Jet Skiier Sucked Under By Cargo Ship

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What is it about jet ski's that make people really stupid?
 
Make SOME people really stupid....


Unfortunately many ride them and the only boating experience they have is an 8 hour boating course. They get their certificate to drive it and they dont have any friends that know any better so their "learning curve" is essentially stopped until they find out the hard way.


But some are very responsible and know the rules better than many here...because they are boaters and PWCs are just one type of boating they enjoy also.
 
psneeld said:
Make SOME people really stupid....


Unfortunately many ride them and the only boating experience they have is an 8 hour boating course. They get their certificate to drive it and they dont have any friends that know any better so their "learning curve" is essentially stopped until they find out the hard way.


But some are very responsible and know the rules better than many here...because they are boaters and PWCs are just one type of boating they enjoy also.
Click to expand...

One might compare PWC to snowmobiles, just different seasons?
 
Add the possibility of drowning and 1000ft 100,000 ton moveable objects. Otherwise, yep....
 
I once saw a couple using a jetski to access a nice river beach for lunch and a pleasant day. Good on them, nice people, sensible use of a handy boat.

Every other user I have seen just rides the thing, often in a pack, like an off road motor bike. I`m convinced these are people who behave lawlessly on the road and think(to the extent they can), probably correctly, they are more likely to get away with equal idiocy on a jetski on the water. They may even have been banned from roads. Other than that, no concerns.
 
PWC started out innocently and then people decided to soup them up, racing them, the heard instinct, jumping your wake uninvited, spraying folks in other boats etc. Water skiers used to spray occupant of innocent boater too. I think the water skiers all bought souped up PWC once they realized the limitation of their rope. They can chase you down if they wish.
 
OldDan1943 said:
PWC started out innocently and then people decided to soup them up, racing them, the heard instinct, jumping your wake uninvited,
Click to expand...


Is it your wake to control?
I never really understood people getting peeved at someone jumping the wake from their boat. If they ran into your boat I would understand.. but I have never seen that happen. Jet skis are just like roller coasters.. its not the flat part that everyone is there for.

I get the complaint when your at anchor and one buzzes around and around the boat.. that annoys the crap out of me too.

But at the end of the day they are a kick in the pants and are a fun way to get on the water.


HOLLYWOOD
 
No doubt some "jetskiers" are smart, thoughtful, experienced, considerate boaters who respect the sea and other boaters. I guess it's just my bad luck that none of them have been among the hundreds or maybe thousand-plus PWC operators that I've encountered.
 
hollywood8118 said:
Is it your wake to control?
I never really understood people getting peeved at someone jumping the wake from their boat. If they ran into your boat I would understand.. but I have never seen that happen. Jet skis are just like roller coasters.. its not the flat part that everyone is there for.
Click to expand...


Agreed. I don't care if they jump my wake as long as they're not doing anything dangerous in the process. Now when I'm going slow and they swarm me to try to get me to speed up and throw more wake, then I get annoyed.
 
I wrote this a number of years ago - strictly in jest.....

------

It was a great morning. The birds were out. A cool mist had formed along the surface of the mirror-like water. I hardly had needed to anchor last night. Everything was so still. Nature was holding her breath. A hot cup of coffee, and everything was perfect. Until…

I first heard it coming from around the western point of the cove. It was sort of a ringing sound. As it grew louder, it also got deeper in tone. Then, as it came around the treeline, the noise increased by at least 30dB. If the birds were still there singing, I wouldn’t have known it. Compared to just moments earlier, the noise was deafening. It was yet another PWC.

I scrambled down the companionway and rotated the 200amp selector switch 90 degrees to engage the large, dedicated, battery bank I had just finished checking the water level on the night before. I hesitated a second, and then pushed the black button labeled, “POWER”. The cabin lights dimmed for a second as the huge capacitive load of the pre-feeder circuit engaged.

I had just installed the thing. It was a Varstenberg X8TR. The highest capacity fusion cannon made by the the off-shore company’s secret service. The X8TR came standard with a neon green laser sight (better for daylight), an electro-inductive pre-feeding booster circuit (now engaged and severely tapping my house bank), and a digital GPS-locating range finder with heat-seeking optimizer.

As I singlehand most of the time, I didn’t opt for the hand-geometry based owner-security system. Besides, it added about $10,000. to the cost!
The installation next to the hawse-pipe in the anchor locker was tricky. I hadn’t counted on the sheer size of the unit. Some precise cuts with my handy Dremel tool made things go a little better.

