Rope around my neck while driving!!!!!

[markchilcutt]

Just a heads up if your driving without a shock tube your taking a chance. Not saying the shock tube is full proof but in my situation Saturday i think i wouldnt have ended up with the rope around my neck while driving. My ski partner popped the handle at 2 ball 32 off 34 mph next thing i know the ski rope is around my neck!! pretty amazing how much drag is created from handle and rope in the water at 34. Took me a second to get it off my neck and shut the boat down. 3 days later and it still hurts to talk a little just glad the handle didnt hit me in the back o the head or something worse. No more skiing w/out a shock tube.

 

MC

[ForrestGump]

I've had it happen even with a shock tube.

[MattP]

Yeah I got a rope in the boat the other day coiled up right next to me(driving) and the observer not a fun scenario. I'm going to start to use the shock tube again. I got rapped 3 times by the same guy in one set last season... Its just not worth the risk. I think we keep two in the boat and I rarely see them get used. Starting tomorrow every time im in the boat its coming out.

[The_MS]

Spotter needs to play good solid defense.

[Roger]

The only one I know of personally did have a shock tube; not a perfect solution...

[MattP]

@MS yeah... true but I was wrapped with out a spotter in the boat, could have ended badly if the like caught the throttle or my neck. @Roger only 1? As a Sr. driver I would have thought you would have seen more than that.

[Roger]

@MattP - I've seen a number of handle strikes on the boat and near misses, but never have I seen the rope get around a crew member. I'm sorta ok with that...

 

I was one of the boat judges for the Big Dawg finals last year and we had one pretty severe handle strike. A few inches higher and it could easily have reached the crew. Some of those guys will hold onto a ton of slack if they have to.

[Wish]

Happened to a friends wife when he was skiing. Right around her neck. Happened so fast that I didn't have time to stop it. I was probably ducking myself. She actually started sliding up the back of the drivers seat while pulling the throttle to neutral. I reached over and removed it as the boat was stopping but the damage was done. Visable rope burn. Very painfull. Sad part is the shock tube was under the bow.

[markchilcutt]

@scotchipman sorry i missed the clean up!! thanks for getting it done and making that area safer for all of us. Arm gaurd is a must as well.

@MS we had no spotter that day and i am not sure if they could have helped it happened so fast??

I will always use a shock tube. if one is not available im not driving. just glad it wasnt any worse than it was.

[DW]

Been hit in the by the handle w/ a shock tube. Glad it was not the back of the head since it was painful. I assume it would have been worse w/o a tube.

[The_MS]

When CP was gunning for the record at the ranch, he pasted us 3 times with the handle and rope.

Dent in boat and dent on bimini. I think the shock tube is longer then the rope at -43.

[MattP]

@OB at least that ding is not in the back of your head!

[Taperflex]

I lassoed my driver last week. He actually caught the rope in his mouth. It was not a pretty sight. Got a shock tube the next day. Back in the day, boat judges always carried LARGE clipboards for that very reason.

[6balls]

It's been around my neck from a relatively novice course skier...only once, and I got it off of me just before the water tugged it tight. Not sure how much the tube does to help. We run one now, but in the case of the longer line skier it was a loop further down the rope that ended up over my head.

[jipster43]

@OB A good fiberglass feller can fix that and no one will be the wiser.

[thager]

One of my old partners used to fire the rope past the boat at -35 and shorter daily. I've been pulled out of the drivers seat twice and the same guy KOed a driver in a tournament in the 70's. Shock tubes were'nt invented yet. Mastercraft came up with the funky net around that time.

[A_B]

I have had the handle up on my neck with a tube as well. Usually the same skier. Holds onto everything and wears Clinchers.

 

Years ago, I had someone muff a deepwater start and the handle hit the windshield. If it would have hit the back of my head it probably would have knocked me out. I don't recall if we had a tube or even if they were invented at that point...

 

I have augered in on turns, missed deepwaters, and handle has popped the transom and even taken a chunk of ski out. JB Welded it and magic marker and it looked almost like new.

[Sethski]

Can't do much about the handle pops, but I truly think the rope around the neck is a MUCH greater concern. At least that one can be helped with a shock tube...the shock tube really doesn't do anything for the handle pop...not much at least.

[teammalibu]

OB thats worse than the dent Trent put in that boat at Cottonwood.

