Reply With QuoteSome days it is just better to be safe than hurt or worse. Save it for next time.
Glad you are OK..
Well we went to run the boat praying for good enough water to lay down a pass that would be difficult to beat.
Already decided if the boat flies too much it is not worth trashing the drive so we will just have a good time watching.
The boat was fast enough but not quite big enough.
THE PLAN: Get out early the first day before the lake gets stirred up too bad - Get the boat on plane - trim it to the normal good starting point - cruise along at about 90 or so - Ease it to wide open at a pre selected land mark - tap the trim up as I go through the timimg area at the end. Hopefully register a 130ish MPH pass.
Sounds easy enough.
What actually happened Went out first thing the first day - most other smaller boats had the same idea - was # 29 to run - running over the game plan in my mind - Listening to about the 22nd boat to run, I hear him nail it near the end, sounded really good, I looked down track and see his boat launch straight up into the sky. A 24 SS HTM. I'm thinking Holly Shit !! - The cell phone rings it is Kevin from Mid West Powerboats. - He says "Are you sure you still want to run that thing"? - so we float around for another 45 minutes or so before they kick it off again - The owner calls me up to let me know where the big boats are really bouncing around - I was thinking the pause in the racing should have helped with calm water. time to race I get the boat on plane - start accelerating - hit the trim button and almost instantly the boat launches out of the water - comes back down and launches again - I trim it all the way down and it launches again - needless to say I am off guard now since the plan is not working out - I have to race trimmed all the way down? - running along at 98 and I find it necessary to take my hand off of the throttle to hang on to the wheel with both hands - running along and the boat looses power and slows - I think that I trashed the drive from all of the jumping out of the water - (figured out later the throttle bounced back) - driving mistake - get back into the throttle and it launched far enough to necessitate yanking the throttle back still think the drive might be hurt - running about 60 MPH now - get back on it and I am way past the land mark to start the Kamikaze run planned - run through the timimg area getting on the trim button look down and see 90 on the speedo.
Register a whopping 88 MPH pass.
I'm thinking maybe I would have rather crashed and burned - trashed the drive - or blew up the engine than face everyone with such an impressive pass in a 130 MPH boat.
Actually it was a good experience since the boat is not hurt - I am not hurt and we saw a shit load of awesome boats.
Live and learn. wink
Some days it is just better to be safe than hurt or worse. Save it for next time.
Glad you are OK..
Oh'well, at least you ran Info...too bad things did not go according to plan...someone else mentioned that an HTM broke apart...did you hear anything like that?
Always next year. Sorry the plan did not unfold as planned.
Congrats on the run, Info. Flying level is not as easy as it sounds in that small of a boat. Better safe than sorry.
Did you get the "Okie Video Camera Mount" installed?
mbrown2:
Oh'well, at least you ran Info...too bad things did not go according to plan...someone else mentioned that an HTM broke apart...did you hear anything like that? Blew over and crashed. It was just too rough for smaller boats to run hard.
It was an interesting experience. The boat would leave the water without warning. Normally you can see a roller or whatever and prepare for it. Not the case here.
[img]http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/513/211DSC00050-med.JPG[/img]
Havasu Hangin':
Congrats on the run, Info. Flying level is not as easy as it sounds in that small of a boat. Better safe than sorry.
Did you get the "Okie Video Camera Mount" installed? Sorry it did not happen. Was going to try to do it at the race.
During tech inspection the kill switch did not work. Had to do a very fast Okie rig to get it to work.
It was not even hooked up !!
Pulled some of the speaker wire out and hooked the kill switch to the MSD trigger wire.
Infomaniac:
Havasu Hangin':
Did you get the "Okie Video Camera Mount" installed? Sorry it did not happen. Was going to try to do it at the race.Well, that explains why the throttle went wacky- one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on the video camera...none left for the throttle.
Better just install a throttle "switch" next time.
Infomaniac:
During tech inspection the kill switch did not work. Had to do a very fast Okie rig to get it to work.
It was not even hooked up !!
Pulled some of the speaker wire out and hooked the kill switch to the MSD trigger wire.
I guess you couldn't crank the tunes during the run (that'll never happen in So Cal).
Yea classic.
After the HTM crash and waiting for nearly an hour at the starting line I called the owner on the cell to let him know I wish I could be listeneng to the radio. LOL
I am soooooo glad you had the sense to keep it mellow, or that you had the experience to know when to drill it and when not to.
I have lived my life in the company of men who don't know when to back off and take "the 88" in this case. Lots have gotten really hurt, lots have died.
That is my biggest fear with releasing a "go fast" Trident. You create a great image for performance, but I don't know that I could ever intentionally build a boat like that, knowing that not every guy with an itch for speed has a corresponding "stupidity meter" in his conscious psyche.
Thanks for burying the drive, and not one of our buddy's info.
I hate to be a bummer here, but stories like this really scare me.
They say it takes one or a combination of three things to make a man do truly stupid stuff. A woman, a camera or a stopwatch. I can attest unconditionally that this is true in my case. You had all three there present, and you chose the high road.
Beer's on me when we meet Info...
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