Pure Stupidity...Here's my story.........

First I am going to say my buddy and I are not smart and we knew better. With the rain yesterday "almost" no one was on the water and we had to take advantage of it. We also didn't have a third but took the chance. Anyway at the end of the session, literally I rode right to the dock, I hear an F-bomb followed by we're busted. The only other boat on the water happened to be our local sheriff.
So he meets us at the dock and we are totally cool with him. As I am pulling the boat up on the shore station I hear the motor struggling. So after the friendly officer asks his questions ,life vests,throwable, etc, we tell him we knew better and he is just doing his job. We gives us a piece of paper and says "that's just a safety check because of your attitude". Don't do it again and drives away. So lucky needless to say but humorous at the same time when he wants to get into the boat and we can no longer lower it for him because the shore station breaks right then and there. Crazt evening but bad karma as we break the law and now we can't ride because we can't get the boat back on the water

So there is my story but has anyone ever been as dumb as us to ride without a spotter?

we don't need spotter's in Texas

I do it all the time, In tennessee you can as long as you have a mirror.

my buddy used to use a blow up doll tied down to his observer seat so it appeared he had an observer... Something to think about! haha!

KStateAlum,
Please post photos to the "boat bun" thread.

We have to, but sometimes we go out early morning around 5 or 5:30 so we don't need one, and cause we can't find anyone as hardcore like us to get up at the crack of dawn to go ride.

KState, we had the dog on board but they didn't buy it. We would ride early mornings also with no issues but last night was just stupid.

I pretty much refuse to wakeboard without a 3rd. I've been in the situation of having or having someone else blow a knee. It's not a very fun thing trying to get them in the boat with gear still on and what not. I can only imagine the hard time I would have if someone was knocked out, injured seriously, or broke a neck. It's just not worth the chance to take when you could be playing with yours or someone else's life.

I have rode a few times without a spotter, usually really early in the morning though.

you dont even have to wear a life jacket in Minnesota.

im not sure i understand this story. Who was stuck i dont get it. oh well.

I found out after moving to Montana that one can not board or ski after dark,(or without an observer). We used to ski by moolight all the time in California. Probably not the smartest thing to do.

Not legal in California either.

in wisconsin you gotta have a spotter and cant ride at night, but you dont have to wear a life jacket. but then again its only illegal if you get caught

same thing up here in Québec... spotter is needed but can ride without life jacket... you have to have an approved life jacket in the boat though... up here when the sun is gone, no more riding... but of course the lake patrol shift ends at 7... people who live on the lake tend to complain if we ride until dark... kind of hard to say when it's cloudy... anyway, better not to push it too much...

We almost always ride without a spotter.Lake tulloch is too party up and it is too hard to get people to come out on the water at six in the morning. If I had to have a spotter every time I rode I would never wakeboard. We just have avoid to avoid the law. BCP Mike

Here's a spotter..didn't need to use bumper man as we had a third.

Bumper Man to the rescue! That is awesome

Gary, I'm pretty good at coming up with off the wall stuff, but that is just brilliant man!

LMAO!!! ooo my! and i thought we came up with a good idea when we would just set a hat on the dash... i cant believe we never came up with that idea... great one gary!

We use my 3 year daughter as our spotter sometimes. We don't ride real crazy without another adult but it's still fun to get out there. I asked around and no one knew if there was an age limit. All they said as long as they can tell the driver when the rider is down. Works for us

gary- love the bumper man! next time the kids don't want to come out, i'm using that idea! also helps to have the "pop up ski buddy" flag in that situation.

We've done it a couple times out on the Delta at night time. Not smart, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We've had "bumperman" on board a few times. Works great if you take a hoody, stuff it full of towels, toss a hat in under the hood, then use a couple bumpers covered by towels for legs. Looks like a legit person....LOL. You can even top it off by wedging the flag into the seat next to him across his lap and Voila!!!, your third.

Shiat, I only have black bumpers on my boat. I don't think that anyone would buy that. I will have to give it a try though

It's a really bad idea. Wakeboarding is a dangerous sport, who is going to pull your limp body out of the water if you get knocked unconscious(sp)and don't have a spotter?

Scott, we don't push anything when we do, I mean did it. I actually use that time to work on riding switch and just doing edging and board control stuff. Half the time I never even get to jumping the wake.

(Message edited by uppledup17 on August 31, 2006)

how's a spotter going to tell any faster than the driver if someone is unconscious? when i'm driving and a rider falls, i'm looking back while slowing down, usually before the rider has even surfaced. i always check to make sure the rider is okay before i begin my turnaround to see if i need to get back to him/her in a hurry. the driver can jump in the water just as easily as anyone else

Plus, there is not a higher incident rate in states that dont require a spotter...

It's not that someone will get hurt with or without a spotter. It can however affect your reaction time to an injured person (say it's busy and you have to watch other boats vs your mirror/rider). More importantly than your reaction time though is your ability to pull that person out of the water in a safe efficient manner.

This talk of "taking it easy" I don't buy it. A fall while taking it easy can be just as dangerous as when we push our riding. All it takes is one good edge to have someone knocked out, they might have done that trick 100 times, or it could be as simple as oops there's a random roller I wasn't anticipating.

I'm not going to tell you what to do or not to do. We each decide what risks and responsibilities we are willing to take. Riding without a 3rd is not something I encourage or practice the "what if" isn't a risk I'm willing to take when it comes to a life.

There are more lakes than sheriffs in Minnesota, I did it everytime I go, and the fact that is tough to drownd when you can stand up in the lake. Where I live you need a flag and a strobe light for all the idiots on the water, you might as well shoot a flare gun at some of the jet ski's, ive almost been run over 3 times now, and it was no ones fault but the idiot not paying attention and giving the right of way to the boat in tow, but hey thats jackramento for ya.