Sequence of the Week: McCann’s Close Call on Lake of the Ozarks

When Sam Jirik, a performance boater from Arkansas who has owned several Skater Powerboats catamarans including his current 30-footer with twin Mercury Racing Verado 400R engines, sent speedonthewater.com the images you see below of the accident that occurred early into Saturday’s Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, we didn’t just immediately post the spectacular pictures Jirik took from the spectator fleet.

Jeff McCann gets ejected from his Donzi on Saturday during the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout. All photos courtesy Sam Jirik

First and foremost, we wanted to make sure Jeff McCann, of Morehead City, N.C., was going to be OK, and that appears to be the case. We talked with McCann yesterday evening and he is likely to be getting out of the hospital today or Wednesday. He did sustain broken ribs and he had water in his lungs so he’s been monitored for pneumonia, but he said he is doing OK.

Second, we wanted a little more information on McCann and his Donzi Marine 22 Classic that is still at the bottom of the lake (the salvage effort is expected to take place today). It turns out the engine in the 22-foot Donzi that he violently spun out and sunk in front of thousands of spectators just two hours into the top-speed event is one of the 925-hp, 588-cubic-inch engines he used in Scream Machine, his 38-foot Skater/Fountain V-bottom with twin Bowers Performance engines that he’s run up to 147 mph at the Shootout.

Check out the sequence of McCann’s accident in the slideshow above.

McCann, who was hoping to reach 118 mph at the Shootout, said he was running a little over 100 mph when he lost control of the 22-footer and was ejected from it when it spun out. His boat was submerged in no time, and less than a minute later, the rescue divers were on the scene to get McCann out of the water and to a hospital.

And hopefully he’ll be released from Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, Mo., so he can see what kind of shape his boat is in after sitting in the water for three days. Like McCann said, boats and parts can be replaced, people can’t.

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Complete Coverage of the 2016 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout