Baller_ Wish Posted July 31, 2015 Baller_ Share Posted July 31, 2015 Photo curtesy of Mr Joel Howely. Back in early 90s watched my ski buddy pop the handle over the divers head and in the water to the right of the boat. In a blink of an eye it was around the drivers neck. As I reached over to pull it off as the boat was coming off plain the damage had been done. Bad rope burns. What made it worse is he had a shock tube under the seat I was sitting on. Even worse then that, it was his wife driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller thager Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 My ski partner in the 70's ( Jim Hines) used to pop the handle @35 off up in front of the boat all the time. Quite the rodeo driving and keeping the rope off your body and neck. Pulled into the back of the boat more than once! Jim actually knocked out a driver in a tournament catching him square in the back of the head forcing the judge to take over as he slumped over the wheel. Extremely strong skier who refused to ever let go of the handle!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MrJones Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 When I started in the late 80's I skied with a 200lb. M3 skier from Oklahoma. I was riding shotgun with my left foot propped up on the engine cover while he was skiing. He loaded up that 60 strand around 4 ball at 35 and the handle caught me flush on the inside of the left thigh. I had a nice purple 12" long bruise for a week. Lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Mrs_MS Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller 6balls Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 My rope often popped back in the day as a skier, but the handle was still in my hands. We called 'em "trophies" in our house and actually hung them in our bedrooms as teens. I'm not making this stuff up. @razorskier1 broke 3 ropes in one day free skiing...two from our boat and one bought new from the marina after our supply was exhausted. We went home as we had no more ropes and no more money. I broke so many in college I kept spares in my trunk to give to friends after snapping their ropes...straightline was really good about sending me new ropes on warranty. Broke one at regionals in practice, even broke one in an endurance barefoot competition taking a driller but went further than the other guy and advanced. We didn't grow up course skiers...the Old Man taught us the goal was shoulder in the water at the wake, stop the boat. Took a mighty long time for us to become effective buoy skiers...I can't remember the last time I snapped a rope...probably late 90's. On the 2,4 side there are still times that the driver had best be prepared. I've had more than a few lectures from tourney boat drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted July 31, 2015 Author Baller_ Share Posted July 31, 2015 @Mrs_MS that is exactly what my buddy's wife looked like. Am assuming it happened to you the same way...?.....so he hates kids AND women...??.!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Nando Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 thager, Hines came out and skied with PC and me one day and I was driving while PC worked on the jump and Hines popped the handle and shattered the mirror. The late great Toby Shotwell broke a mirror while I was driving and also put the handle around a gate buoy once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Mrs_MS Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 @wish Yes the same thing happened...this month...almost healed up. #lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Mateo_Vargas Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I was driving a few years ago and the skier popped the handle at 4 ball. When I saw the rope floating in front of my face I put the throttle in neutral and got my hands up between the rope and my neck before the slack tightened. The boat then went into full throttle reverse which buried the nose under water and a 1 foot wave came over the windshield. Only about six inches of the boat was above water after it was all said and done but I never felt the tug on my neck. What happened was the rope also got around the throttle and when it got tight it worked it's way up and released the lock putting it in full throttle reverse. It was a horrific sound before the rev limiter kicked in. It probably looked exactly like this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller akale15 Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 About 5 or 6 years ago a couple of us where in the boat when the skiers handle popped causing it to come back and lasso around a ski in the boat which then sent it flying out of the boat when the rope tightened. More recently a rope snapped and came back and swiped a cell phone right out of a friends hand (which ultimately saved the rope from hitting her face, and somehow the phone stayed in the boat) and then whipped the driver in the back of the neck. All pretty lucky as no one was hurt beside a small rope burn on her hand and few red spots on the back of the driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Edbrazil Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 Slightly off-topic, but in the early 1980's, there was an "Atlantis" waterpark in South Florida, in the Ft. Lauderdale area. I did some work for them building ramps and docks, plus helped write the ski show. Think they are long-defunct now, but maybe revived later. Anyway, at one of the ski shows, they were pulling a shoe ski jump, and the line got caught on a sign on the side of the ramp. The towline actually snapped. So, no handle slung back, just the towline, which carried enough energy to put a nasty welt on the boat driver, plus smash into one of the Airguide speedos, breaking the face of it. And that was just the towline, not a handle. Another time, I was pulling an Eastern skier who was a decent jumper, but he decided that he wanted to try a deep-water barefoot start. Using the Joe Cash muscle-up style. Humongous force involved. Even