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Personal Watercraft, public safety

Submitted by Nicky Watson on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 14:47

While I respect the request from the family of the young man who tragically died Sunday (4 July) to remove the comments from the article concerning his accident, I feel that it is important to discuss the issue of wave-runners and public safety. But please keep the comments general.

This is one comment, made anonymously, that I removed (slightly redacted):

I was at Rum Point on a Sunday a few weeks ago and had gotten off the tour boat I was on to enjoy the coolness of the sea. A group of teenagers were on waverunners and apparently had not a clue how to control them as I was run into by a teenage girl on a waverunner and while yelling at her I had to push the waverunner off me. She seemed pretty upset to be told off but did nothing about keeping her distance. These kids were in the middle of about 40 people in the water and seemed not to care about the people in the water as they rode the waverunners.

Shortly after that a teenage girl mounted a waverunner ridden by a teenage boy and as he accelerated she was thrown from the back of the waverunner. She was very upset about the whole ordeal.

Perhaps the marine cops could take a more indepth look into who is handling this particular kind of watercraft as many times I have watched people almost get run over and the majority of the people handling the watercraft are intoxicated by alcohol or high on marijuana. (You can smell it in the air amongst the boats at RumPoint)

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Comments

For all wave runners 1)

Submitted by Laws (not verified) on Wed, 07/07/2010 - 19:39.

For all wave runners

1) Mandatory licensing (expensive)

2) Mandatory insurance (like car insurance - to protect third parties)

3) Mandatory helmets and life vests

4) Very limited areas for use - at least 300m out to see other than channels in and out at 5mph

5) Six months in jail for breach

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As for the marine unit not

Submitted by Around & Around We Go (not verified) on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 16:32.

As for the marine unit not doing its job then yes I do see this happening on the weekends and I don’t agree with it but do you know how many boats and skis are on the water on any giving Sunday???? How do you expect them to patrol that and still offer protection on other parts of the island.. Do we put all of our eggs in one basket and have the whole team out in the sound every Sunday????? There is no clean cut answer and it something that needs to be looked in to. At the end of the day people need to take responsibly for their actions you don’t go out and by you kid a Corvette knowing good and well he or she is just learning to drive then the same reason show be said for parents that by jet-skis for their kids.. I am sure most the kids you see on Sunday can’t find the 13K it takes to by a new Ski so the money comes from the parent. On like other parts of the world Jet-Ski is a Cash deal in Cayman or bought with equity in a home or such. Stop making excuses….

With that said it does not give the dealers any incentive to know who’s going to be riding it and who it is intended for so they sell it and forget but like in the USA they ask you when you lease or finance a Ski they want a list of who will ride and if anyone is under 16 they most have an adult ride on with them at all times but again if you buy it cash they also sell it and forget it. I would tell you to walk into any Jet-ski store in Cayman and say your are looking for Jet Ski and want the best. They point you straight to the most powerful unit in the store with no regard to ask who it is intended to be used by. They assume it for you the adult. Well now that we have turn up some heat on the subject you mite get a different reply. I bought two and when I asked what’s the best the sales guy took me direct to the newest and fast one on the lot when I asked about the others he reply’s You don’t want that it only 155 HP” and mostly used for rentals this is what you need 255HP with a supercharger you could do 65 out the box he said.. Lucky for me I did some reading and found that the 155 would be best for my three kids and my self.. So it goes to show this problem is not as simple as we think..   

 

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I believe that Govt should

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 20:52.

I believe that Govt should tax boats and waverunners and persons must be competent enough to handle either watercraft.

Persons under the age of 17yr old should not be allowed to operate watercrafts without being accompained by an Adult, Any found in breach of this would get the watercraft confiscated and pay to have it returned.

There needs to be more education on watersports for all persons that owner and operate one.

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