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3 Boat Accidents in the same spot in 24 hrs

RiverDave

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This was all anyone was talking about on social media this last weekend. 3 boat accidents in the exact same spot in one weekend.

This is also the same spot that a Mach 26 crashed years ago and ended up on the dock.

People are calling it the Bermuda Triangle of Parker now..

Pretty bummed about the red boat. I haven’t driven it in years but it used to be an incredibly docile / great rough water boat..

I’m not even sure how that happens with the red gmt or the direct drive ski boat?

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Havasu Hangin'

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I read that it was wakeboard boats that caused it? Someone said that they were docked...
 

BingerFang

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I think it's a mixture between bad water conditions, ego, river current, and a corner in front of the famous floating dock bar.
 

RiverDave

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I read that it was wakeboard boats that caused it? Someone said that they were docked...

The black jet boat they said a large wake caused it To crash.. guy let off the throttle / no throttle no steering. The red boat it got away from him. The ski boat I dunno.
 

NicPaus

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I use to stay at Rio Lindo and have seen it happen many times over the years. Happened last weekend as well. Same dock owner posted last year a video of it getting hit and asking owner to turn themselves in for dock repair she had it on camera.
 

cofooter

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How in the hell can this happen in broad daylight unless you are doing something reckless or dumb? I read peoples comments about current, rollers and traffic, I just can't imagine any scenario where you might end up on a dock except equipment failure.........
 

ONE-A-DAY

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Oh the irony, the GMT ends up on the dock next to the toon that was sitting there from the last wreck. Look at the water in front of the place, thats ridiculous, how can that be enjoyable all day?

And the direct drive old school tow boat, whats all in on that, maybe 40? How does shit get that out of whack at those type of speeds?
 

Advantage 1

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Really sad to see. I was not there, but lots of comments the water was like a holiday weekend. Shit, people... be safe. Big weekend coming up.

Someone can draw the 'Parker Triangle':

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NicPaus

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The last few Saturdays I have been out it was so rough I didn't bother launching my 26' boat. I have hit some of those surf waves in it and it is not fun. In my little 24' boat I have hit them and it tracks the wave bad. It will turn with the wave even if i steer into it.
 

1homeblown

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How in the hell can this happen in broad daylight unless you are doing something reckless or dumb? I read peoples comments about current, rollers and traffic, I just can't imagine any scenario where you might end up on a dock except equipment failure.........

About 15-20 years ago, my dad got cut off by a wave-runner so bad, he snap-turned the DiMarco and put it up onto the rocks. The whole boat was out of the water. Pilot of the wave-runner got a $50 ticket. The fix for the DiMarco was several thousand dollars. The pilot never turned his head to see if he was clear to turn which put my family in danger.


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HighRoller

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There's no such thing as an "accident". I heard someone mention that one of the drivers was very experienced. Part of "experience" is discretion. Looking at the water and the size of the boats makes me question why they were even out there. That's some Havasu sized chop!
 

NicPaus

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Clearly it’s the docks fault.

They should remove it before it kills somebody.
I replied to the owner that her dock draws them in. That's when she said it happened last weekend also. That launch ramp is a nightmare on holiday weekend and that was 20 years ago before the surf boats showed up. I recall a wake going into my buddies new truck at the time when launching my boat.
 

MSum661

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The wife and I sat it out on the sidelines at Sundance most of the day on Saturday.
Looked like a Hare and Hound Race going up and down the river right in front of us.
The craziest thing I saw was skier down in the center of the river with traffic going by like it was a L.A. Freeway.
It was nuts!!
Anyway we saw the red outboard cruise by earlier in the day. Damn shame.
 
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The black jet boat they said a large wake caused it To crash.. guy let off the throttle / no throttle no steering. The red boat it got away from him. The ski boat I dunno.

that's a real important point when it comes to jet boats no throttle/no steering. also you can stop a jet boat in a very short distance by slapping it into reverse and punch the throttle, only draw back is watching your passengers roll off the front Deck...
 

