Ok. This might be up there with "feeding mayonaise to tuna fish" or "edible paper" (guess the movie reference) but what if you had a rope or chain tether tied to the cooler rack? If you could release the rack from the water then, after you re-board the pwc then you could pull it back up. It certainly wouldn't be easy and you might still lose some gear that wasn't attached but if you're injured in the water...

OR

How about attaching a rope and small buoy to the cooler rack. You could drop it in the water and come back later to find it and pull it back up.

I haven't started drinking yet today...really

That's why I posted the situation that we came across. I wanted to get everybody thinking about it. It will probably happen to you where you will need to help someone

MejorPain wrote: How about attaching a rope and small buoy to the cooler rack. You could drop it in the water and come back later to find it and pull it back up.

I haven't started drinking yet today...really

You might be on to something; a buoy is extremely useful for marking fish especially on a ski and could serve as an emergency marker as you say. Something like this could easily be mounted to the cooler rack or rodholder for a mere $25.00.

Man I tell you - you sure know how to find stuff. I like that one

gblust wrote:Man I tell you - you sure know how to find stuff. I like that one

Not so fast on the compliment gblust. Upon a closer more informed look the holder is $24.99 and the marker is $99.99. It still looks like a cool setup.
http://www.alltackle.com/suremarker_bouy.htm

http://www.suremarker.com/Specs/Suremar ... screen.pdf

Doesn't an ice chest float?


OK. Now I am drinking.

in any situation you have to weigh all the possibilities and make the best decision. We are fisherman first and if you have to ditch your gear to save a life, so be it. But it is also the responsiblity of each individual to make competant decisions for their own safe being.I have reboarded my ski by the footwells with no problem since im carry all my crap on the back deck. We cannot be outfitted for every possible situation out there on the water. Having the necessary gear like radios, phones, lifejackets, flares etc goes a long way. By radio-ing the eta of vessel assit was very good and not leaving the victims behind was the best thing to do all things considered. Also since there were two jet ski',s one could have run for help to maybe a boat somewhere in the distance, if there were no radio's. I salute you on your valor and If I have to dump my gear to save a life, I'll do it in a heartbeat, but once I get the victim back to shore and make sure they are ok, I'll bitch-slap em for being out there without proper equipment
.

psychoclown wrote: but once I get the victim back to shore and make sure they are ok, I'll bitch-slap em for being out there without proper equipment
.

i would just ask for a reimbursement of my lost gear..

in my opinion, there's no right or wrong way to this situation. whatever you can think of at the moment is probably the only choice you have. thank you guys for the great discussion topic and input. we can all benefit from this exercise scenario.