There were many questions I still had – because I still hadn’t fired it. Were the 1in. diameter bolts big enough? What would the recoil impact be? Should I put a longer snubber on the anchor rode? What about the scorch marks bound to be left on the bowsprit? None of that mattered now….

I flipped the switch for the Varsten’s raw water cooling system. The surge at the surface of the water was very evident. There was a mini “water tornado” now present next to the hull, making a gurgling sound. I was glad I had up-sized the thru-hull to a full two inches over the recommended size.

By now the “Craft” was well past the point and was becoming centered in the cove’s opening to the large water. I am not sure if he saw me or not.
The fusion cannon’s display now said, “READY”.

The PWC turned and headed straight for me. I could hear the RPM’s of the two-stroke increase to near red￾line. I guess he had seen me and I tried to figure out his plan. Was it the “do donuts around the boat until it is rocking uncontrollably” trick? Or the “idle-to-full-speed-and-back” throttle action to make the most noise possible? Or was it the “head straight at the boat and turn at the last minute hoping not to kill anybody”?

I don’t think so.

The green-laser sight panel was already flipped down from the dodger’s main support bar. The PWC was showing up as a small red blip on the left edge of the display. I pushed the x10 magnifier and voila! There it was. The GPS locator said that the blast would take 0.07mSec to reach the target.

I decided not to turn on the heat-sinking optimizer because the rooster tail spraying up from the back of the PWC might distract the software algorithm in the unit. I think I saw him straighten up a little as he heard the whine of the fusion coupler’s accumulator as it spun up to its final, maximum RPM. The display switched to read “ARMED”.

I mumbled “Homie don’t play ‘dat” as I pushed the “AWAY” button.

I think I spilled some of my coffee.
 
My jet ski story is from the mid 90s.


Asked to give the opening day speech at a very expensive yacht club Memorial Day....I jumped at the chance.


Dressed in my full USCG Blues, rows of ribbons and polished gold all about.....looking snappy for an old time commander....


After a nice ceremony and now at a reception where guests were crowded around me asking questions...a little old (had to be 90 or so)...in a beautiful (read expensive) gown pushed her way through the crowd to become toe to toe, steely eyed, staring me down.....

She demanded..."what are you going to do about them!!!!" knowing right away as it was the beginning of the PWC phenomenon.......I with a stone serious face cooly replied "we are opening a black powder season on them ma'am".


Silence filled the room, jaws were dropped.....a few seconds later, the little old lady smiled and I swear heard a giggle...about faced and pushed her way out of the crowd. The festivities resumed.....


I still have that scene burned into my memory.


No wonder I never made captain... :D
 
boathealer said:
I wrote this a number of years ago - strictly in jest.....



------



It was a great morning. The birds were out. A cool mist had formed along the surface of the mirror-like water. I hardly had needed to anchor last night. Everything was so still. Nature was holding her breath. A hot cup of coffee, and everything was perfect. Until…



I first heard it coming from around the western point of the cove. It was sort of a ringing sound. As it grew louder, it also got deeper in tone. Then, as it came around the treeline, the noise increased by at least 30dB. If the birds were still there singing, I wouldn’t have known it. Compared to just moments earlier, the noise was deafening. It was yet another PWC.



I scrambled down the companionway and rotated the 200amp selector switch 90 degrees to engage the large, dedicated, battery bank I had just finished checking the water level on the night before. I hesitated a second, and then pushed the black button labeled, “POWER”. The cabin lights dimmed for a second as the huge capacitive load of the pre-feeder circuit engaged.



I had just installed the thing. It was a Varstenberg X8TR. The highest capacity fusion cannon made by the the off-shore company’s secret service. The X8TR came standard with a neon green laser sight (better for daylight), an electro-inductive pre-feeding booster circuit (now engaged and severely tapping my house bank), and a digital GPS-locating range finder with heat-seeking optimizer.



As I singlehand most of the time, I didn’t opt for the hand-geometry based owner-security system. Besides, it added about $10,000. to the cost!

The installation next to the hawse-pipe in the anchor locker was tricky. I hadn’t counted on the sheer size of the unit. Some precise cuts with my handy Dremel tool made things go a little better.



There were many questions I still had – because I still hadn’t fired it. Were the 1in. diameter bolts big enough? What would the recoil impact be? Should I put a longer snubber on the anchor rode? What about the scorch marks bound to be left on the bowsprit? None of that mattered now….



