In March 2012 Yamaha announced a new stainless steel propeller guard for outboards on flood rescue boats in the UK and made several statements about how great it was, how well it performed, and even how prop guards were necessary when people were in the water near the boat. About October we became aware of Yamaha’s new propeller guard. In mid October we began posting some materials about it and some of Yamaha’s own statements about their guard.
The boating industry has long defended itself in propeller injury court cases by claiming propeller guards don’t work. Among their objections, the industry claims guards create too much drag, reduce performance (top speed), effect the handling of the boat, are not durable enough, get bent into the propeller, and they create blunt trauma injuries when they strike people.
But Yamaha was making the exact opposite statements about their propeller guard. Yamaha said their guard worked great, minimized drag and performance reduction, improved handling, was strong and durable for use in shallow water, and guards were essential for operating rescue boats near people in the water.
Our mid October 2012 posts echoed several of Yamaha’s own comments.
By early November 2012, everything Yamaha ever said about the propeller guard AND all records of the guard’s existence vanished from their website. We made many attempts to contact Yamaha about why they pulled all of their materials about the propeller guard, but they will not respond. That leaves us to suspect Yamaha erased their statements to protect the boating industry’s long standing legal defense, “Guards don’t work”.
Among the many specific statements made and deleted by Yamaha about their propeller guard were: Read More →
Most college students in engineering and design take one or more design project classes, often a Senior Capstone Design Projects Class, in which they work individually or as teams to develop solutions to problems. We are trying to tap this resource and encourage students to consider selecting design projects related to propeller safety. More student design projects would help grow the body of knowledge available to the industry and to boaters. In addition to engineering and design students, we also welcome those from all fields and encourage them to consider projects in this area for their capstone classes. If you or others are interested in a college design class project or capstone project in propeller safety, propeller injury avoidance devices, or related fields, please view the projects listed below and contact us for additional assistance.
Propeller Guard
A few Masters and Doctoral students have written thesis and dissertations in this field. We strongly encourage Masters and Doctoral students looking for thesis and dissertation topics to contact us and discuss some of the possibilities available in their specific field of interest, as well as those looking for topics for scientific and technical papers.
We list of several possible boating propeller safety research projects below and will be posting more over time. Read More →
Bassmaster November 2024 cover. Includes a feature article on The Leash.
The Leash, a tether to prevent outboard motors from flipping into boats, is featured in a four page article in the November / December 2024 issue of Bassmaster, the self proclaimed “Worldwide Authority on Bass Fishing”.
Increased speeds of modern bass boats, the popularity of tournament fishing, along with heavier outboard motors, and ever present debris in the water has created a situation in which outboard motors strike floating logs, debris, dredge pipes, or submerged objects, break off, and some flip into the boat while still running with the propeller turning a few thousand RPM.
“The Leash” marketed by Precision Sonar targets this problem and provides a level of protection to bass anglers.
The Bassmaster article focuses on two recent accidents in which The Leash protected and possibly saved the lives of those on board.
The first page of Bassmaster’s article is shown below
Wes Logan was fishing in the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite event on Lake Champlain in August 2024. His boat struck what was later identified as a floating dock that had broken away in over 100 feet of water. His Yamaha outboard remained tied on by steering cables and The Leash. See PropellerSafety coverage of this accident at The Leash Saves Wes Logan.
Early in the 2024 season, Sam Maxwell was fishing a co-ed tournament with his pregnant wife on Laken Lemon in Indiana. In the early morning, he struck an unmarked dredge pipe. The hydraulic cylinder on the motor broke, the motor crashed forward into the rear deck. The Leash stopped the motor from rotating on into the boat. See PropellerSafety coverage of this accident at The Leash Saves a Family.
The Future
The future for The Leash and other tethers is bright.
Years ago, some outboard manufacturers turned marine drives off when they flipped up out of the water. With that practice no longer followed, outboards are even more dangerous when they enter the boat.
Less than ten years ago, one major outboard manufacturer denied they knew outboards could flip into boats. The events of the last decade, along with several lawsuits have since removed that obstacle.
Hopefully, the current Bassmaster article with finally cause one or more boat or outboard manufacturers to step over the line and begin to protect its customers from these accidents.
