On board at 170mph w/"Risky Buisness" @ Desert Storm...
04-29-2008, 11:33 PM
#23
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Say again over?
FPC is only un-tethered after the permitted run is over. The boats are broken up into groups based upon cruise speed and we do have speed restrictions.
Remember the year Auqa Doll ran behind me at 80 MPH into Key West because I ended up being the default pace boat due to mechanicals on the fast boats.
There is always a speed limit especially on a naviagble waterway..Rule SIX safe speed. If you guys keep preaching we so not have a speed limit some legislature may just think its time for a numerical value to be used. We have a speed limit so use it and start saying we have a speed limit. Rule Six Safe speed.....We cant afford anymore rules on the water!
FPC is only un-tethered after the permitted run is over. The boats are broken up into groups based upon cruise speed and we do have speed restrictions.
Remember the year Auqa Doll ran behind me at 80 MPH into Key West because I ended up being the default pace boat due to mechanicals on the fast boats.
There is always a speed limit especially on a naviagble waterway..Rule SIX safe speed. If you guys keep preaching we so not have a speed limit some legislature may just think its time for a numerical value to be used. We have a speed limit so use it and start saying we have a speed limit. Rule Six Safe speed.....We cant afford anymore rules on the water!
I'm picturing your facial expression is the same as the one in the picture I posted in Tom's trailer as you typed that
Last edited by thisistank; 04-29-2008 at 11:35 PM.
04-30-2008, 08:20 AM
#24
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Amazing. No Helmets, No Canopy, No Divers, No Helicopters, No Crowd Control, No Breath Analyzer, No Safety Training Required, No Boat Inspections, Boats Going In Every Direction AND SPEEDS OF 170mph plus! The lawyers must line the beaches of poker runs waiting for their next feast!
04-30-2008, 08:46 AM
#25
Nice video tank, the audio really helps to see what is going on and that they are respectful of everyone out there. Makes you feel better about running with people at those speeds.
04-30-2008, 01:35 PM
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Amazing. No Helmets, No Canopy, No Divers, No Helicopters, No Crowd Control, No Breath Analyzer, No Safety Training Required, No Boat Inspections, Boats Going In Every Direction AND SPEEDS OF 170mph plus! The lawyers must line the beaches of poker runs waiting for their next feast!
No helmets required (true)
No canopy required (true)
No divers and no helicopters (false)...Jim and Art are some of the very few if not only organizers in the country that has safety teams in helicopters with divers. As a matter of fact there was an article about it last year in Powerboat mag for Jims "out of the box" thinking in regards to safety (safety helicopters, divers, safety boats with signs stating "high speed boats in progress")
No boat inspections (true) it's left up to the registrant to maintain and inspect their boat
No safety training required? well, I highly doubt there’s many drivers that have gotten behind the wheel of a 150+mph boat and have never had some sort of safety training. Most have gone through Tres and Brads school if not some sort of equivalent.
No breath analyzer (true)...however, organizers keep a watchful eye out for this and did DQ a participant for drinking a beer prior to running.
Boats running in every which direction? Well, that's a bit dramatic. The local waterway law states you'll run on the lake as a vehicle drives on the road (to the right). Plus, the reason there is a pace boat until the very south end of the lake is due to the fact this part of the lake opens up long and wide and is known for not being heavy with boat traffic.
Jim and Art pulled several permits from the Coast Guard, the local Sheriffs Dept., The local Police Dept, etc.
They take every precaution to avoid collisions and/or injuries.
Lawyers lining the shore...Not hardly. However, criticizing the event on an open forum and trying to compare the stringent compliance the race course has will surely not help anything.
04-30-2008, 02:36 PM
#28
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Tank,
I was there and I am not trying to pick on this particular PR. I have also taken part in others, but anytime you have over 200 boats participating ranging in speed from 70 to 180 mph+ with an additional 1000+ pleasure boats just boating in the area it is a risk.
"it's called pleasure boating and your above statement pretty much sums up any major performance driven body of water in the country" You have a point and for this reason many lakes are no imposing speed limits.
No divers and no helicopters (false)... I was in the PR drivers meeting Friday morning for Canopied boats and was told that "we are on our own, no divers or support" although, I did see a helicopter flying. Not sure if it was for rescue or photos.
"I highly doubt there’s many drivers that have gotten behind the wheel of a 150+mph boat and have never had some sort of safety training. " Last I heard, you only need $800,000 to go 180 at a Poker Run. Nothing else. You don't even need to know how to swim or rescue yourself let alone how to turn.
