Personal watercraft rider dies in Delta crash

kraqus · 06-10-2009, 10:49 AM

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_12555572

One personal watercraft rider died and another was injured during a crash on Middle River near Discovery Bay on Sunday afternoon, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.
The rider died of severe head trauma, and his name was not released because his family hasn't been notified, according to sheriff's Deputy Les Garcia. The other rider's injuries are unknown at this time.
Garcia said the two riders were on the Delta around 4 p.m. and collided in midair as they were jumping the wakes from a nearby moving boat.

Kraqus

anthony_ · 06-10-2009, 11:36 AM

Man . . .that REALLY sucks!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

ryanerb · 06-10-2009, 01:57 PM

wow, not good. sounds about like where we ride. geez...

waterfly550 · 06-10-2009, 04:21 PM

unfortunatly this happens when people dont pay attention... this is why there should be some kind of training course required with the ownership of a pwc.. just like owning a car you have to have a lisence to operate it.. too many times the excitement of being out there, you lose youre focus.. its a shame but it happens..

anthony_ · 06-10-2009, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterfly550

unfortunatly this happens when people dont pay attention... this is why there should be some kind of training course required with the ownership of a pwc.. just like owning a car you have to have a lisence to operate it.. too many times the excitement of being out there, you lose youre focus.. its a shame but it happens..

agreed.

anthony_ · 06-11-2009, 12:28 AM

i just saw an article in the Tracy Press that said the accident was on Sunday. I thought it was yesterday. I was out there on Sunday and I'm really concerned that I saw the guys who may have been in the accident. I hope NOT, but there are 2 guys that I often see out there that we wave at eachother. One has a really nice custom painted puple kawi 650sx and the other was on a white and grey squarenose. They passed me in Indian Slough going east towards Old River/Middle River at about 3:30 and the accident was around 4:00. I hope it wasn't them!!!!!

Here's the Tracy Press article:
Jet skier dies in collision near Discovery Bay
by TP staff
Jun 09, 2009 | 661 views | 0

| 6

|

A man died on Sunday after a jet ski crash on Middle River about a mile north of Union Point near Discovery Bay, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.

Two jet skiers were jumping a boat’s wake shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday when they crashed mid-air.

The victim suffered severe head trauma. Emergency responders pronounced him dead on scene.

The sheriff’s office will not release the name of the victim until the coroner notifies his family. The sheriff’s office did not immediately return phone calls, so the condition of the other jet skier remains unknown.

•Contact a Tracy Press reporter or editor at 835-3030 or tpnews@tracypress.com.

anthony_ · 06-11-2009, 03:19 AM

I PMed Jim (Tioari1) in hopes of getting more details on the accident as I figured he was one of the responders. He was kind enough to reply and give us more insight as to what happened. Becuase the names were not mentioned he said it's okay to share more details.

THANKS Jim!

See below.

Anthony,

No the accident didn't involve those 2 guys on the standups. We saw them coming back towards Disco and threw some waves for them to jump with the patrol boat...

The accident happened on Middle river about a mile away from Union Point. 2 guys on Sitdowns were jumping a large wake being thrown by a cruiser. They weren't watching each other, and they both jumped at the same time from opposite sides and collided mid air in the center of the wake. It was a bad scene and it appears the cause will be operator inexperience. The major bummer is that the guy who survived has to live with the fact he was responsible for his best friends death.

Everyone thinks I have a cool job, but going to calls like that is when it sucks the most. Nobody has to die out there, and if people just used some common sense and got themselves educated with the boating laws, nobody would find themselves in that situation.

Hope that answers your question Anthony.
See you soon.

anthony_ · 06-11-2009, 03:44 AM

Here is an idea (for those who don't know where Middle River is) of where the accident occurred relative to other parts of the Discovery Bay area.

The Blue line is Middle River.
The Yellow is the area where the accident occured just north of Union Point.
The Brown dot is Union Point.
The Green dot is Ski Beach.
The Red #1 is Orwood.
The Red line is Indian Slough.