though he was a strong guy, he couldn't hold on, lost the handle, which came back, but not into the boat, but ahead of the boat. Maybe almost the full length of the towline. I shut the boat down, but we still ran over the line. Meanwhile, the handle had hit the guy in the foot, and he was writhing in pain. But, the line got somewhat wrapped around the prop, so we couldn't get right back to him. Both of these cases would have not been the current specification thicker line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I had a guy at 32 off pop the handle, it whistled past my right ear, landed in front of the boat, and I ran over it and destroyed the prop. On the river. On a Tuesday. Playing hooky from work. With no one for miles to come get us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller skinut Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 Would a shocktube have prevented any of these accidents? I have a tube I just never use it. Might want to start after reading these stories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller ForrestGump Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I watched a handle come in the boat and hit the windshield at a tournament and a shock tube was being used. Accidents happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E_T Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 @skinut yes! Use the tube please but if you don't you must video at all times... We like videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortenit Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 A big guy I would occasionally pull really loaded the rope on his starts. Warned him he needed to stop dragging and get up faster or I was done driving him. Very next start he pops the handle and I end up with 6 staples to close the cut in the back of my head. He did improve his starts a lot after that but it wasn't me pulling him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Wolfeie Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I was skiing with my neighbors at Ski West, husband was skiing, his wife was driving and I was "coaching" in the passenger seat. Husband popped the handle and the rope wrapped around the wife's neck. I was able to reach over and grab the rope so it would not tighten around her neck. She was freakin out and let go of the steering wheel, so I holding the rope with one hand and grabbed the wheel with my other hand....it all happened in seconds, but nobody got hurt, no rope burns and we did not hit the shoreline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller DefectiveDave Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 Hmmmm...I took the shocktube off after I put the bimini top on this year because the straps seemed to stop the rope from going too high up on the boat relative to the driver. After reading this thread I think I might put it back on again, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Mateo_Vargas Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I always try to use a shock tube now after it happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted July 31, 2015 Author Baller_ Share Posted July 31, 2015 Ever since that day described above I use a shock tube. ESPECIALLY with kids riding in the boat. Nothing is perfect but I have seen countless handle pops get diverted significantly to the right or left or above the boat crew as the tube moves in one if those direction and is stiff enough to alter the direction of the recoil. It IS better then not having one. As said above, it all happens in the blink of an eye. The women I pulled the ripe off of was smart enough to not let go of the wheel and she threw it in nutral but it was all to late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BobF Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 I ski with a guy that used to routinely pop the handle over the boat. As a driver, I used to duck down every time I felt it let loose! As part of my ski-smarter-to-keep-skiing-longer program I tend to not hang onto crazy slack anymore, but I once landed a handle right in an unsuspecting observers lap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller scuppers Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 GREAT PHOTO!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Brewski Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 My friend was skiing. Handle shot into the boat flew in the boat, grabbed my ski and threw it out 30' in the air. GANKED the motor cover in his 2007 SN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cayman2 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I won illinois state slalom in ' 86 (?) due to popping handle. Fell on opener (as per normal, no surprise there). Popped handle into boat, wrapped around driver neck. He shut down. No good time. Got a reride ran down the line to first place. Not on purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingshredd Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Was pulling a friend last summer on open water and the handle popped, as I looked in the mirror I saw it coming straight for my head and put my hand up and grabbed it just before it hit me in the noggin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller klindy Posted July 31, 2015 Baller Share Posted July 31, 2015 Many years ago probably in the early 90's we were at a tournament at Tivoli in Michigan. Lowry Brown, a long time driver and judge, was driving either Men's 1 or 2. He was driving a Ski Supreme with two W1 or W2 skiers as judge and timer. Somewhere around 3 or 4 the skier sends the rope and handle into the boat. The boat judge puts up her hands to block the rope and the rope promptly wraps around her wrists. All at abut the same time, the rope comes right, the radio goes flying out of the boat and ole Lowry jams the boat into reverse full throttle....When the nose of the boat headed toward the bottom of the lake, everyone gets slammed back into their seats. As Lowry sees a wall of water heading up the windshield he throttles the boat forward. Long story short(er) Lowry