Many actions can be taken to “harden” outboards making them less likely to flip into boats as seen in out Preventing Outboard Motors from Flipping Into Boats paper linked below,
What Can Happen
The Bassmaster article provides the image below for shock value of what can happen:
Bassmaster article outboard motor flipped in onto rear deck
We have seen several outboards jump the rear pedestal seat. Some land with the propeller on top of the passenger seat headrest. Those photos are not for the faint of heart.
Some of Our Work Concerning Outboard Motors Flipping Into Boats
National flags of the United States., Singapore, and Maldives.
November 2024 saw two promising young girls thousands of miles apart killed by boat propellers.
Both girls attended well known private schools and had promising futures ahead of them.
11-year-old Brooke Mejeur was on a 20-foot pontoon boat on Lake Osborne in Palm Beach County Florida Saturday November 2, 2024. Two adults and three minors were on the pontoon boat when the bow suddenly dropped. Brooke Mejeur was thrown from the pontoon boat into the water. She was struck by the propeller. Brooke was recovered from the water, rushed to shore, and died from her injuries.
15-year-old Jenna Chan, a 9th Grade student at St. Joseph’s Institution International (SJI International) in Singapore was on a school research trip in the Maldives. She was snorkeling Friday November 8, 2024 when she was struck and killed by a boat propeller.
Brooke Mejeur
Brooke attended Lake Worth Christian School.
Go Fund Me Page for Brooke Mejeur, age 11, killed by boat propeller
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) reports their preliminary investigation found the sudden drop of the pontoon boat bow caused her to be thrown overboard where she was struck by the pontoon boat’s propeller.
The pontoon boat was said to have been traveling smoothly when the unexpected event occurred per FOX 29.
Luke Price, a local that saw the search crews on Saturday, said they’ve witnessed a handful of boating accidents on the lake over the years, but none as tragic as this.
FFWCC is investigating the cause of the incident and potential safety measures for boating on Lake Osborne.
While news reports indicate Brooke went over the bow, none mention bow riding. Some suggest the pontoon boat may have struck something in the water.
Jenna Chan
Jenna Chan, 15 of Singapore, was in the Maldives on a whale shark research project, part of the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme based on Dhigurah Island (Dhigu means Long and rah means Island). The island is about 100 kilometers southwest of Male, the capital of the Maldives. She traveled from Singapore to the Maldives as part of a National Youth Achievement Award.
Dhigurah Island in The Maldives
Jenna was snorkeling when she was struck by a boat propeller. She was dead on arrival at Dhigurah Health Center.
Jenna’s family and a team of supporters have traveled to Male. The family is accompanied by her high school principal. In their absence, her school is providing grief support and counseling services for students.
Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Ministry reports they are providing assistance and support to Jenna’s family.
Jenna Chan’s school in Singapore
SJI International’s website reports their students take part in expeditions to locations including Nintan, Krabi, and Tioman as part of their outdoor education program.
13 November 2024 Update on Jenna Chan accident :
The 13 November 2024 Edition says most early reports had Jenna jumping from the boat and striking the propeller.
An eye witness has come forth saying children went into the water when it was authorized by 3 guides. The boat engine was off. Six children were in the water. The engine was suddenly turned on and the boat began to reverse into the children. A Singaporean yelled, Stop! Stop! but the boat continued in reverse. A search began for Jenna. She was found caught in the propellers.
We are merely repeating the update above as covered by The Edition. The newly reported eye witness account may or may not be true or may not be totally true. It often takes considerable time for investigators to determine what actually happened as best as they can from the evidence they can collect, especially so in remote areas such as this.
Deja Vu
This pair of propeller fatalities great distances from one another claimed the lives of two promising young girls.
Both sets of parents went on to champion boating safety as best as they were able in their grief. Texas adopted a kill-switch law and the Coast Guard studied the end swapping of flat bottom boats with the death of Kali who is still remembered in the slogan developed at her school, Live Like Kali.
Hopefully we will see some movement on boating safety with the death of these two young girls. All we see so far is an investigation by FFWCC and some news coverage of the U.S. accident by Marine Industry News in the UK.
Geography of the November 2024 Propeller Accidents
Wes Logan, a professional bass angler for Yamaha, fished in the 2024 Lake Champlain Bassmaster Elite tournament. On the morning of Day 2 (August 9, 2024) he caught 4 fish. He was on the move with his Skeeter bass boat out in the middle of Lake Champlain. His outboard motor struck what was thought to be part of a floating dock that broke loose during the storm the day before.
