 Interview and intro by: Matthew Parrish / Photograph by: Matthew Parrish Songs From A Room: "A Hit And Sink"In my teenage years I spent a lot of time on the open water, whether it was up at the lake, cliff jumping, fishing, floating down the local rivers or ripping around on a Sea Doo. I've had two near death experiences both involved swimming to far and getting to tired to continue, but I cannot even imagine something as crazy as this! --
Brayden Jones: The story starts about 8 months ago on Labour Day weekend.
Truth.Explosion.Magazine: Sweet! Where were spending your weekend?
BJ: I was enjoying a weekend in Amherstburg with my parents on their boat.
TEM: Oh man! I love spending time on a boat.
BJ: Of course! Nothing better than another afternoon on the water with the parents. We had just finished dinner when a friend of mine had decided that maybe staying on the boat for the evening was not a good idea.
TEM: Why’s that?
BJ: You know how that goes, if the friends are calling…
TEM: Ahhhh! So you had to drop him off?
BJ: I was more than happy to give him a quick scoot back to the main land on the Zodiac.
TEM: Ahhh! Well that’s cool. So it’s not to far then?
BJ: It’s not much more than a 5-10 min boat ride to get back to the main land.
TEM: Yeah that’s not so bad…
BJ: I sent him on his way then returned to the boat. We were anchored inside of a cove that night so most of the ride was inside of this cove.
TEM: It must have been pretty dark in that cove on a Zodiac, no?
BJ: I had a flash light to let larger vessels know where I was but yes very dark.
TEM: That’s smart. Did you come across anything?
BJ: As I was rounding the tip of the cove I noticed a Sea Doo way in the back. The mouth of the cove is a good 500 meters wide and twice as deep so I thought nothing of it.
TEM: Like it was driving?
BJ: I guess, growing up on the water my parents always had a great respect and caution for driving in the dark. We actually tried not to. You don’t know who else is on the water day or night and this night proved it.
TEM: This doesn’t sound like this is heading in a good direction…
BJ: It took a matter of 10 seconds from the time he took off and the time that he hit me.
TEM: He hit you?!
BJ: Oui Oui! It was a hit and sink.
TEM: Man it must have been moving so fast!
BJ: It was like watching a heat sinking missile, he started off in a straight line coming out of the cove and in the last seconds of my recollection he made a b-line right for my boat.
TEM: Holly shit! Was it a hard hit?
BJ: The impact was so hard that people from the mainland heard the boat explode.
TEM: Fuck! Do you remember what you were thinking when it hit?
BJ: Ya! “How am I going to make it back to Toronto for Sunday afternoon to play V-fest”.
TEM: Shit man that is so brutal! Did anyone see the hit?
BJ: One guy not too far away watched my Zodiac fly 200 feet in the air then sink to the bottom of the Detroit River.
TEM: Are you serious?
BJ: It sounds crazy but these are the words I heard after the whole episode.
TEM: So mental! Did he help you?
BJ: The same guy on the boat with the help of the Sea Doo rider assisted me onto his swim platform where I waited until we got to shore. I wasn’t sure of the severity of the accident so I didn’t want to make things worse.
TEM: Good call. How long was that?
BJ: It took almost an hour to get back to shore by the time he found my parents in the cove and we got back. The ambulance was waiting along with the officers - who didn’t feel the necessity to check if the Sea Doo driver was sober.
TEM: Oh of course not! How bad were you injured?
BJ: I had a shattered femur and broken pelvis.
TEM: Ouch! Man that is scary shit. Did you have to have surgery or anything?
BJ: Yeah. I waited 3 days until they did the operation. We fought to get out of the hospital early and about two weeks in they let me go.
TEM: Man that’s so crazy. I have one final question – what is the “truth” about Brayden Jones?
BJ: I am walking now but not the same as I used to be and awaiting cat scans to figure that one out. Lucky to be alive.
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