When Things Go Wrong
Our forum member Riverdad quoted a friend of his on the discussion boards recently “”Jet boating is the funnest thing you will ever do on the water, but when things go bad, they go bad very fast - you must be prepared ahead of time!!”
That statement could not be more true!
Now of course we cannot be prepared for all possibilities, there are a lot of different things that can go wrong on the river, but we can always cover the basics that could very well save lives.
These are a few of the things that I find the most important.
Life Jackets - Always, always, always while on the River wear your PFD and make sure all your passengers do the same. I have slacked from time to time about this but the longer I am involved in the sport and the more incidents I hear about or witness I tell you it just makes no sense not to wear it on the river. When things go wrong it happens way to fast to be scrambling around looking for your life jacket.
Passengers - Before departing do an emergency run down with your passengers. This can include going over where all the safety gear is located such as ropes, anchors, fire extinguisher, first aid kit and what they might be asked to do with those things in certain situations. It is also a good idea to go over how to start and operate the kicker motor.
Rope’s - Next to PFD’s, ropes are a must have on your boat but they only help you if know where they are and have them ready if needed quickly. Over the last few years I have seen a couple boats saved by other boats only because ropes were immediately handy and were quickly deployed and attached to the other boat in time to pull the distressed boat out of danger.
These are just some real basic tips, by no means is this a comprehensive list on being prepared. But it covers some of the real basic stuff that in a pinch can make a difference.