KENNEWICK, Wash. – The Tri-City Water Follies is five days away. Fans come from all over to watch the rooster tails fly. Safety is the name of the game, according to the American Power Boat Association Risk Manager Jennifer Cushing.
Cushing said she comes from a boat racing family and understands how dangerous water and wind conditions can be.
She said she, her team, and H1 Unlimited consistently monitor conditions so they can decide to hold the race if they are bad enough.
“It’s paramount,” said Cushing. “You cannot have this sport without having safety precautions and safety measures in place.”
Cushing said there’s no specific wind speed, which causes a pause in racing. Some things considered are where the winds are the worst and how they affect the water. She said if any incident causes injury or death, they look closely at it and find ways to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“Obviously, fatalities are the hardest,” she said. “It’s all something we hyper focus on and learn more about safety in order to create the sport to be safer than it currently is.”
According to Cushing, one training requirement for boat drivers is to be recertified every year: how to escape a capsule if their boat flips. This training requires divers and drivers to know how to help someone out of a boat in case of a crash. If a boat flips, divers need to know how to get them out.
“The drivers do wear air masks, so they do have air,” Cushing said. “Getting out as quickly as possible is important.”
She said if there are conditions they feel are dangerous, they won’t let them in the water.
“We want everybody to be safe,” she said. “We want the show to be good. We want the drivers to have fun and the event to be great.”
Catch the Tri-City Water Follies on Sunday, July 28th, from 10 am to 5 pm on SWX.
