Get tangled up in the course

[MegaVega]

This video has been floating around the social media the last week. There is an impressive amount of force pretty much stopping the boat in it's tracks. 

My question to the forum is what do you think would happen if you caught the wire on a portable course with heavy anchors? Toady I rolled into the course just checking things out with no skier and about the 4th boat guide looked off. What I didn't realize is that the ski buoys were missing from the weekend mayhem and it made the PVC pipe come up and the edge of the wire diamond was about 1 ft in the water. Luckily, it was at an angle and I missed it. Have you guys heard of anybody hitting the guide wire?

[Mastercrafter]

I dunno.. but deserved for the boat path. 

[03RLXi]

I've seen comments online by a person who said they were there (so take it was you will! Might be fake comments, might be real). Apparently guide buoy wedged between prop, strut and hull, and it wasn't stainless steel course wire being hooked. If I recall correctly he said 1/2" poly rope to an smallish anchor block and it didn't move. Said stopping and transom uplift was all the buoy and stalled prop, and not a huge anchor and wire.  

[Lars]

back before tik tok this video made the rounds on here and I thought the consensus was that the driver slammed it into reverse. can't find the thread at the moment. 

 

edit: here it is: 

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Lars

[BraceMaker]

@MegaVega first things first you never ski a course before you do atleast one pass through it.  Particularly a portable you want to eyeball it that the course is straight and even if it is you always idle through it, stand up wear polarized glasses clip your lanyard on or get a buddy to stand and idle the whole length make sure the booms aren't broken, the course is intact and nothing is in the way on public water this includes logs.  If you've ever skied a course on public water you'll find things including intentional sabotage as well as just logs and debris that hang up on the course.  You don't want to hit that with the boat and you most certainly don't want to hit that with your skier.  

The cables mainline and boom should always be attached with breakaways this means zip ties or plastic clips at the balls and elastic cordage.  If you've ever wrapped a rope at speed you should be aware that it will stall your boat out but it shouldn't stop the boat.  Never seen it not sure if that could happen IMO nothing is that well anchored to stop the boat that hard.

And in several of the facebook posts a person familiar with the scenario has indicated driver error slamming the boat into reverse.  

[MegaVega]

@BraceMaker I am fairly new to water skiing in general and especially the course. I'm glad I got away with a free lesson on this one. In the future I will be doing exactly what you described.

[Taynton]

I can tell you almost definitively, it was not the course. the rest of the course did not move. I find it hard to believe a bouy caught in the driveline would cause the bow to dive. Looks like the reverse is the most likely explanation. 

[mlange]

Either reverse or as  @03RLXi said a breakaway let go and something got wedged in there and had a similar effect.  But good call on the rest of the course not moving at all.

[Jmoski]

Our course is on a public lake, a boat guide got taken out recently, but what was strange was the line wasn’t cut - it was completely pulled off the pole.

as you can see in the picture the prop caught the rope and pulled it through the clamp that establishes the loop around the pipe.

[Sethro]

3 hours ago, Taynton said:

I can tell you almost definitively, it was not the course. the rest of the course did not move. I find it hard to believe a bouy caught in the driveline would cause the bow to dive. Looks like the reverse is the most likely explanation. 

I agree it was not the course, and likely slamming into reverse. But with individual anchors the rest of the course isn’t going to move anyway. 

[Taynton]

On 9/12/2023 at 4:12 PM, Sethro said:

I agree it was not the course, and likely slamming into reverse. But with individual anchors the rest of the course isn’t going to move anyway. 

individual anchors would negate the cable being caught and ill say it again no way a bouy caught in a driveline would make the bow dive.

[Drago]

Pretty sure throwing a boat in reverse would just make the prop spin 

[Dano]

There’s gotta be another explanation here other than catching a buoy or slamming reverse.  I’d think the rope or bungee used for the buoy would snap long before it could apply enough pressure to stop a boat moving at speed.  Slamming a boat into full reverse at speed likely results in a stalled engine and/or mechanical failure,  I wouldn’t expect a dampner plate to hold up well to those kind of forces.  The way that boat nose dived immediately, it had to have been met with a significant force.  You can see the buoy we think he hit still floating as the boat floats away. 

