I’m 58 years old, try to slalom ski at least twice a week, and I am constantly amazed by the idiotic crap I see people do on the water. After 40 years of being a water hound I believe I’ve seen everything a moron can do in control of of a watercraft.
I recently taught my wife how to drive our new Malibu LXI and on her first attempt to pull me some idiot charged into our area pulling two tubers and turned right in front of her. luckily for me that when she yanked the throttle back to keep from running over the tubers I had not yet started cutting hard yet, and luckily for those two tubers she was paying attention.
There are some real idiots out there and generally the idiots are the first ones to drink and drive a boat.
And yes, a driver and a spotter are required in every state that I am aware of. But to confess,my buddy and I skied without a spotter about a month ago on an empty lake after a heavy rain. Don’t like to break the law but sometimes a slalom skier has to do what a slalom skier has to do.
Here in SoCal boaters seem to head for ‘the River’, the Colorado. Crowds plus alcohol plus 100 degree weather, always a recipe for success. One year a neighbor of mine was docked near a flotilla of porn stars.
I had a customer who often took his family to the river. Wealthy folks with all the best toys. The grandad was giving his young grandson a ride on a jetski and collided with something, and the kid was killed. I don’t recall all the details but alcohol, crowded conditions and speed was involved.