Bridge to Bridge pics

[John.]

There are Bridge to Bridge photo's over in the Hot Spots West section. This one is my favorite. This side by side race was awesome!
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/673DSCN1294.JPG

[grads2112]

Did you get any good running shots of your boat???

[HCS]

Was the top speed 142???
http://www.sacbee.com/static/rich_content_images/279507-FL-SPEED-BOATS_main.jpg

[HCS]

Rocking their boats
Racer hits 142 mph on the Sacramento River at the annual Waterfront Festival
By Sam Stanton -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Monday, July 24, 2006
Story appeared in Metro section, Page B1
At more than 100 mph in a boat on the Sacramento River, your cheeks tend to flutter in the howling wind, and it's pretty much impossible to talk.
If you did speak, or scream, the noise couldn't be heard over the roar of the engines, anyway.
But Doug Thumser wasn't doing a lot of talking as he guided his floating missile toward the Tower Bridge on Sunday at 107 mph over the regular speed limit.
Instead, the 50-year-old Newcastle man was simply trying to thread the boat under the middle span of the bridge at the fastest speed possible.
He made it to 112 mph. And he was one of the slow guys at the sixth annual Bridge-to-Bridge Waterfront Festival at Old Sacramento, where about 50 extremely high-tech racing boats competed before admiring fans.
"You don't really win anything," said Thumser, owner of Sun-Fare Pool Service of Sacramento. "It's bragging rights is all."
But the bragging is impressive. Top speed Sunday was 142 mph as boaters competed on a closed section of the river between Miller Park and the I Street Bridge.
The racing was part of the two-day festival, which is sort of a celebration of speed and water. Many fans lined the dock to get close-up views of boats that participants said cost as much as $1 million and were trucked in from as far away as Oregon and Arizona. Others stood along the Tower Bridge, gaping downward and waving as the boats zoomed underneath them.
Thumser said his boat, a 1998 Jaguar Marine with twin 1,000-horsepower engines, cost him "a couple hundred grand" when he bought it four years ago from a dealer in Miami.
"This was commissioned by some dot-commer," said Thumser, who has worked his way up buying larger and faster boats for the past 20 years.
"We just use it to go out and swim, go to Folsom Lake or Lake Berryessa," he said. "We go to San Francisco once a year for Fleet Week."
But this is not an inexpensive hobby. Thumser figures the weekend festival cost him about $1,000, including two nights of hotel stays, his $200 entry fee and gas for the boat, which he named "On Time."
"Guess why?" he said. "I bought it 'on time.' "
In other words, he didn't lay out the full cash price when he purchased it.
The festival, which is free, has grown over the years to the point where 35,000 to 40,000 people attended in 2005, said Mike Testa of the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau, which sponsors the event, along with the city.
Only about half that many were estimated to have come out this past weekend, Testa said, mostly because of the heat.
"Any time it's over 105 degrees, people stay home," Testa said, noting that local broadcast stations had been promoting "Spare the Air" days and encouraging people not to drive unless necessary.
"We certainly understand that," Testa said.
Actually, last year's festival had heat issues, as well. The high on the first day of the 2005 event was 105, the National Weather Service said, and the temperature got to 103 for the second day.
But it was still cooling off at night back then, with an overnight low of only 61 on July 23, 2005. The low from Saturday night to Sunday morning this weekend was 84, which may have changed the minds of some people who had been planning to venture out.
There still were plenty of people at the festival, though, and there was more to it than boat races.
Some folks relaxed on the dock, drinking beer and champagne.
Wake boarding demonstrations set up in a makeshift pool of wooden boards and plastic sheeting drew large crowds, as did many of the sleek racing boats parked on the streets of Old Sacramento.
One parking lot was turned into a scuba diving instruction area, where festival-goers seeking a break from the heat could get into a pool with diving instructors and learn about scuba.
It wasn't much of a break, though.
Dave Reidenbach, who is from Neenah, Wis., and takes "the Scuba Tour" to such events nationwide, said the pool water started out at 82 degrees. Saturday afternoon, it was at 96. And on Sunday around noon, it was a refreshing 93 degrees.

[HCS]

Looks like you guys where burning some fuel.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/520/74No-Techs.jpg

[DAVID]

Was the top speed 142???
http://www.sacbee.com/static/rich_content_images/279507-FL-SPEED-BOATS_main.jpg
Our official speed was 149.5 in the finals yesterday. That gave us the
threepeat. Our boat is now officially retired and on the market. It will
be in Eliminators showroom shortly.

[Havasu Hangin']

Our official speed was 149.5 in the finals yesterday. That gave us the
threepeat. Our boat is now officially retired and on the market. It will
be in Eliminators showroom shortly.
Dan had 147MPH on the GPS (139 on radar) on Saturday...but that was my fault, since I forgot to pull the anchor in.

[HCS]

Our official speed was 149.5 in the finals yesterday. That gave us the
threepeat. Our boat is now officially retired and on the market. It will
be in Eliminators showroom shortly.
Ahhh...... that sounds more like it. Not that 142 is slow but that sounds more like a speed I would expect.
Great to see a local event with pics posted on here. :)

[John.]

Ahhh...... that sounds more like it. Not that 142 is slow but that sounds more like a speed I would expect.
Great to see a local event with pics posted on here. :)
142 was probably the top radar speed. I'm betting that the reporter got out of there as soon as possible and didn't stick around to find out the GPS speeds. Heck, I left at noon on Sunday. It was so hot and humid, it hasn't been crappy like that in Sacto for a long time. Maybe next year we can bring out some more shade tents.