jps wrote:
Woman Drowns While 'Teak Surfing' On Lake Tapps

August 22, 2005

By KOMO Staff & News Services


SUMNER, WASH. - A 22-year-old woman drowned after going boating with
friends on Lake Tapps, officials said.

The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the woman Monday
morning as Jenda Jones, of Sumner.

She was pronounced dead Saturday evening after she was found by Pierce
County sheriff's deputies in the Tacoma Point area and rushed to Good
Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup.

Jones and another woman were "teak surfing," hanging onto the shelf at
the stern of a boat as the motor was running at a slow speed, when she
let go and slipped beneath the surface, sheriff's Sgt. Jerry R. Bates
said.

She apparently was the water 30 to 40 minutes before she was found and
was not wearing a life vest, Bates added.

Past cases of teak surfing have resulted in injury or death when riders
fall unconscious after breathing carbon monoxide from a boat's motor.

Investigators are awaiting toxicology results to determine whether
carbon monoxide was a factor in Saturday's drowning.


Comment on this accident from the Coast Guard:

Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard Thirteenth District




Boating Safety Alert Date: August 22, 2005
Contact: Dan Shipman

206-220-7257


COAST GUARD, MARINE LAW ENFORCMENT AGENCIES STRONGLY DISCOURAGE "TEAK
SURFING"


SEATTLE - A 22-year old woman was killed Saturday while "teak surfing"
or "platform dragging" on Lake Tapps, Washington. This accident has
all indications of a Carbon Monoxide-related fatality.

Teak surfing, also called platform dragging, occurs when a passenger
hangs onto the rear of a boat to be pulled through the water until the
boat's wake builds enough height to allow body surfing.

This pratice is extremely dangerous becuase surfers are within inches
of the boat's propellers and the vessel's exhaust ports. Surfers
typically do not wear lifejackets when engaged in the practice.

National studies have found Carbon Monoxide concentrations at a small
vessel's stern swim steps to be as high as 40-to 80-thousand parts per
million. Concentrations as low as 200 parts per million can be fatal.

Anyone exposed to a high concentrations of Carbon Monoxide will lose
consciousness in a matter of minutes if not seconds. If a teak surfer
has become incapacitated they could slip below the water.

The Coast Guard and other marine law enforcement agencies would like to
remind people of the dangers associated with teak surfing. For more
information contact your local marine law enforcement agency, state
boating authority, Coast Guard or U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Carbon Monoxide information web link:
http://www.uscgboating.org/command/co.htm


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