The death toll mounts on the latest duck boat sinking, near Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, I wasn't surprised - saddened, of course, for those poor people - but not surprised. The first Duck Boats we ever saw were in Dublin, Ireland, May 2006. I looked at them rumbling along the main streets and vowed to myself - the mechanical engineer's daughter - that you would never be able to lure me on board. Too many chances for design flaws such as springing a leak where the tires come down to make it amphibious … naw, I'd do a rowboat on the Liffey, where the rower controls the boat, but not "contained" on something that might very well sink.
And it turns out that the canopy shielding the passengers from the sun (or rain in Dublin's case) are death traps. Why? The life jackets propel you right straight in to the canopy and it's mechanisms and you can't get loose. Wriggle out of your life jacket and drown. Keep it on and drown. Bad idea.
Some of the design flaws of these duck boats are the fact that on dry land, they are wider than the city lanes. The driver is so far up in the air with a 6 ft. or 8 ft. prow, that pedestrians are difficult to see before it's too late. A duck boat killed a woman on a scooter and a couple have run into land-based city buses.
The first duck boat fatalities occurred May 1, 1999, in Arkansas, killing 21 after the pump on it malfunctioned. . In 2010 one collided with a tugboat. Tugboat won.
And I'd be wary of amusement park rides, too. Cal-OSHA has an Amusement Ride section that inspects all of them once a year and California standards for safety are said to be more demanding than for national standards. In addition to Cal-OSHA, insurance companies send out inspectors and some ride owners also call in independent contractors. This is not a guarantee of the safety in California rides. "Many a slip twixt cup and lip."
I would bet a considerable sum (75 cents max) that OSHA does not exist in the coastal areas of Baja and Mexico in general where operators offer parasailing rides. Lunching in Puerta Vallarta while on a cruise, we saw a woman and sail nearly splat! into a 6-story building. If the harness has a single flaw or bit of metal fatigue … you're in biiig trouble.
Stay on the ground, sip a hydrating beer and leave the "fun" to others more foolhardy than you are. There are more vacations coming up than this one.
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