Brett died doing what he loved best: competing in a friendly water ski tournament with his friends. 

A Memorial Service will be held in Pismo Beach, CA on Saturday May 17th.  In lieu of flowers there will be a college fund set up for Tyler Yager.  If you would like to make a contribution please send a check to:  P.O. Box 3087, Pismo Beach, CA 93448.

With all three coaches having run 38 off on Thursday it was only natural for Bob Edie, Brettski,  and myself to have a tournament on Friday.  After the guests had all taken a ride, the coaches were going to take their turn.  Brett was the first one off the dock.  He ran smoothly through 35 off and was coming back towards the palapa on his 38 off pass.  This is a big pass for us all.  Brett had told guest Rob Sterne earlier in the day  "All I want to do is ski because it makes me feel so good.  I love it!"  He also said, "I don't care who wins, but I'm not letting go."   Brett proceeded to do his patented body slam on 1,3 and 5 balls and he just held on and somehow managed to make it around 6 ball.  He was traveling extremely fast.  I don't know how he managed to turn his ski, but he did.  We were taking video from the dock and the video shows an unusual fall with slack rope and most likely his head passing through the handle.  When the rope came tight it was all over.  I'm not going to go into other details, but the 14 of us watching were in shock.  Our group gave Brettski 30 minutes of CPR until the ambulance arrived and Brett died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. 

Trust me, you don't ever want to be involved in an accident like this. 

The family has requested a cremation and this procedure will be carried out later today.  I will bring his ashes back to California on May 16th.

Brett and good friend Ron Winger after Ron ran 6 buoys for the first time.

Brett loved his two sons more than anything else in the world and constantly talked with great affection about Justin and Tyler.

With regards to our friendship, Brettski had been coming to Acapulco for 18 seasons, first as a guest and later as a very good friend and guest coach.

Brett spent two weeks here in March and did a great job coaching.   He often said to me how much he loved helping people ski better.  He got a huge reward from seeing a guest smile and enjoy their progress.  He asked to come back later in the season if I had an opening and we did.  Brettski would coach all day in the boat to put a smile on our guest's faces.

This is a tough loss for all of us who loved Brettski.  We will never forget his competitive intensity, smiling face and playful attitude.

I have received many emails today from friends of Brettski's, expressing their heartfelt sympathy.  Gabriela and I appreciate these.

I have also made and received many phone calls expressing a need for rule changes to make our sport safer.  I don't know if there is anyone who has written more letters than I have in an attempt to get rules changed over the years.  The trouble is letters don't seem to do any good.  Lobbying is what is necessary. 

If we require handles that have a mesh cover then this accident might never happen again.

We also could change the rules so a skier does not need to make it to the wake for a full buoy.

We could just have all skiers ski away at the 55m buoys rather than the exit gates so skiers wouldn't have to risk a dangerous fall.  Settle the contest at the next line length. 

Those making the rules need to want to change the rules for the better so they can feel good about helping our sport become safer.  

I'll leave you with this nice photo taken on Tuesday of Serg, Bob Edie and Brett on the right with his great smile.

                           We love you and we'll miss you Brett.