I flipped the switch for the Varsten’s raw water cooling system. The surge at the surface of the water was very evident. There was a mini “water tornado” now present next to the hull, making a gurgling sound. I was glad I had up-sized the thru-hull to a full two inches over the recommended size.



By now the “Craft” was well past the point and was becoming centered in the cove’s opening to the large water. I am not sure if he saw me or not.

The fusion cannon’s display now said, “READY”.



The PWC turned and headed straight for me. I could hear the RPM’s of the two-stroke increase to near red￾line. I guess he had seen me and I tried to figure out his plan. Was it the “do donuts around the boat until it is rocking uncontrollably” trick? Or the “idle-to-full-speed-and-back” throttle action to make the most noise possible? Or was it the “head straight at the boat and turn at the last minute hoping not to kill anybody”?



I don’t think so.



The green-laser sight panel was already flipped down from the dodger’s main support bar. The PWC was showing up as a small red blip on the left edge of the display. I pushed the x10 magnifier and voila! There it was. The GPS locator said that the blast would take 0.07mSec to reach the target.



I decided not to turn on the heat-sinking optimizer because the rooster tail spraying up from the back of the PWC might distract the software algorithm in the unit. I think I saw him straighten up a little as he heard the whine of the fusion coupler’s accumulator as it spun up to its final, maximum RPM. The display switched to read “ARMED”.



I mumbled “Homie don’t play ‘dat” as I pushed the “AWAY” button.



I think I spilled some of my coffee.
Click to expand...



https://youtu.be/Y0aCkk4b_Bg
 
I will admit we surf tanker waves all of the time. We are NOWHERE near the ship....probably about 200 yards away. We are surfing the displacement and subsequent replacement of water....it is a bulge perpindicular to the ship. My record is 20 minutes on a wave!!! Here is a sample...


 
What was the reason for going so close to the ship?
At first I though the jet skier was looking to launch off of the ship's wake but there does not seem to have been enough wake to launch off of?
 
Tanker wave perfection

What surfer wouldn't want to surf these waves!!! In that second picture you can see the Galveston skyline in the background...as well as a barge ans some channel markers. After taking these pictures I went over the rail and surfed this wave for 18 minutes...the wave was moving at the ship's speed...about 14 knots.
 

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AdkChris said:
What was the reason for going so close to the ship?
At first I though the jet skier was looking to launch off of the ship's wake but there does not seem to have been enough wake to launch off of?
Click to expand...

I honestly think he was not that good on a stand up Jet Ski. They are difficult to ride if you are not experienced on them. I think he got to leaning toward the ship and could not stop his "lean" hence his "feathering" of the throttle. Any experienced stand up jet skier would have been on that throttle and out of there. He was in a state of "continuously crashing".
 
What was the reason for going so close to the ship?
At first I though the jet skier was looking to launch off of the ship's wake but there does not seem to have been enough wake to launch off of?
 
Squat effect: When a ship moves through the shallow water, some of the water displaced rushes under the vessel to rise again at the stern. This decreases the upward pressure on the hull, making the ship sink deeper in the water than normal and slowing the vessel.
 
Wayfarer said:
The level of utter stupidity on display here is monumental. Biblical. Galactic.

This idiot was in mortal peril in the opening frame of this video, and then just doubled down every two seconds until what should have been the moment of his death.

Stay. Away. From. Ships.
Click to expand...

Our entire society is a level of utter stupidity, this is just an example used as distraction from our own stupidity. There really is no such thing as ever not being in mortal peril from the day we are conceived. There is only one certainty in our existence and that is a death that we cannot predict unless we choose suicide.
 
Baker said:
I honestly think he was not that good on a stand up Jet Ski. They are difficult to ride if you are not experienced on them. I think he got to leaning toward the ship and could not stop his "lean" hence his "feathering" of the throttle. Any experienced stand up jet skier would have been on that throttle and out of there. He was in a state of "continuously crashing".
Click to expand...

Yep, he made the most basic of beginner mistakes, he got out of the throttle instead of nailing it WOT. Planes, motorcycles, jet skis... all operate under the same, “When in doubt, throttle it out” principle of applying power to gain stability and maneuverability as well as maximizing the distance between you and the object that needs to be avoided.
 
