It has been a tough week in water skiing.

[Horton]

It has been a tough week in water skiing. I guess since we are a small community we notice more when things go wrong.

In Newberry there was one major skiing head injury this Saturday. Surgery was required but I understand the young man will be good as new.

I heard about another skiing major head injury in Newberry within the last week but am totally unclear of the details.

Lastly Texas State collegiate skier Kevin Shimek was killed in a car accident Saturday night in Louisiana. Pro Skier Ryan Fitts was also in the car. Ryan sustained a number of serious injuries but is expected to recover. Details are not clear but reports say Tommo Gilbert and Bobby Hall were also in the car & both sustained injuries. This is all third hand information. This is tragic from any perspective.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=246176

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6526444.html

[Horton]

This just showed up in my email. Can I please have some good news?!?!?!

 _____________________________________________________________________________________

Friends,

As most of you know by now, we lost a dear friend this weekend. Mike Harris passed away after the plane he was in crashed on Saturday. The details are very sketchy right now as to who was flying Mike’s plane or what happened at the time of the crash but both Mike and his passenger died in the crash.

More details are here:
http://wokv.com/localnews/2009/07/two-dead-in-st-johns-plane-cra.html

Misky is planning on taking Mike’s body back to Tennessee for burial. At this time, I do not know when they are leaving Jacksonville for Tennessee nor do I know when Misky will be back in Jacksonville. Misky said that we will plan a memorial service at Victory Lake for sometime after she returns. She told me not to cancel my trip to Dallas this week as the Victory Lake memorial will not be this week. Please make your personal plans accordingly.

Misky stressed that she expects members and friends to continue to use and enjoy the lake and property as normal as that is what Mike would have wanted. She also said that Mike would want the two tournament sponsors to go forward with the tournaments on the July 18th as Mike would have wanted that also.

Please pass this information on as there are many people that I don’t have addresses for and many friends of Mike that I do not know.

Mike will be missed by many. May his soul rest in peace.


Travis

[jwr]

Very sad news.  I had met Mike a few years ago, he was a very nice man.  Our thoughts will be with his family and friends.

[jsc0324]

We had a tough weekend in Newberry Springs last weekend.  I ski every weekend with another family and the 14 year old son of my good friend suffered a life threatening injury when he fell requiring immediate medical treatment.  Below is the letter he is planning to send to others in our community and hopefully to the AWSA to build an awareness of simple precautions we should consider to mitigate these serious risks in our sport:

 Hind sight is 20/20 so believe me when I say, change must come to the world of water skiing.  This exciting sport that mixes skill with speed can end in tragedy without attention given to the area of personal safety namely, helmets and goggles.  Given our name dropping of watercraft, ski designs, swim wear, and accessories associated with skiing, why aren’t we promoting and wearing personal safety!  

In our second year of weekend skiing at a private lake in Newberry Springs, CA., our season starts in May and runs thru October.  My two sons and our friends’ two boys (ages eight to fourteen years) range from novice to advance immediate in skill and are highly committed to growing with the sport.  Saturday, June 11, 2009, was like any other weekend but quickly turned into a life-saving event for my oldest son, age fourteen.  He was skiing @15 off at 28.6MPH transitioning from 2 to 3 when he broke at the waist and went over the front of his ski.  He was conscious and bleeding profusely from his head when rescued.  Head trauma and bleeding are issues that require immediate attention and given the remote location in combination with the unknown, he was airlifted by helicopter to the nearest Level I Trauma Center more than one-hundred miles away.  Notwithstanding the drama of the event, we consider ourselves very fortunate and are optimistic for my son’s full recovery. Having been struck by his ski to the left side of his head he sustained a laceration to his scalp and a depressed skull fracture that broke in multiple pieces.  Surgery was performed to remove the concave appearance to his head and then titanium plates were installed to address the fractures to his skull.  Needless to say, the use of a helmets and goggles would have protected him from the impact of the ski so one must ask does it always take an accident to bring change. 

