Christo Gouws and his son, Christopher, jumped from the boat moments before it capsized during a speedboat promotion show held as part of the South African inflatable boat racing championships on Saturday.
“I really don’t know what happened,” said Christo. “We took other turns at a higher speed, but with this turn, I could feel something was wrong and the boat started jumping. I grabbed my son and we jumped before the boat could flip.”
The father-and-son team from Pretoria has been racing together for two years and said it was their first accident.
“We are both fine. I have a purple left foot and my son’s left leg is a bit sore, but we already went off-road motorcycling on Sunday,” he laughed.
The pair are self-confessed adrenaline junkies. Besides boat racing, they also race cars and participate in off-road motorcycling.
“It was also our first time on Hartbeespoort Dam,” said Christo. “We were surprised to see how clear the dam was. We were warned that the dam was covered in plants and wondered where it had all gone.”
