As a few of you know I met with some guys from another forum for Jet Skis for a weekend ride. It was pretty cool, we had a blast! But my day ended rather tragically as I was riding out to the infamous Party Cove to look at hootie cans but about 1/2 way there, approximately 1/2 mile from the beach, I began to take on water. The guy I was riding with turns around to go get a rope. What seemed like forever but probably only :30 seconds later against my wishes and best efforts the ski decided it wanted to see what was on the bottom of the lake.... if pictures are worth a thousand words.... here are a few!




Thats me in the vest on the standing on the starboard side of the Water Patrol boat as we arrive at shore.




I'm still getting out of the boat at this point.




Here I am flipping it over so we can get it out of the water.



Took about 8 of us to pick it up and dump the water out so we could get it on land.

 

hhhmmm, not sure which one I would vote for

 

What's with the guy on the left wearing one glove?

 

Indeed, both were awesome "hold my beer and watch this" moments. Too close to call I say.

 

That'll teach you to go looking for hootie cans!


That really sux Matt, is it fixable?

 

Mine was cheaper to begin with.

Mine is already running and after some slight fiberglass repair in the morning it's going back out tomarrow.

All it cost me was time, trouble, 2 spark plugs and a paint job... that might come later but not to worried about it.

Only thing I found is a hole in the hull about the size of a pencil. Only speculation I have is that during one of the jumps ealier that day I landed on a stick and it stabed it. It was not there before, I had just washed and waxed the entire ski thursday night and give a through inspection for any winter cracks that might have developed from being outside in the ice storm. Apparently the waves where to big for the siphon bilge to keep up at low speed. I'd been checking for water regularly though out the day and had not had a drop.

The irony, I had every intention of installing an automatic electric bilge pump on Friday before the meet. The hull was sound and it has never had a problem so wasn't high priority, I just had a gut feeling, turned out to be right, but I got side tracked and never went and got it. Plus I wasn't sure if the battery was strong enough to carry it. The charging system is shot on the ski, after a day of riding you have to charge it that night to ride the next day. It's not worth putting any money into though. Turns out it would have saved me.

I also got bit by this dang thing too.



I had laid my vest on the ground and later, picked it up to go ride and it bit me on the back. I thought it felt like a sweat bee so I reached back and swooped it out. I seen it flying through the air and knew it wasnt a Sweat bee. So imeddiatly stomped it. Put it in a cup incase I later need medical attention.

 

Is that a spider? Ouch, hope it's not a deadly sort. I'd say you had a bit of a bad day

 

Please don't tell me I gotta be watching out for something like this all the time after I move out that way . . . .

I'm screaming like a girl just thinking about it.

 

Yea it's a spider...

I'd say someones pet that got away because we dont have anything like that native here that I know of. However I'm not an insectisist (yea I just made up a new occupation for somebody to get some grant money for). I know nothing about insects other than they are a pest to me and most meet a similar fate.

But no, I had a great day!

Sunk ski is just part of extreme riding.
They just dont ussually sink that far.

I am one of the few that now knows for sure that thier ski won't completely sink.

Edited to add:
Although I dont think spiders are classified as insects.......

 

No I do not belive that is native. That is my first and hopefully last encounter.





OHH yea it did cost me a full tank of gas.
About 3.5 gals at $4+ per gallon = $14....... That ticked me off!!!

I dont know if water got in the gas tank or not, I doubt that it did, if so not much because it was full, but I wasn't risking it. Just drained it and refilled with fresh.

 

No spiders are not insects. How big is it? Hard to tell in the picture.

 

Not real big, each of those butcher block squares are 1".

 

We're about to invest in two brand new sea doo muscle crafts. Those things are so bad and supercharged. My favorite ski though will always be my 99 Sea Doo GSX limited, i love that thing to death and will never give it up.

 

Maybe not tarantulas, but I understand black widows run rampant out there and you gotta check for ticks all the time, and poison ivy and oak, and God only know what else . . . .

*Lions and tigers and bears, oh my*

(I'm gonna have to learn to cowboy up as I am a wimpy city *****)

 

Just a little guy then. Well, you guys don't have Hobo spiders there and it doesn't look like a Brown Recluse, chances are it was relativly harmless.