I can categorically say that my children, my friends’ children, and any other person skiing with us will be outfitted with personal safety i.e. a helmet and goggles. To that end, I’ve located and purchased multiple helmets and goggles which my younger son and his friends will wear and evaluate beginning this weekend.  While my older son is recuperating from his surgery and determining at what level he will participate in the future, I deeply encourage and highly recommend that you explore and give consideration to helmets and goggles.  As with other sports (snow skiing, skate boarding, rollerblading, bicycling, etc.), helmets and goggles are considered a necessary and required part of participant’s attire.  The world of water skiing is a lifetime sport that can bring years of excitement and entertainment to your family and friends.  No parent should have to experience your child happy one minute and in a state of extreme peril the next.  SO, join me and advocate that the water skiing community embrace the use of helmet and goggles.  Should you have questions or comments regarding the issue of personal safety, please don’t hesitate to contact me on 800/282-4396 or at garveyequipment@sbcglobal.net  

John D. Fernandez

 

[MattP]

I hope your son has a speedy recovery!

How will you prevent the water from covering the goggles and impairing the vision of the skier? I agree a helmet is a good idea I personally have hit my head on my ski a few times

[Dirt]

John, I am very sorry to hear about the terrible accident. I hope your son recovers quickly and fully. Just a thought. I knew a guy who broke his neck jumping at Canyon Lake because of a helmet. There are some dangers to slalom skiing and having the helmet bucket water and yank your neck around. I just wanted to let you know that it may be quite dangerous.

 Dave

[MattP]

Also now that I think about it; wake boarders, jumpers, and knee boarders use helmets. I have seen some skiers use them too! So you might have something there having your kids use one.

 

dsmart- if you use a helmet just make sure it has plenty oh holes or places for water to exit quickly

[ScarletArrow]

It is an interesting question, "if someone has the potential to travel 30, 40, 50+ mph across the wake, fall in a precarious position w/o any body control, and have the potential to strike a solid object (the ski) - why are helmets not required?"

 

How fast does a 34mph skier go across the wake at 35off?

 

How often do concussions occur from striking the water?

[thager]

Guess I better take some estrogen and sign up for hockey!!/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif

[Old MS Accout]

Thager and I know a girl in Minn that got hit in the head by the back of her ski on a fall. She cracked everything open and looked like someone went at her with a baseball bat. Titanium skull plate, screws and all kinds of stuff in her head now. It took a year to get her back on the water but she came back with a Protec helmet. Her and a few others who saw the crash started wearing helmets, but it was short lived. None of them wear helmets anymore due to the water scoop issue.      

[Horton]

I think you guys are over playing the Scoop issue. A well fitted helmet is safe and more so as kid speeds.  

[Old MS Accout]

I dont know about the scoop issue, I am just reporting the facts. I have never had a helmet on while skiing.

   

[jsc0324]

We will be comparing the Gath helmet (australian) to the Protec variety this weekend.  I got the protec from Tadd at H2OPROSHOP (the link at the top of the BOS home page) and he was great in understanding the urgency of my need.   Thanks, Tadd.  (From what I can tell, it looks like the Gath is less likely to scoop (bucket) because the lips are smaller.

[RichardDoane]

My son was 8 (9 years ago) when a ski crash resulted in stiches to the head.  He started wearing a little red protech wake helmet, and was the only boarder at the 2001 INT US Champs with a helmet back then.  Soon thereafter the INT started requiring helmets on all riders, which was a smart move. 

[Dirt]

MattP, thanks for the info. The broken neck incident occurred years ago and there were not too many helmets to choose from at the time. I just wanted to let them know there might be an issue. Horton, thanks for my new graphic. It looks just like me.

[Horton]

My Mother and I were talking about this last night.  . . .

Anecdotally it seems like kids get hit in the head and adult or advanced skiers do not. I wonder if this really true? When you start counting the incidents we know of there are more then a few but I can not think of an adult or advanced skier who has been hit in the head with this ski.

If this is true (may not be) I guess it could be because adults are taller than thier skis or the boat speed is faster?

[Dirt]

John, I think it may occur more with slower speeds or when learning to ski. My wife took a header at Cheyenne years ago and her ski hit her in the head. When I turned the boat around, there was blood everywhere. She had a good size hole just above her forehead. I could see her skull. It was scary. She got lucky and only had a concusion and needed sutures.