2016 Wake of Fame –Personal Water Craft Authenticity Registry

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FIRECRACKER OVERACKER – 1989 KAWASAKI TANDEM SPORT 650 JETSKI

Submission Date: August 23, 2016

Vessel type: Runabout

Vessel location: Niagara Daredevil Museum 303 Rainbow Blvd, Niagara Falls, NY 14303

The Daredevil Museum collects artifacts and display exhibits that pertain to the many daring individuals who attempted to make their way over the treacherous Niagara Falls.

Category: Historic (circa 1995)

Date of Historic Relation: October 1, 1995

Make: 1989 Kawasaki Tandem Sport 650 Jet Ski™

Vessel name: ‘Firecracker Overacker’

Condition: Historical

Registration: CF1172JY - State of California

Operator: Robert Douglas “Firecracker” Overacker

Photos/video courtesy of his brother Michael Zureich

Historic Vessel Authentication Registry: #WOF-HVAR-1995-08-16-01

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Robert Overacker Robert Overacker, a 39-year-old man from Camarillo, California, went over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls at approximately 12:35 p.m. October 1st on a single jet ski. Entering the Niagara River near the Canadian Niagara Power Plant, he started skiing toward the Falls. At the brink, he attempted to discharge a rocket propelled parachute that was on his back. It failed to discharge. His brother and a friend witnessed the stunt. At first it seemed that he had survived the plunge, but the rapids have a strange way of flailing a corpses' arms around, often giving the appearance of a person swimming. Robert Overacker was later retrieved from the water, taken to Niagara General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His body was recovered by Maid of the Mist staff. Overacker, married with no children, became the fifteenth person since 1901 to intentionally go over the Falls in or on a device.

KAWASAKI JET SKI™ TANDEM SPORT (TS)

Californian Killed in Niagara Falls Stunt Accident: Parachute fails to open for rider of motorized ski. Leap was effort to draw attention to plight of homeless. October 02, 1995

DAVID R. BAKER | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

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The body of a California stunt school graduate who rode a personal watercraft off Niagara Falls in a long-planned daredevil stunt Sunday was pulled from the waters 180 feet below after his parachute failed to open, Canadian officials said.

Witnesses saw Robert Overacker, 39, of Camarillo, ride over the brink of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls around 12:35 p.m., Niagara Falls Parks police said. "When you're hitting water, it's like hitting cement at that height," said Tom Detenbeck, a parks police dispatcher.

Overacker was pronounced dead at the Greater Niagara General Hospital an hour after the stunt, said the coroner, Dr. Azim Velji. An autopsy will be performed today in nearby Hamilton, Ontario, Velji said.

Police said Overacker, whom they described as a graduate of a California stunt school, had been planning the stunt for about seven years, apparently to draw attention to the plight of the homeless. His motorized ski bore a sign reading "Save The Homeless," and the stunt was being photographed by his brother, Michael Zureich, of San Antonio, Tex., and a Ventura friend, Christopher Yeomans, who had arrived with him Sunday.

Twice before he had traveled to the falls to try the stunt, and both times, Detenbeck said, friends had dissuaded him.

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Overacker had equipped himself with a life preserver and parachute. His intent, Detenbeck said, was to let go of the motorized ski as it went over the edge, deploy the chute and float down to the water.

The popular site was crowded with 2,000 to 3,000 tourists when Overacker put his motorized ski in the water and headed toward the brink, Detenbeck said. A tour bus driver who saw him called police.

Officials characterized the device strapped to his back as a "rocket propelled parachute," apparently a mechanism to lift him clear of the motorized ski, but they could offer no details as to how it operated.

At the foot of the falls, Overacker was lifted aboard the tour boat Maid of the Mist and taken to shore. Medical personnel tried unsuccessfully to revive him en-route to the hospital.

Velji declined to detail the precise cause of death. Overacker's body showed no obvious injuries or bruises when examined Sunday afternoon, he said.

Overacker's wife, Laurie Overacker of Camarillo, was notified shortly afterward, Detenbeck said. She and a group of friends gathered at the couple's Camarillo home Sunday afternoon, but they declined to comment.

Fourteen people have survived plunges over Niagara. Overacker is the fifth person to die since 1901, according to the Niagara Falls Parks Commission.

Detenbeck said people underestimate the falls' strength. "You're talking a million gallons of water going over the falls in a second," he said. "That's a lot of force, a lot of power."

Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-10-02/news/mn-52471_1_niagara-falls

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Overacker launched himself into the Niagara River upstream of the Falls from the area of the Canadian Niagara Power Plant. At the brink of the Falls, Overacker ignited a the rocket which deployed the parachute as planned. Unfortunately, as the parachute deployed, it fell away from Overacker’s reach to the ground below. Unknown to Overacker, the parachute was not bound to his body. He did not pack the parachute prior to the stunt and he was unaware of this fatal error.

His step-brother and a friend witnessed this unfolding tragedy as Overacker fell to his death to the water below, as the 15th person to challenge the Falls.

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