wknd went more smoothly than mine

1. a lesson learned.
2. he does sound like a stand-up man.
3. you sound like a stand-up man yourself. you went out of your way to help him out of being stuck. you did the right thing when he got injured. and most of all, it didn't sound like you tried to pour salt on the wound and making a point about your interior being ripped.

hope the guy's hand heals 100%, and hope that you all have nothing but good days at the delta from here on out.

interesting story

Absolutely, thank you for recognizing all that. Nobody panicked, we all reacted appropriately and quickly. I did not really see that the boat suffered damage since I was up in the drivers seat, he pointed it out and said that it will all be ok and covered by him. I truly hope he does recover completely and quickly, and we BBQ in the near future (BBQ is his idea as well) I'll see what kinda updates I can get... Take care everyone

good job thanks to you the man is doing well and everything is ok.

on a towing note...does anyone know if a wet towel was placed on the tow line...would it have the same effect as putting it on a tow strap or chain when pulling a stuck vehicle to "deaden" the rope/chain if it where to break?

midwesty- Are you asking if we put a towel on the rope while we were attempting to free the stuck boat?

Sorry if I'm misreading the question... but we didn't use any towels for any part of the process except to stop bleeding after the rope broke.

I think a large part of the problem was that a waterski rope was used; waterski ropes have stretch, unlike a chain (or even a spectra wakeboard rope)

what i am getting at is...in the 4 wheel world...if one was to hook chains to something like a wimpy little powerstroke diesel vs my mighty Cummins...i would put a heavy mat in the middle draped over the chain.
it is there so if the chain where to break or even a tow strap it would deaden the chain/strap from flying and hitting the tailgate or worse go thru the rear window.
i am just asking if that same principal would apply here or not......i am not saying its your fault or anything just wondering if this would work.

ahhhhh ok. No worries, I didn't feel that you were trying to place blame or anything Interesting idea, lets go try! haha. But yeah, it seems like your idea should work...

It would work midwesty, no one should ever use a chain for yanking someone out a hole but any kinda of large towel should have the same effect on chains, cables, and snatch rope.

Good story. It’s been said, but again great job on keeping cool throughout.

I keep a vehicle recovery strap in my boat just in case I'm in a position where I need to tow someone out. I've only had to use it once, for a boat that had run out of gas at Bullards. Since then, I've decided that unless someone’s life is in jeopardy, I will not pull someone else's boat. If they need a ride to a marina to call a recovery service, cool, but I don't want to risk the liability or damage by trying to help someone out. It's too easy to end up in the same situation as you, or worse.

A buddy of mine was disabled at Lake Mead once, and the marina boat came to tow him back in. The towing boat was traveling too fast, and even with my friend yelling and waving at him to slow down, he either didn't hear, or ignored him. End result? His shaft was pulled out of the coupler by the force of the water pushing against a stopped prop (‘97 ProStar 190).