Tragic Boating Accident in Bass Tournament

First of all my prayers go out to the family of both anglers during this difficult time. Second I posted to all guys running jackplates may want to consider adding a safety chain to the motor thru the transom to avoid a similar accident. The complete article with pictures is here: http://basseast.com/?p=%203425

The motor hit an underwater obstruction which broke the motor from the jackplate and it catipulted it back into the boat hitting both the driver and passenger who remain in the hospital with serious injuries. Very sad. The article also includes info on a fund setup to support the families.

Very sad accident. Thoughts and prayers to the families.

Prayers go out to all families involved.

Please take this as a reminder guys to carry the proper insurance on your boats if you are participating in tournaments.

Since fishing a tournament involves using your boat for a monetary gain, this can be considered a commercial use and the claim can be denied under a recreational boater’s policy. A situation like this can cause extreme financial hardship in the event of an injury, and can easily be avoided by contacting your agent to make sure you have the correct coverage in place.

Sad deal for sure that I can kind of relate to from a close call.I did not have a jack plate but I had an engine that was apparently attempted to be stolen of my boat at a Hotel lot.End result was they loosened the motor bolts and did not finish the job as they left it with the bottom ones in but loosened.Not knowing any different I fished the tourney the next day and at one point felt the boat get squirrely like it was on ice only to look back and see the motor moving around at will.I was luck enough to get shut down before the motor totally let go but was told that more then likely under power it would have ended up in the boat with us.Needless to say I check it all the time now when I am looking over the boat in the mornings.Hope these guys have a full recovery.

What a bad deal – could happen to any one of us!

Truely tradgic, I feel for the families.The saddest thing is it was preventable. SLOW your down