inhales a bunch of water and the boat easily gets a foot of water above the floor. Poor Lowry had two of the most attractive ladies on site in the boat and couldn't beg either of them for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. So he coughed and sputtered as we towed the newly christened "Ski Submarine" back to the boat ramp. Scary situation which gave us a lot of laughs over the years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricE Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 A few years ago when first getting started in course skiing,I popped the handle and the rope lassoed my buddies A1 out of the boat. I only saw the ski fly up in the air and had no idea what had happened. My son was in the boat, about six at the time and scared the hell out of us. We were using a tube, but now always put the skis in the rear ski locker, pure habit now. Unfortunately cracked the ski and slightly dinged the boat. A bit off topic but related, a work buddy who just got a deck boat this summer showed me a video of him and friends this past weekend on the lake. They were videoing somebody starting out on a tube (why??) behind the boat. As they get up on plane, a girl in the boat screams "what was that?" Slow motion on the video shows as they were pulling the tuber up to speed, they were also getting their anchor up on plane, which then caught a toe and launched into the boat. Video caught the anchor in mid air heading right toward the boat, couldn't even see it at regular playback speed. Luckily no one got hit, and incredibly didn't do any damage. Seen this happen a few years ago to also to a guy in a MC after we pulled out a portable course, and the anchor landed through the lid of their cooler. Again, very lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MAD11 Posted August 1, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 1, 2015 I spent most of my high school year hoping to date a certain young lady with no success. Finally a few weeks before leaving for college I convinced her to come with us skiing. This was 1986 so my memory is not so great but my 3rd pass behind my buddies Ski Tique I popped the handle hard. The handle went flying into the boat along with a lot of rope. She got rope burns all over her legs, which in the end seemed to be the harmless part since the handle hit her right in the face giving her a huge black eye. I'm not sure we have spoken since as she lost interest in me quick. Not as good as one of Shane's stories. The best part was her dad calling mine trying to understand what happened the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller_ Wish Posted August 1, 2015 Author Baller_ Share Posted August 1, 2015 @MAD11 wins... I'm still laughing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller drewski32 Posted August 2, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 2, 2015 I'll never forget the time @T8skier popped one in the boat around 4@38 and the handle hit me. I was really new to skiing and couldn't believe that was even possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller skiboat38 Posted August 5, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 5, 2015 Big Dawg skier Kyle Jones back in the day of hand driving was famous for giving drivers fits, plus breaking ropes and handles. He popped a handle free skiing @ 39.5 off and sent the handle through the back fiberglass of a 1991 Nautique. we would always take cover when he slammed the 1-3-5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Edbrazil Posted August 6, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 6, 2015 Can't cite date, place, and who, but I remember a story about a handle springing back, and penetrating and getting lodged in an outboard motor's cover. Probably at least 30 years back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller GregHind Posted August 6, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 6, 2015 A friend told me a story about a Flightcraft Phantom XS (basically a 16ft XLT) in the 80's. He was observing and a shortline skier popped the handle. It landed on the hand control and ripped the boat full reverse. The flightcraft was totally sunk within seconds. The boat just disappeared out from under him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller adkh2oskier Posted August 6, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 6, 2015 I'm guessing, but about 10 yrs ago I was boat judge at a tournament at Pangaea Puddle. Pond owner George Vosburgh was driving, not sure who was skiing or what line length but they popped the handle big time, rope shot into the boat, went right over Georges' head. It was just reflex and I reached out and grabbed the rope and lifted it up over Georges; head just before it came tight. We were both lucky, him especially, but afterword thinking about it, my hand could have been caught up in the rope also if I'd have missed with my grab. It just happens so fast I didn't even have time to think about what I was doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller GAJ0004 Posted August 11, 2015 Baller Share Posted August 11, 2015 I would always use a shock tube. I won't let anyone pull me unless there is one in the boat. When I get a new shock tube I put a piece of plastic pipe inside to stiffen it. We have had no problems since we have been using it. There was one time back in the 1980's where someone was pulling a slalom skier on my boat. The handle popped out of his hands and flew over the front of the boat. The rope and handle got caught in the prop. The handle was bent in half, and the rope was shredded. No one got hurt, and the boat or prop was not damaged. I recommend using the shock tube for pulling slalom skiers, pulling any big first time skiers, and pulling kneeboarders too. If I see a ton of slack in the rope, I just throw the handle straight up in the air and call it a day. I do not want to injure my boat crew or damage my boat. The extra half buoy is not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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