Dana757

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As much as I'm not a fan of wake boats no way did one cause the accidents. Gotta know when it slow it down. The Jet crashed pretty early in the day. Doubt he had been drinking at that time. I hear it was a younger guy driving his dad's boat. Maybe inexperience caused that one. Water was really snotty out there for sure. Talked to a lady that lives there and rendered first aid to the guy in the red boat. Didn't sound good. Word is that he is going to be OK. He's lucky.
 

HighRoller

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that's a real important point when it comes to jet boats no throttle/no steering. also you can stop a jet boat in a very short distance by slapping it into reverse and punch the throttle, only draw back is watching your passengers roll off the front Deck...
Drawback number two in water like that is wondering if the nose will come back up after it submarines! I have had waves break into the open bow section of a good sized 21 Ultra with decent freeboard in water like that. Which is why weekends are a no-go!
 

Devious_Chris

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As much as I'm not a fan of wake boats no way did one cause the accidents. Gotta know when it slow it down. The Jet crashed pretty early in the day. Doubt he had been drinking at that time. I hear it was a younger guy driving his dad's boat. Maybe inexperience caused that one. Water was really snotty out there for sure. Talked to a lady that lives there and rendered first aid to the guy in the red boat. Didn't sound good. Word is that he is going to be OK. He's lucky.

The jet boat was very early in the day and the driver/owner of the boat had not been drinking and was wearing a life jacket....... That one was a fluke accident caused by a wave that the driver did not anticipate.

We all need to remember to read the water and drive according to the conditions. For what happened on Saturday could have been a lot worse.


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white tortilla

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@BingerFang and I are Big River people. Since that part is closed we went up to parker early on Saturday in our smaller river boats and it was a mess. We are in 20’ boats but do go up to parker during summer to grab breakfast or something. We launched at 7am for a quick run to the dam and back and on the way back by 9am it was an ocean. I hate to sound like a broken record for everyone else on here but the amount of wakesurfers last weekend was way higher then I have seen in the past. On our way back to the ramp at 9:15 in front of road runner we hit two wake surfers going down river almost side x side and there was another coming up river. As they all passed each other the swells converging and hitting each other looked close to 6-7’ we tried to pass them but ended up throttling back and waiting for the people to fall before we could go around them. That’s the other part to the surfing they fall a lot more then skiers for example so they are stop and go and stop and go every 500’ and the swells from all that go all directions.

In this case the water for me was way dirtier up at idiot rock with people turning around for sandbar or going back up around echo. For these three accidents I don’t think U can blame the wakes, it’s completely operator error in my opinion. Going to fast for conditions. Our little boats can do 100mph but on Saturday we were mostly just trying to stay on plane and not stuff the nose crossing a wakesurf wake.
 

cofooter

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@BingerFang and I are Big River people. Since that part is closed we went up to parker early on Saturday in our smaller river boats and it was a mess. We are in 20’ boats but do go up to parker during summer to grab breakfast or something. We launched at 7am for a quick run to the dam and back and on the way back by 9am it was an ocean. I hate to sound like a broken record for everyone else on here but the amount of wakesurfers last weekend was way higher then I have seen in the past. On our way back to the ramp at 9:15 in front of road runner we hit two wake surfers going down river almost side x side and there was another coming up river. As they all passed each other the swells converging and hitting each other looked close to 6-7’ we tried to pass them but ended up throttling back and waiting for the people to fall before we could go around them. That’s the other part to the surfing they fall a lot more then skiers for example so they are stop and go and stop and go every 500’ and the swells from all that go all directions.
And they don't know not to do power turns..........
 

Fastdadtsmith

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From what I have experienced in that particular area, I would describe it much like an ocean rip tide. When the outgoing current, or wave meets the incoming wave, it creates a very violent uplift. If you are not familiar with this area, and evidently even if you are based on the weekends activities, there is an eddy that flows up river. This eddy sends the circular riptide wave effect back up river into the flowing downriver wakes or waves. I'm sure some of you have been caught in the ocean rip tides and can imagine how it could launch an unsuspecting, even seasoned operator out of the water. Since the river is narrow in that location as people hug the Arizona shoreline, you're already turning as you navigate the bend, get popped out of the water and get rotated right towards that dock. Even the quickest reaction to get out of the throttle, you're still traveling 25 maybe 30 MPH, and the doc is only 20' away when you land pointed straight at it. Hopefully nobody was seriously injured and we can all learn to watch for those disruptive rollers, even though we can't blame the roll bar boats!
 