The Yamaha 250 outboard motor broke loose from the boat. It was constrained from flipping into the boat by The Leash.
Wes Logan’s Yamaha outboard motor broke off his Skeeter boat in the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Lake Champlain tournament. The outboard was restrained by The Leash. Note, The Leash was cut off to get the motor off. Photo posted on Bass Boat Central (BBC) by Mark Perry on August 12, 2024.
Wes Logan was injured from being tossed around in the boat during the impact. He was able to place a phone call for help.
Wes was taken to the hospital. They found he some broken ribs. They did some some CT scans and gave him several stitches. The stitches were mostly in his head and face from hitting the passenger grab bar with his head.
After Wes was released from the hospital, he was able to get back on the water and catch one more fish. Although he did not make the cut for the next round, that last fish will help him significantly in the point system to make it to the 2025 Bassmaster Classic.
Media Coverage of Wes Logan boat accident
Several photos and videos of his accident have been placed on Bass Boat Central (BBC), You Tube, and tic tok. Some of them can be seen below or from the links below.
Multiple times, Wes notes he might not be speaking to them if he had not had The Leash from Precision Sonar on his boat.
Wes Logan Fishing YouTube full video of the accident
Here is the video of the accident from Day 2 at Champlain. Thankful to be alive, please wear your lifejacket and kill switch whenever you are operating your boat.
The Bass Fishing Media Went into a Frenzy Over This Accident and The Leash
There have been several recent “saves” by The Leash. This last one seems to have caused the dam to break on chatter about the issue and The Leash in bass forums.
For example, below are some links to Bass Boat Central (BBC) forum threads resulting from this accident.
Sam M. and his pregnant wife were participating in a small bass tournament in Indiana in May 2024.
They were in a Phoenix bass boat powered by a 200 horsepower Mercury Marine Pro XS outboard motor.
While running down the lake, they struck a dredge pipe that was not there two days earlier during practice fishing.
When they struck the dredge pipe, the outboard motor flipped up, the piston rod exited the tilt cylinder, and the large outboard crashed down into the rear deck of the Phoenix boat.
They believe The Leash prevented the outboard motor from coming on into the boat, averting serious injuries to those on board.
Sam’s father reported The Leash saved his son, his daughter-in-law, and his unborn grandchild.
The Failure
As mentioned above, the drive swang up with enough force to break the piston off the tilt cylinder piston. This allowed the drive to over rotate and crash into the rear deck.
A photo of the drive is below. The position of the tilt cylinder without it’s cylinder rod is marked.
The Leash accident in 2024. Mercury Pro XS 200 struck dredge pipe and pulled tilt cylinder apart.
How to Get The Leash
The Leash is available from Precision Sonar. The Leash prevented this family’s Mercury Marine outboard motor from entering his Phoenix bass boat and killing or maiming him and his pregnant wife.
Thanks to Precision Sonar for posting information on this accident.
Rex Chambers and his fishing partner were injured in 2014 when they struck a submerged log. The 250 horsepower Mercury outboard motor broke off, and flipped into the boat still under power.
Rex’s fishing partner on that day, Danny Pettus, back in 2014 posted a 10 year anniversary post about their accident on Danny Pettus Fishing on May 4, 2024.
Rex was later a proponent for The Leash as seen in this video.
We are still studying USCG annual Recreational Boating Statistics report and having some problems reconciling the new much lower propeller accident numbers with our feel for the year and with the increase in non-powered propeller strikes (kayaks, canoes, standup paddle boards).
Thanks to all those at USCG whose efforts helped make this annual statistical report of boating accidents possible.
We would also like to thank USCG, law enforcement officials, lake patrols, first responders, good samaritans, nurses and physicians, life flight teams, paramedics, those offering boating safety classes, boat safety equipment check points, safe boaters, state boating law administrators, life jacket loaner program participants, Operation Dry Water, those spreading boating safety messages, and all others who work tirelessly to drive these annual totals down.
Plus we thank the many search and dive teams that respond when things go bad and are able to help bring closure to the friends and families of those lost.