[Andre]

Wasn't posted here some time ago that the engine had seized and the jammed prop cause the nose dive ?

Of course,i'm getting older ,forget things and may be totally wrong...

[coach3]

I have all buoys attached with wire ties; 2 ties for boat guides, and one for skier balls. If a ski binding gets caught in a ball, it releases. Yes, I have to go back and fix it (floating course), but no one gets hurt. Maybe in this case the rope would have released with the wire tie system? I use them as "circuit breakers".

[LoopSki]

I think something happened causing the boat to veer into the boat guides and eventually stop. I dont think the bouys or lines that keep them anchored had anything to do with it. 

[PatM]

You can clearly see that the buoy popped right back up.  No way it pops up like that if it gets caught in the prop

[S1Pitts]

Yes a boat slammed into reverse and turning at the same time will dive like that as I know from experience. Had to do this to avoid an open water swimmer with no safety boat, swimmers bouy or bright colored skull cap out swimming in heavy wind chop in the middle of the lake.

Boat took on a LOT of water.

[Horton]

That video at the top of this thread is from a few years ago in Idaho. The story is something like..... a skier was teaching his young son to drive. The boy freaked out when he was so far off center and was running over balls, so he panicked and threw the boat in reverse.

I have heard a number of similar stories about what happens when a boat at speed is put in reverse. It sounds crazy to me but that is what happens. In this case I think the weight of the tower could have made the nose dive worse.

He did not catch a cable or anchor. This has been talked about a lot. This is an old video.

[swc5150]

2 buddies of mine submarined an MC Skier back in the mid 80's dropping it into reverse at speed.  The boat dives like a dolphin for real!  They hadn't installed the windshield, so water filled to the gunwales. 

[behindpropellers]

This happened this summer at a lake we ski on. Driver ran over the guide buoy and it hooked on the boat. 3 people were thrown out of the boat.

Were very lucky that nobody was hurt.

[Killer]

11 hours ago, behindpropellers said:

This happened this summer at a lake we ski on. Driver ran over the guide buoy and it hooked on the boat. 3 people were thrown out of the boat.

Were very lucky that nobody was hurt.

I can't see how that's possible. 1/4" rope will snap in a milisecond.

What did it catch on???

[rodecon]

I was a passenger in a boat years ago and the first set at dawn on a public lake the driver suddenly noticed a fishing boat at the end of the course, panicked and threw the boat into reverse from full speed (probably 30 mph) and the boat just stalled/ motor quit, no nose dive/ submarine, boat was a brand new (at the time) 2013 Malibu Txi

 

[swbca]

So the consensus is  . .  the driver put it reverse.

What generation of ski boats have transmissions that will actually successful reverse rotation of the prop at skiing speed. 

I have a 2004 ProStar and its has happened twice by having the wrong driver in my boat.  I our case the engine stops all rotation instantly with the internal impact of the crashbox transmisson in the 2004 ProStar.  I don't know why the transmission or damper plate didn't break.

The moral to the story is in this case, don't have guys that drive their modern dual clutch Porsches on the track drive your boat.  On the race track, they pull the shift handle backwards several times while breaking for every turn.  That habit can carry over to your boat if they aren't thinking.  Both of these guys are instructors for the Porsche club that made this mistake even after a careful discussion about not touching the release button when stopping to drop the skier at the end of the course. 

Edited November 5, 2023 by swbca

[behindpropellers]

4 hours ago, Killer said:

I can't see how that's possible. 1/4" rope will snap in a milisecond.

What did it catch on???

 

Its not a total dynamic shock. The rope catches and causes the boat to dive or turn. Its not like tying a cinder block to a rope and throwing it off of the second story of a building with the other end attached to the roof. It certainly would make a good physics question.

I'm not sure what it caught on. I suspect it got caught on the fin in the center of the boat. The boat was a twin rig outboard hydrodyne.

I seriously doubt throwing a boat in reverse at 30+ MPH would allow a propeller to catch, and not cavitate.  More physics fun.

Tim