HighRoller

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Heres one of them darn roller maker boats helping the cause!! View attachment 877853
Yep. Not only is the driver of a boat responsible for the boat, but also the wake and any spray/roost that comes from it. Coming on plane around other boats or docks is never a good situation. Driver of that Magic is in a high traffic area around other boats with zero forward visibility. Recipe for a head-on collision.
 

Ziggy

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Seems like if you're aware of this hazard you'd use some discretion and slow down for a safe maneuver instead of trying to do a LAM turn.
So glad to hear no one was seriously hurt and I hope the docks get fixed up without it costing Fox's. But damn that red boat is beautiful.
 

DEEZNUTS

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That red GMT looks fun. IIRC, didn't that belong to a alcohol K-boat guy who is a very experienced driver?

Maybe it had traded hands since then...IDK
 

rmarion

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the main question is how many boat can navigate that stretch (isn't there a corner also???, sorry I've only been once, which was last September) and at what speed??? you throw in one extra boat into the Hare/hound race and you have a mixture of potential possible problems...

I believe we all realise... the boat traffic is not maintaining the same speed during that stretch..... or possibly maybe one traveling boat got pushed off his navigation course...

IMO it was the perfect storm for a disaster....

I hope the injured boater recovers SOON!!!
 

She's Mine

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We were at Fox's Saturday afternoon and I have to say it has been a while since I've been there and felt that place rock the way it was rocking. The water was sloppy, I don't see how it could be any fun out there with a small boat.
 

boatnam2

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I ride my wave runner past there maybe 20 times on a Saturday to check out foxes, if its rough out and your close to the docks a roller will surge you in if your not paying attention. Not sure why a boat would be that close but with a lot of traffic maybe people were getting over more than normal.
 

BingerFang

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We were at Fox's Saturday afternoon and I have to say it has been a while since I've been there and felt that place rock the way it was rocking. The water was sloppy, I don't see how it could be any fun out there with a small boat.

It isn't any fun which is why we boat at 6-7 in the am and are off the water by 10.
 

BingerFang

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Pure speculation for the GMT crash.... but if he was hauling ass up river to make a pass in front of foxes like most people do and there was someone coming around the corner, opposite direction, on the wrong side of the river, he may have turned off into the dock to avoid crashing into the boat.
 

whiteworks

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I’ve been in the GMT a time or two back in the day when dirt lot owned it. it’s a stout little boat and can handle snotty water like a champ, actually it’s quite surprising how well that boat does in parker slop. It’s laid up like a tank, stupid heavy and smashes water. From the photos it appears to be trimmed very high, my guess is driver ran out of talent and there was an error in judgement as that boat didn’t park itself up there. I’ll be the first to admit that boat definitely builds your confidence in itS ability the way it rides. Glad to hear dudes gonna be okay, never good when things goes bad.
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Dana757

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Seems like if you're aware of this hazard you'd use some discretion and slow down for a safe maneuver instead of trying to do a LAM turn.
So glad to hear no one was seriously hurt and I hope the docks get fixed up without it costing Fox's. But damn that red boat is beautiful.

Someone was seriously hurt. They took him away in a helicopter.
 

Englewood

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Its the "Perfect Storm" (Foxes/Current/Sandbar/Traffic/Sundance). For some reason, I always take it easy around that corner. The boat always acts differently there and then when you mix in some clown towing a tube and 3 other boats trying to pass with a couple dumb f*ck jet skiers to the mix. It's a recipe for disaster.

This Saturday I made a run from Riverland to Lower dam and it was pure chaos...Parked the boat and didn't touch it again that day. It's just not worth it.
 

Dana757

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There have been posts about him in the "hard to find parking in parker" thread getting staples in his head and being ok otherwise, kept overnight for observations.