Plus thanks to all the state boating law administrators and all the officers in the field filling out the accident reports, and to the individuals that self reported their accidents.
And to those continuing to improve the accuracy and completeness of boat accident reports.
We created a series of Artificial Intelligence (AI) images to encourage boaters to wear life jackets. Several real and imaginary characters, as well as The Statue of Liberty were used.
Several boats are in the images.
New boaters or existing boaters not currently always wearing a life jacket are our intended audience for these AI Life Jacket images.
The uniqueness of these images should increase the reach of this message. We hope it will encourage at least one person to start wearing their life jacket.
One of our previous AI Lifejacket images is below:
Life jacket and sea turtles for Propeller Safety image
Our Wear Your Boat Life Jacket to Work Volunteers
Some of our subjects were camera shy but when they learned the importance to encouraging others to wear life jackets, they agreed to participate.
Click on the images below to view a larger, higher resolution image.
Alien wearing a yellow life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
The Statue of Liberty wearing a life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
Bigfoot wearing a life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
Clark Kent (Superman) wearing a life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
Unidentified man wearing a life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day. If you don’t recognize him, ask your dad.
Mermaid wearing a life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
The Statue of Liberty wearing a life jacket in the evening for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
Alien wearing a orange life jacket for National Wear Your Life Jacket to Work day.
List of Our Life Jacket Volunteers
The Statue of Liberty wearing a life jacket
Bigfoot wearing a life jacket
two Aliens wearing life jackets
Unidentified man wearing a life jacket (hint – he parachuted from an airplane with a bag full of money in 1971 and was never seen again)
a Mermaid wearing a life jacket
Clark Kent – Superman wearing a life jacket
About the AI Boat Life Jacket Images
We told our readers that if they did not recognize one of our volunteers, they might ask their dad which could lead to even more life jacket discussions.
Low Resolution versions of the images are below.
It is currently National Boating Safety Week 2024 and a great time to share this message. Please feel free to share, forward, or use these images as AI images cannot be copyrighted.
Facebook Post Announces The New Images
Our Facebook Post is below.
Click on the images below to see larger versions of them.
Always remember to wear your life jacket when you are out of the water.
More Boating Safety AI images and High Resolution Images
If someone needs higher resolution AI Life Jacket images for publication, please contact me. See “Contact Us” in the top menu.
We saw The Leash on several boats at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake in Grove Oklahoma in March 2024.
The photos below show The Leash in action at the Bassmaster Classic.
Jamie Hartman
Jamie Hartman’s Z21XL Pro Nitro with The Leash at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Jamie Hartman was running The Leash on a Nitro Z21XL Pro powered by a Mercury outboard. He pulled out early Saturday.
His boat was parked in a great spot to capture some of the background, color, and spirit of the Classic.
Jamie Hartman’s Z21XL Pro Nitro closeup with The Leash at the 2024 Bassmaster Classic
We also captured a nice closeup of The Leash on Hartman’s Nitro.
Brandon Card
Brandon Card running The Leash at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Brandon Card was running The Leash on a Vexus Boat powered by a Suzuki outboard.
Josh Wiesner
Josh Wiesner running The Leash at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Josh Wiesner from Wisconsin was running The Leash on a Ranger Z520 powered by a Mercury outboard.
Tim Tube
Tim Tube running The Leash at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Tim Tube was running a Nitro boat powered by a Mercury outboard.
Tyler Williams
Tyler Williams running The Leash at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Tyler Williams was running a Skeeter boat powered by Yamaha.
Precision Sonar
Precision Sonar booth at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
Precision Sonar, marketing The Leash, displayed one an outboard in their booth. Lora is shown talking to one of their representatives. Precision Sonar’s booth was wide enough we had to cut the outboard out and move it over to the right in the image above.
A Recreational Boat
We came in a day early on Thursday and noticed a recreational boat in the parking area running The Leash.
The Leash on Recreational Boat at 2024 Bassmaster Classic
We attended the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma with the weigh-in and exhibition held in Tulsa.
The opening day blast off was a bit cool and damp on Friday March 22nd, but the large crowd was in great spirits as the anglers paraded by us on their way out of the great facilities at Wolf Creek Park.
We pulled a few basic boating safety materials together. We hope these images and videos will assist recreational boaters in becoming more prepared and to make safer choices.