Very little knowledge of jet skis but on a motorcycle you have steering as long as you are moving. In airplanes control response is proportional to velocity of air going over the control surfaces so other than on the ground and very close to stall speed you have pretty good control although it may require a bit more movement of the controls.

However my very limited experience and mechanical understanding of jet skis is that the ONLY control mechanism built into a jet ski is the direction and magnitude of the water jet coming out of the nozzle? On a jet ski turning the nozzle would have no effect unless there is a jet a water coming out the the nozzle. So on a jet ski no throttle no turning?

I do agree that any time you have your vehicle under control applying more throttle is likely to be a good way to get from a bad place to a better place.
 
AdkChris said:
Very little knowledge of jet skis but on a motorcycle you have steering as long as you are moving. In airplanes control response is proportional to velocity of air going over the control surfaces so other than on the ground and very close to stall speed you have pretty good control although it may require a bit more movement of the controls.

However my very limited experience and mechanical understanding of jet skis is that the ONLY control mechanism built into a jet ski is the direction and magnitude of the water jet coming out of the nozzle? On a jet ski turning the nozzle would have no effect unless there is a jet a water coming out the the nozzle. So on a jet ski no throttle no turning?

I do agree that any time you have your vehicle under control applying more throttle is likely to be a good way to get from a bad place to a better place.
Click to expand...

Jet Skis have one source of steering off plane, vectored thrust, that’s it. If you want to turn, you have to turn the nozzle and hit the throttle. Otherwise you’ll just flounder around.
 
AdkChris said:
What was the reason for going so close to the ship?
At first I though the jet skier was looking to launch off of the ship's wake but there does not seem to have been enough wake to launch off of?
Click to expand...

If you look to the right of the frame in the beginning of the clip you can see the wake...that is not a mountain range. The rider even lets a little hoot(presumably in excitement) as it forms up. The only problem is he was not expereinced enough to get out of the jam. He started leaning and couldn't correct the lean. If you have never ridden a stand up jet ski, the original jet ski, they are quite difficult to ride for a beginner.
 
These idiots did this all the time in Miami crossing the bow showing off. Then behind my vessel. Having 150 passengers on board. I just stayed steady. Small boats same thing. One day these idiots in a plastic boat crossed in front of my bow, ( knowing a sand bar on the other side.) they then hit the bar and stopped throwing the show off straight out over the bow onto the sand and 5 inches of water. No injuries just pride.
 
Comodave said:
Bank suction usually happens when a deep draft vessel is moving quickly in a narrow channel. Does not usually happen in open water. The reason it happens is that the boat displaces water and so is drawn into the side of the channel because water is trying to get back to fill in where the water was displaced. The QE 2 hit bottom in New England years back because it was moving fast through shallow water and the ship actually got sucked down by the fast moving water beneath the hull and so close to the bottom. It is sort of a venturi effect if I am explaining it correctly. So it was drawing more water than usual. They found bottom paint on a rock that was deeper than the normal draft of the ship.
Click to expand...

I think it more Bernoulli effect
 
Baker said:
If you look to the right of the frame in the beginning of the clip you can see the wake...
Click to expand...

Yes but not much of a wake from what I can see of the wake or the launch he gets from riding over the wake?

A lot of mishap for not much of a ride? Maybe I just expect too much. The videos of wake surfing seem to have a much larger wake further from the ship.
 
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AdkChris said:
Very little knowledge of jet skis but on a motorcycle you have steering as long as you are moving.
Click to expand...

Do you remember your very first beginnings on a motorcycle??? If you try to turn the "wheel" without leaning into the turn, the bike won't turn!!! The bike ends up going where you don't want it to go!!! That is EXACTLY what happened here. Except the physics were more complex. But basically that little "Y" of a steering "mechanism" on the jet ski is what directs the jet. If your bodily movements(weight shift) are not in concert with what you are doing with the steering mechanism on the ski, you are not in control. And that is what happened here. I know I am just guessing and don't know exactly what happened. But I am betting that is what happened.
 
By the time I first rode a motorcycle I has so many miles on bicycles and tractors the only thing to learn to get started was first up then second++ down and finding neutral without going back to first. Oh and counter steering. That really snaps a bike into the turns.

You could be right about the jet ski rider being a bit off balance to start a turn. That supports my theory that given not much of a wake, not very fast moving jet ski, nothing happening very fast or furious but still he managed to hit the ship. Perhaps he should work on getting some experience before he pushes the envelope.
 
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