Just like anyone that throws a leg over a motorcycle, anyone that twists a throttle on a PWC understands that there is an inherent risk – whether you are a competitive racer, and daredevil freestyler, or a weekend rec-rider, there are dangers that every PWC rider takes precautions against. 

PWC crashes – with riders plowing  into docks, other watercraft, tree stumps, shorelines, and unfortunately, other people – are often the result of inexperienced riders, operators under the influence of drugs or alcohol, dangerous waters, unfavorable weather conditions, machinery failure, waves or wakes… the situations leading to poor outcomes is almost as extensive as those poor outcomes themselves; broken bones, burns, concussions, strains, sprains, scrapes and bruises, back injuries, broken bone and drowning, just to name a few.

However, it appears we have left one danger off that list: Stingrays! 

In an incident that happened several years ago, Sea Monkeys Watersport employee Levi Dixon, 18 at the time,  was riding a PWC in Skull Creek on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, when a large ray leaped out of the water, hitting him in the face and knocking him unconscious. 

The ray, weighing approximately 30 pounds, with an estimated wingspan of four feet, knocked Dixon unconscious and he fell off the PWC into the water, where he may have drowned had it not been for the quick action of other riders around him.

Dixon’s encounter with the ray left him with two broken ribs, bruised lungs and swelling of his brain. According to an AP report, he was transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah and was discharged two days later. 

1st Sgt. Adam Henderson with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said that rays, which are more prevalent in the nearshore waters off Hilton Head during the spring and summer months, frequently jump out of the water, and while actual contact between a jumping ray and a human -whether on a PWC or not – is rare, just a few years earlier, The Watercraft Journal also reported on a close-call stingray incident off Australia’s Gold Coast. 

Stingrays can vary vastly in size ranging from several inches to several feet in length and weigh hundreds of pounds. They are bottom-dwelling cartilaginous fish, meaning they are made of cartilage rather than having bones. With their lack of bones, stingrays are closely related to sharks.  Stingrays are often found partially buried in shallow sandy waters. They are flat fish with eyes and nostrils on the top side of their bodies and their mouths and gills are on the under-side.

Unfortunately, getting blindsided by an airborne ray is not the only danger these kite-shaped denizens of the deep – or sea pancakes as they are sometimes referred to – pose for PWC riders. As the tragic death of Australian zookeeper, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist Steve Irwin showed, encounters with rays can be deadly. 

The stingray’s defense mechanism is camouflage, but if stepped on, it will sting. The stinging mechanism is composed of the tail, a barbed spines on the tail, and the venom on the spine. The spine is 1 to 1.5 inches long and made of a hard tooth like material. The spine has many small barbs or serrations like small fishhooks going opposite the direction of the point of the spine. The spine is housed in a thin sheath which encases a mixture of venom and mucus. The stingray’s venomous toxins cause severe pain when injected into a victim.

However, rays are not known to be naturally aggressive, and there have only been 17 deaths caused by stingrays worldwide in recorded history, and it is noted that the stingray’s barb – typically located close to the base of the tale –  is the only part of a stingray that poses a danger, and the rest of the tail and the body are harmless to touch – if a bit slimy.

The danger-range, also, is small – you’re only in barbing range if you stand nearly on top of their bodies. 

However, rays of all species can often be found in shallow, ankle-deep waters, hidden under sand  – which make dismounting PWC riders especially at risk for stepping on them unintentionally, and when rays feel threatened or are stepped on, they may react defensively by jerking their tail. That’s why injuries are usually on the foot or ankle. Injuries to extremities vary in severity and pain degree, but they aren’t usually life threatening.

“Every year, about 1,500-2,000 stingray injuries are reported in the US,” the National Capital Poison Center says. “When a stingray decides to act, the puncture wound is often deep and considered dirty, which means there is a high risk of infection, and it’s important to wash and disinfect the area immediately.”

Complete instructions on how to treat stingray injuries, and when to head directly to the emergency room, are easily found online.

Check out this youtube video on stingrays, and remember, be safe, don’t forget to DUCK when encountering a flying stingray! And remember to do the stingray shuffle if you’re dismounting your PWC in waters known to host rays.