Boat Crash at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri

[pascavone]

A boating accident at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri was captured on a shocking video last Friday. The crash happened when the Fountain powerboat plowed into a large wake of another vessel at high speed. The boat slammed from side to side causing injuries to the driver and six passengers. Five were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor to moderate injuries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQpq1...layer_embedded

[shrew]

Wow, interesting camera perspective. I hope nobody was hurt badly. Of course speed has a lot to do with how the boat responded to the conditions (in this case large wakes). And then if everyone were properly seated, that also would have minimized damaged. Those bolster seats are meant to be sat down INTO and the lateral supports prevent what occurred to the driver and passengers. Unfortunate.

[pascavone]

i was watching the captain, as he was throwing those leavers back and forth prior to the crash.

I'm wondering if they control racing trim tabs the pulls the bow down quickly.

He was wake jumping regardless.

looks like the lanyard worked!

[Phillbo]

Those controls are the throttles. If you watch closely he shuts them down (lucky part of the accident in my opinion because it does not look like he did it on purpose) just as he is rag dolled to the floor. They even appear to be bent in the last portion of the video.

I don't see any lanyard.

[jamanati]

Wow, they got lucky.

[pascavone]

i know that lake, been on it b4.

its 1 mile wide only in one spot.

the 30' boats never go on plane and push 6' wakes.

on a weekend the oscillation of the waves hit the shore at 6'.

just youtube lake of the ozark wakes and you'' see 40' docks riding in the huge wakes.

if you stop and look at the frames of the video, you can see the boat... searay.. doing 30mph right next to them going in the opposite direction.

the boat is at a 45 degree list to starboard getting impacted from the port side, and the boat get pushed to starboard right under them, and the captain lands to port....like being sling shoot.

the captain should have cut the wake with the bow, or shut down, or moved over.

i said the lanyard, must have work, because the boat stopped and they all full into the bow.

odd thing is the captains hair did not get messed up...

[Phillbo]

Look what happens at 20 - 23 sec in... the drivers hand shuts down the throttles as he ragdolls to the floor... chica in the green bends them at 25 seconds with her face. No lanyard shut that boat down.

[shrew]

Originally Posted by pascavone

i was watching the captain, as he was throwing those leavers back and forth prior to the crash.

I'm wondering if they control racing trim tabs the pulls the bow down quickly.

He was wake jumping regardless.

looks like the lanyard worked!

I have a couple of friends with boats like that. They frequently jump completely out of the water, drives and all. This is not puposeful wake jumping, this is just how those boats ride in chop at high speeds. (I'm not saying this guy was or wasn't horsing around since we can't tell from the camera angle). These guys have to keep their hand on the throttles so when the props come out of the water, they can pull back on the throttles, then once the props are back under again, hit the throttles again. The engine and drive are designed to be under load. When the props are spinning free at high RPMs, things start blowing apart.