[eleeski]

Shock tube? It's called a rope condom! While a proper rope condom won't eliminate all risks, it probably cuts the rope around neck probability by an order of magnitude or two. I liked the switch because it dampened a lot of rope recoil - almost as well as the rope condom.

 

In my cheaper days I duct taped a string to some pipe insulation to make a $2.00 rope condom. Now I use fancy ones that say "Ski Pro" or "Obrien". When do we see a "BallOfSpray rope condom"?

 

Eric

[Wish]

Got hit in the head by a switch clip last week while driving. That stung a bit. "rope condom" that's funny!

[SkiJay]

Last October I popped the rope around my wife's neck. She was some kind of pissed off at me for it too! I thought she was being a little over-dramatic about it cause 1) I didn't do it on purpose, and 2) how much drag can a bare handle create right? Two weeks later, a ski buddy popped the rope around my neck and I couldn't swallow or talk right for two weeks. What are the odds?! First I apologised to my voodoo-wielding wife for not being more sensitive when I lassoed her, then I got a long shock tube which has been kind of a pain in the butt ever since, but it's there to stay.

[DW]

I second the Ball of Spray rope condom. . .

[swc5150]

We used to use the duck taped pipe insulation rope rubber back in the day too. The observer had to keep an eye on though, as it would worm its way towards to the skier if you weren't paying attention. I saw a windshield get shattered from a muffed deep water start (no shock tube). The handle shot right between the driver and passenger. That's when we broke out the pipe insulation!

[bmiller3536]

Rope around the neck is pretty scarey and leaves a nice burn. It happened to me once and ever since then when I feel the skier pop the rope I instantly turtle neck it and put my hand up by my neck.

 

When it did happen to me my girlfriend was riding in the boat and she goes..."the rope is around your neck!!" No Sh*t sherlock can I get some help. Trying to kill the throttle, keep the boat from going on shore and stop a rope from strangling you is a difficult task

[markchilcutt]

@bmiller3536 that is so dam funny about the girlfriend "uhm hay boyfriend that rope is totally jacking your neck right now"

[ral]

@OB, ugly ding! Lucky me I was not the guest.

 

As a matter of fact, I have never popped up a handle into the boat. IMHO, you have skiers that would do it all the time and others that just would not. We have a couple in our club with whom I would never ever go with one of my little girls as an observer...

[Broussard]

@Taperflex What would a clipboard do?

[Alberto Soares]

2 cases that happened with me:

 

1 - I was driving for a friend who took the new girlfriend watch him ski, handle hit the nose of the girl and broke it really bad. Imagine him taking the girl back home and telling her father the bad news...

 

2 - I was also driving and the rope engaged reverse at 36mph, the transmission did not break, at least not that day...

 

 

[SkiJay]

I ski with a guy who pops the rope two or three times a day. Last fall I told him if he keeps popping it, I won't drive him ... and he stopped doing it. So he was aware of what he was trying to hold on to, knowing full well there was a good chance it might pop. The thing is, if you manage to survive a lean-lock like that, what are the odds of making it past the next bouy? It's a selfish fool's game, especially during practice, cause it puts innocent people in the boat at serious risk.

[GAJ0004]

I have a shock tube that has a plastic pipe inside the foam, and the nylon cover. The plastic pipe inside keeps the tube stiff, and I have never had any trouble where the handle flies back into the boat. We get more handle recoil from kneeboarding. I usually bail out of a potential fall caused by slack in the rope. I throw the handle..

[Chuck_Dickey]

Shock tubes get ent up and floppy after a while so I put a .080" thick lexan tube inside my shock tube. No way it wrapping around anyone,reduces recoil and makes it real easy t get the rope in and out.

 

Beats the heck out of the cheap thin liners that come in some tubes.

 

http://www.polycarbonate-tubing.com/polycarbonate-tubes.htm

[RichardDoane]

@broussard - think of the clipboard as a blocking shield

[guitarcarr]

We always use a shock tube!

[DW]

Chuck, where do you get the lexan, and what diameter, perhaps what diameter relative to the ID of the foam tube.

[Shortenit]

Had the rope around my neck, and have also been hit by the handle, 7 staples in back of head to fix that one. Both happened with shock tubes. Shock tube reduces risk but no guarantees. Interestingly, like skijay's experience, our handle popping skier changed his hang on forever ways when he was told he couldn't ski with us anymore.