Holiday Weekend Means Busy Time On The Water

Over the last five years, the warbling drone of JET SKIS has become as routine on Long Lake as the water skier’s mantra: “hit it.”

But with rising counts of accidents and fatalities statewide attributed to reckless personal watercraft drivers, local and state authorities are taking a harder look at the high-powered, high-priced water hot rods.

Since 1994, five accidents in Spokane and Stevens counties involved personal watercraft, as opposed to just one involving a boat.

Those numbers do not count hundreds of near-misses and complaints from fishermen, canoers and boaters, who lobbied Spokane County authorities last month to ban personal watercraft from parts of the Spokane River.

“There is a sort of feeling of freedom that breeds invincibility, and that starts a feeling of risk-taking,” said Terry Rudnick, a spokesman for the Washington Parks and Recreation department’s marine safety office.

Spokane County deputies are ready for problems this weekend, the busiest boating session of the year. At least four deputies and reserve officers will be patroling a half-dozen lakes and rivers, said Tom Henderson of the county’s marine safety office.

“We’ve made personal watercraft a priority,” said Henderson.

Although they will be looking for any reckless boaters, they will be keeping a wary eye on personal watercraft. About half of the 60 tickets issued last year were given to personal watercraft drivers.

“When you get all them out there moving, it’s quite the adventure,” said Henderson. “We are really incredibly fortunate that we don’t have more accidents.”

No one has died in a boating accident in Spokane County for at least three years, but Henderson said that string of luck is wearing thin. He predicts hundreds of watercraft on Long Lake this weekend.

“We have stopped people doing things not too bright that you would swear they were 10 years old,” said Henderson.

Helen Forshee, who works at Forshee’s Last Resort on Long Lake, said she hasn’t heard many complaints. But boaters and fishermen have learned to beware of personal watercraft. “They are out there, so you have to watch out for them.”

Henderson said there needs to be more education for personal watercraft drivers, who tend be more free-wheeling than boat drivers.

The state marine safety office is drawing up comprehensive personal watercraft rules. But some authorities have gotten frustrated enough with drivers of JET SKIS, Wave Runners and other personal watercraft to regulate them.

San Juan County, a jigsaw of 172 islands in the northern Puget Sound, banned personal watercraft this spring. Mason County regulates them on some of its lakes, and Chelan County considered a ban last year.

The problem with personal watercraft, Henderson said, is proximity. Some buzz docks and boats at up to 60 miles per hour, smashing the county’s 50-foot, no-wake rule.

Last weekend at Newman Lake, a personal watercraft rider sprayed water on a dock full of fishermen. “It’s just like anything else, a few can give all of them a bad name,” said Clare Osborne, co-owner of Osborne’s Cherokee Landing Resort.

To prevent accidents, Henderson has simple advice: “Be patient, please.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Changed in the Valley Voice