The wrong way to see Las Vegas…

My name is Greg Watkins. I’m 34, and I’m currently living in Santa Monica, California. I’ve been married for five years. I’m a college graduate from San Diego State University and I’ve been a professional actor for the past nine years. Here’s my story:

In June, 1995, I took a week off of work from a New York based Soap Opera. The former lighting designer on the show was a transplanted Californian like myself, and he owned an inboard/outboard Bayliner which he kept in storage in Los Angeles. It was with him that my wife and I, and those of our friends we could muster, would return to Laughlin, Nevada, every year and enjoy Lake Mojave’s recreation.

On the third evening of our stay that summer, just as we were beginning to relax into our vacation, my wife went to the hotel room to take a nap, and the remaining four of us set out for Katherine’s Landing for what we hoped would be some effortless skiing due to the calm water conditions that tend to occur there at sunset. After about thirty minutes of boating we began to enter an area that started to look pretty calm.

The particular boat we were in is one designed to make use of the space in the bow by creating a pass way thru the windshield and by adding a padded bench seat on either side. At this point in the ride, I was standing in this front section, facing forward with the bowline in one hand, and leaning back slightly to keep myself steady against a possible surprise wake or sudden turn. I was unaware, however, that the owner of the boat had just placed my inexperienced brother-in-law behind the wheel.

At that point, I was exhilarated, and just trying to take it all in: I was on vacation with friends and family, we were speeding along through the water, the air temperature was warm and comfortable, the magnificence of the desert landscape at sunset was hypnotizing, and the water conditions had become glassy smooth.

Suddenly the power was reduced from full to idle. Without the power, the boats quickly settled back into the water and almost came to, what felt to me like, a complete stop. With nothing in front of me to hold on to, I was thrown forward and out of the boat, but I had kicked off and to the left, so as not to fall in the boats path.

I hit the water headfirst, just ahead and to the left side of the boat. It was at this time that the inexperienced driver realized his mistake, and in an attempt to avoid overrunning me, mistakenly turned the boat hard to the right. This unfortunately sent the back end of the boat and its spinning propeller out to the left and into me.

Because the boat was still in gear as it passed, the propeller continued to spin as it sliced its way up my side. The first contact sliced through my hip muscles and on through my femur just below the hip joint. The next cut was through the skin scraping my lower rib cage, but the third and most devastating cut was one that sliced through a number of ribs, my left lung, and missed my heart by just an inch. While this was happening, the casing just in front of the propeller that houses the drive gears slammed into my elbow with such force as to cause my upper arm to break in a telescoping fashion that simultaneously drove my own fist into my chin thus bashing three teeth back up and into my nose and gums, while also slicing through by bottom lip. This all happened very quickly.

As I swam to the surface, I was unaware that I’d been hit, and was already formulating the questions as to why they had stopped so suddenly. But as I broke the surface, my injuries started making themselves known to me, as well as to the occupants of the boat.

Without a life vest on, I managed to tread water with my functioning right leg and arm. I was pulled into the boat with the great help of my friends and it was there on the floor that I would remain for the next hour. You see, for the first fifteen minutes after the accident, the boat could not restart. While two friends held my body together and applied bags of ice, the boat’s owner was desperately trying to flag down another boat, and restart his own in the hopes of getting me back to the dock and to an ambulance.

I held on to life with the hope of saying goodbye to my wife in person. It was this thought that kept me from giving in and just letting go. Breathing was very difficult, as the air I drew in would actually leak out the five inch gash in my chest. This forced me to gulp breaths of air at a pace similar to that of a panting dog. Now, I’ve been in a number of mishaps, broken bones, etc., but when you hear air escaping from your chest as a result of inhaling, it puts the seriousness of the injury in perspective.

The boat finally restarted, and thirty minutes later we were speeding into the dock area at Katherine’s Landing. Ironically, a little girl named Kendra had broken her leg and an ambulance was already en route. When we came in and Kendra’s family saw my condition, the brave little girl selflessly gave her ambulance to me. She is frequently in my thoughts.

I was stabilized at the local hospital but due to the extent of my injuries, the medical team was forced to have me airlifted to UMC in Las Vegas, where an experienced trauma team used their skill to put me back together again. After ten days in the hospital, I was released. Twenty pounds lighter, and facing many more surgeries, I was lucky. I was alive.

Elvis Presley had his own reasons, but the title of his song fits my feelings very well, “Viva Las Vegas!”

Your story of a propeller strike can help inform.

As a victim of a propeller strike, we know retelling your story is reliving it. This is hard. You want to put it behind you, focus on the healing, on the future and to make the best of what you have left. We respect that. However, you can help SPIN by telling your story. You may just reach out with the story that prevents the next accident and saves a future propeller victim. Your story will reach the U.S.Coast Guard and be available to policy makers and legislators.

You may contact us in many ways:

S.P.I.N. - Stop Propeller Injuries Now
2365 Conejo Court
Los Osos, CA, 93402
tel. 805-528-0554 - fax. 805-526-8756
email: info@spin-site.org

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