September 13, 2010 Monday

The Jeff Akers Story

After our two-hour session and going into town for coffee, Marty and I walked down the ramp for one last look at the surf before taking off for the day. The swell had surprised us. All the Internet sites had predicted 2 to 3 ft NW swell and no south swell. But a good south swell greeted us this morning and it seemed to be building as the tide came in. No one was out at the Channel and four were out at the Patch. As we chatted, three times sets of beautiful three-foot long peeling lefts poured in at the Groin. All the sites were predicting a strong south swell, one from a gale off of New Zealand, for the end of this week. Marty and I made plans to be here on Friday in anticipation of bigger and more powerful waves.

We walked up the ramp and at the top stood Jeff the Dillon Beach boat mechanic leaning on a pair of shinny new aluminum crutches.

“Jeff what gives?” I saluted him. “I hope you have a good story for all of this. Something like going over the falls of a twenty-foot wave.”

“No. Only a boat accident.”

“Boat accident? Details please.” Then Jeff in his most matter-of-fact way launched into this elaborate tale of being thrown out of a speedboat at 80 miles per hour. Through a series of back and forth questions we pulled the details of accident out of him. Here’s a summary. Jeff is an outboard motor mechanic thus I was not surprised to hear that boating is his hobby. In fact, he builds boats; one-man wood hull outboard motor hydroplanes and races them. He had entered a major speedboat regatta, the American Power Boat Association Outboard National Championships held in Oroville CA with his newly built boat Trinity. Trinity is pictured above. This was only his second time racing this boat. He was in second place, closing in on the leader going about 80 miles an hour when he hit a small bump of water. In an instant, the nose of his boat went down, it pearled, and he flew over the top and into the air.

“Did you skip like a rock across the surface.”

“No, I cart wheeled three times and slammed into the water. A friend got pictures of it: the nose of the boat pushing a mound of water and me cart wheeling over the surface.” His wife, parents, children and close friends were there and saw it all.

Jeff’s injuries were significant. The impact knocked him out, caused a concussion, tore his leg out of the hip socket, broke his right femur and cracked three ribs. They rushed him the hospital where he spent two days in the intensive care unit. Other than leaning of crutches, this morning Jeff looked fine, alert, healthy, strong and mobile.

“What kind of rehabilitation do you have to do?”

“I have to go back in a couple weeks for an MRI. Main concern is my leg. We have to see if it reset in the hip properly. They don’t want me putting any weight on my leg. Meanwhile I’m going to physical therapy twice a week.”

“Was the boat totaled?”

“Most people would call it totaled. But since I build boats I can put it back together.”

“Are you going to let him go back to building and racing boats?” I said to Jeff’s wife. She just rolled her eyes. Jeff injected that he had been thinking about making surfboards for a long time and now might be a good time to start.

“I take it you are not working. You cannot work on boat engines without standing on your leg.”

“Yes, I’m not working. But I had to get down here just to see the waves and hear and smell the ocean. As soon as I can put on a wetsuit I will be back out there. I might not be able to stand up but at least I will be able to paddle around.” The surf passion still burns within him. He was determined not to let a little boating accident keep from enjoying the water and the waves.

Fast-forwarding, I’m happy to report after two months, Jeff is back in the water. I’ve seen him three times since and to me the accident has not impacted his surfing skills or his desire to be out in the water. Jeff claims that he still has difficulty pivoting on his right leg and that he is only 80% recovered. Jeff is the type who heals quickly, thus I’m confident that in another month he will be 100% recovered. Below is a link to photos of Jeff’s boats, check them out.

Jeff's Boats