Another needless tubing tradgedy

That is a tragedy. As far as the average age of person being bit in florida that seems a bit low considering almost every person is pushing 70 around here. Cotton mouths are much more a concern.

AAM196 wrote: When I was skiing down there I was told gators aren't like crocs and are afraid of people

They are but every few years a few people get eaten and I'm not going to give them a prime opportunity.

I think I'm a very cautious person. The main mistake made is the downed skiers (well tuber) was not in the drivers eye sight. If the downed person is in the drivers eyesight it's impossible to run them over in my opinion. The speed at which you approach a downed skier is debatable in my eyes. I have my wife and father pick me up at skiing speed as we have a severe gator issue in our chain and healthy gators will not approach a running boat so I want that boat and rope near me. I don't think the fact that they're 16 had much to do with it IF they were raised in a strict marine environment as might've been suggested. I know around 12/13 we were off in 17' outboards and Correct Crafts on our own, skiing and etc in the summer time until our parents came home and the biggest accident we might've had was coming home past curfew. Sadly this is a tragedy that could've been avoided and despite the age. The driver will be tormented for the rest of her life.

For those of you who have kids, take them every time u go out, make them do things on the boat as far as mooring and etc. have them drive most of the time. Hell, you're in your 40's or so, you drove enough so have the kids get accustomed to the boating world. By 16 they can be no doubt safe responsible drivers.

I hate to read these kind of things. Start young teaching kids good boat sense. I think it is when I started footing and hanging around footers on the river that we just naturally figured best to pick up down skiers etc at idle speed only.. give skier break, water settles, MUCH safer, and regardless of trust... nobody like a boat coming at them fast or pushing rollers.

I was at a boat ramp once when a (I/O) boat came in with similar accident. They were circling back (must have been close) & the rope sucked the tube into the prop. The rider had really bad leg cuts.

It was a 21 foot Wahoo with 200 hp outboard. Nothing any of us would not allow an experienced 16 year old to operate.

Before we make any judgment, as I grew up in the next town up the Sound (Stamford), thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. All of the Long Island Sound shoreline towns in Fairfield County CT (and on up the line to RI) comprise a thriving commercial and recreational maritime community, and typically any kid who grows up on the sound-side of 95 knows what's what, particularly a kid from Old Greenwich. A nicer waterfront community you will never find....

Time will tell, but I'd chalk this up to an error which resulted in a tragic accident. My friend was the previous Commodore of the Old Greenwich Yacht Club where it happened, if I hear anything further I will let you know.

      

I saw something about this on the news out of the corner of my eye tonight, are there any more details? it had to be an outboard right? and how many rpm did it have to be spinning to pull two people into the prop before they had a chance to bail out? or was it in reverse maybe?