Yeah I understand he will recover. When people get hurt it always seems to get downplayed. It was more than just a few stitches.
 

Todd Mohr

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I was at Parker the 1st weekend of May, was the worst boat traffic I've seen in 40+ years of boating. The triangle was packed, 3 deep at the sandbar, wakeboats surfing, and
boats hauling ass all at the same time. There is no way I would have driven fast through there, poor judgement if speed was the cause of those accidents. I would hate to see a no wake zone there, but people gotta pull their heads out on a busy day. I'm guessing it will be well patrolled this weekend and citations will be written, remember- stupid
is supposed to hurt.....
 

HubbaHubbaLife

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I had my 23' go fast at the Keys in 2005.... only time I'd been there. My GF and I did an early morning run to damn and back, stopped at Foxes. It was early still, just us and the bartender there setting up. He was making a huge container of jello shots for later in the day. He told us the stories about boats flying right up onto that dock bar directly where we were standing ... said it happens each summer. I didn't believe him really but after seeing those pics I get it now. You guys really need to put some additional controls on that water .... later that day I saw a 32' twin screw go fast hauling down that narrow strip of river.... way too much boat for that water in my opinion. Scary combination of booze, boats and 100+ temps in tight quarters it sounds to me.
 

Rondog4405

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We were watching it all from the sandbar.. shit ton of genius's dragging they're kids on tubes through that chaos.. fn insane!. I saw one tube with 3 real young kids..none of them had vests on.. smh!!
 

Echo Lodge

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Bermuda Triangle May Get A No Wake Zone!!!

The Sheriff’s Department Boating Division is speaking with the U.S. Coastguard about the process of trying to establish the area as a no-wake zone, which would reduce speeds around that bend on the river. Schlect says he believes inexperienced boaters may also have been a factor in at least one of the crashes. The effects of alcohol can be amplified up to 10 times in the heat, he added.
 

Backlash

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Before this spins out of control, I would hope the LEO would speak with all three of the drivers to find out what occurred and how their boats ended up where they did. Get their insight before jumping to conclusions and creating a no wake zone if speed didn't apply in every single incident.

I wasn't there when the ski boat went up, but that almost looks like he was pulling in to dock, and somehow got "Pushed" up on the dock (Large roller from behind, accidental tap of the throttle, etc). I doubt that was due solely to "Excessive speed." But like I said, I wasnt there.

I just hope more thought goes into this before certain restrictions ruin Parker.
 

guest hs

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Bermuda Triangle May Get A No Wake Zone!!!
They need to do the same thing in and out of Pirates Cove it’s an absolute shit show !
The Sheriff’s Department Boating Division is speaking with the U.S. Coastguard about the process of trying to establish the area as a no-wake zone, which would reduce speeds around that bend on the river. Schlect says he believes inexperienced boaters may also have been a factor in at least one of the crashes. The effects of alcohol can be amplified up to 10 times in the heat, he added.
 

cofooter

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Before this spins out of control, I would hope the LEO would speak with all three of the drivers to find out what occurred and how their boats ended up where they did. Get their insight before jumping to conclusions and creating a no wake zone if speed didn't apply in every single incident.

I wasn't there when the ski boat went up, but that almost looks like he was pulling in to dock, and somehow got "Pushed" up on the dock (Large roller from behind, accidental tap of the throttle, etc). I doubt that was due solely to "Excessive speed." But like I said, I wasnt there.

I just hope more thought goes into this before certain restrictions ruin Parker.
Read the article on Echos post above, it goes through all three accidents
 

Backlash

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He and I posted at about the same time. Thank you Sir.

So, there is a possibility that 2 of the 3 incidents COULD have been DUI/BUI related...... If that's the case, there are other things that need attention. Not another unnecessary "No Wake Zone."
 

LargeOrangeFont

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He and I posted at about the same time. Thank you Sir.

So, there is a possibility that 2 of the 3 incidents COULD have been DUI/BUI related...... If that's the case, there are other things that need attention. Not another unnecessary "No Wake Zone."

LOL that is where you are wrong!
 
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