Driver: Fatal jet boat crash ‘just a freak accident’

World champion jet boat driver Dwayne Terry didn’t see the log that killed his best mate and navigator.

Terry and his best friend of 17 years, Duayne Insley, were jet boat racing on the Waimakariri River, north of Christchurch, on Sunday when Insley, sitting on the right side of the jet boat, collided with a protruding log. He was killed instantly. The long-established racing pair were competing in their boat, named Constipated,for their team ‘‘Hard to Pass’’ on the second day of the week-long World Championship Jetboat Marathon.

The former world champions came to grief when they decided to leave the main channel of the river to go down a side channel in the hope of finding a shortcut.

The bank was about 1.5 metres above the narrow channel, with the branch-less log lying across the channel and almost impossible to see at the 160kmh the jet boat was travelling.

‘‘We literally did not see it. I felt a bump, looked around and then realised something was wrong. I didn’t even know we had hit anything until after,’’ Terry said.

He said the crash was ‘‘just a freak accident’’.

‘‘No safety precaution in the world would have stopped what happened [on Sunday].

‘‘There’s absolutely no blame to be placed on the race organisers or the patrol boats or anyone who had anything to do with the event. The event was run to a extremely high standard.’’

It was ‘‘an impossibility’’ to expect every hazard to be cleared, he said.

‘‘We were looking at where we were going but the thing that jumped out and got us we didn’t see, it was camouflaged.’’

Insley’s experience as a driver made him ‘‘the perfect navigator’’.

After they won the world championships in 2013, they travelled to Monte Carlo with their wives for the prizegiving.

‘‘Ever since we’ve known each other, we’ve been extremely close – Duayne and Dwayne, we were best mates.’’

They started the weekend with hopes of finishing in the top five. They finished the first day in top place in their class and 12th overall.

‘‘We were really excited about the rest of the week ... We were going really, really well so it’s an absolute s... way to end it.’’

Terry said he had made a promise to his children he would never race again.

‘‘I couldn’t race with anyone else other than Duayne, without him I don’t want to do it.’’

Insley, who was a member of Glenorchy Community Association was well known about town, chairman John Glover said.

‘‘Duayne has served on the community association for quite some time. That’s reflective of the person who wants to give back to the community,’’ he said.

Graeme Jackson managed Dart Safaris when Insley was employed over a decade ago as a jet boat driver.

‘‘He was a good true-blue Kiwi. He’s just a loving man who would do anything for anyone.’’

Insley owned Glenorchy tourism company High Country Horses with his wife, Deana Insley.

Detective Sergeant Joanne Parks said police were investigating on behalf of the coroner. A scene examination had been completed and the boat removed.