Case in point is the Outerlimits from Smoke On The Water that just left my warehouse with the police homicide tapes still on it. Had the boat had a Canopy and the Driver had known not to turn at 130, perhaps it would not have been there.
"Boats running in every which direction? Well, that's a bit dramatic." No really. By running on a long narrow lake/river by the time we were heading to the first card the fastest fleet was already heading back to our direction and by the second card stop the lake had boats moving in a narrow triangle. Then throw in all of pleasure boaters.
"criticizing the event on an open forum and trying to compare the stringent compliance the race course has will surely not help anything" May be it will. Every other event I can think of where vehicles can run 180 mph has these safety features.
NASCAR, F1, Hydro Racing, Motorcycle Racing, Track Days, Drag Racing, Offshore Racing, Plane Racing have I left any out? Why not have all the safety rules in place?
I was there and I am not trying to pick on this particular PR. I have also taken part in others, but anytime you have over 200 boats participating ranging in speed from 70 to 180 mph+ with an additional 1000+ pleasure boats just boating in the area it is a risk.
"it's called pleasure boating and your above statement pretty much sums up any major performance driven body of water in the country" You have a point and for this reason many lakes are no imposing speed limits.
No divers and no helicopters (false)... I was in the PR drivers meeting Friday morning for Canopied boats and was told that "we are on our own, no divers or support" although, I did see a helicopter flying. Not sure if it was for rescue or photos.
"I highly doubt there’s many drivers that have gotten behind the wheel of a 150+mph boat and have never had some sort of safety training. " Last I heard, you only need $800,000 to go 180 at a Poker Run. Nothing else. You don't even need to know how to swim or rescue yourself let alone how to turn.
Case in point is the Outerlimits from Smoke On The Water that just left my warehouse with the police homicide tapes still on it. Had the boat had a Canopy and the Driver had known not to turn at 130, perhaps it would not have been there.
"Boats running in every which direction? Well, that's a bit dramatic." No really. By running on a long narrow lake/river by the time we were heading to the first card the fastest fleet was already heading back to our direction and by the second card stop the lake had boats moving in a narrow triangle. Then throw in all of pleasure boaters.
"criticizing the event on an open forum and trying to compare the stringent compliance the race course has will surely not help anything" May be it will. Every other event I can think of where vehicles can run 180 mph has these safety features.
NASCAR, F1, Hydro Racing, Motorcycle Racing, Track Days, Drag Racing, Offshore Racing, Plane Racing have I left any out? Why not have all the safety rules in place?
04-30-2008, 03:06 PM
#29
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Tank,
I was there and I am not trying to pick on this particular PR. I have also taken part in others, but anytime you have over 200 boats participating ranging in speed from 70 to 180 mph+ with an additional 1000+ pleasure boats just boating in the area it is a risk.
"it's called pleasure boating and your above statement pretty much sums up any major performance driven body of water in the country" You have a point and for this reason many lakes are no imposing speed limits.
No divers and no helicopters (false)... I was in the PR drivers meeting Friday morning for Canopied boats and was told that "we are on our own, no divers or support" although, I did see a helicopter flying. Not sure if it was for rescue or photos.
"I highly doubt there’s many drivers that have gotten behind the wheel of a 150+mph boat and have never had some sort of safety training. " Last I heard, you only need $800,000 to go 180 at a Poker Run. Nothing else. You don't even need to know how to swim or rescue yourself let alone how to turn.
Case in point is the Outerlimits from Smoke On The Water that just left my warehouse with the police homicide tapes still on it. Had the boat had a Canopy and the Driver had known not to turn at 130, perhaps it would not have been there.
"Boats running in every which direction? Well, that's a bit dramatic." No really. By running on a long narrow lake/river by the time we were heading to the first card the fastest fleet was already heading back to our direction and by the second card stop the lake had boats moving in a narrow triangle. Then throw in all of pleasure boaters.
"criticizing the event on an open forum and trying to compare the stringent compliance the race course has will surely not help anything" May be it will. Every other event I can think of where vehicles can run 180 mph has these safety features.
NASCAR, F1, Hydro Racing, Motorcycle Racing, Track Days, Drag Racing, Offshore Racing, Plane Racing have I left any out? Why not have all the safety rules in place?
I was there and I am not trying to pick on this particular PR. I have also taken part in others, but anytime you have over 200 boats participating ranging in speed from 70 to 180 mph+ with an additional 1000+ pleasure boats just boating in the area it is a risk.
"it's called pleasure boating and your above statement pretty much sums up any major performance driven body of water in the country" You have a point and for this reason many lakes are no imposing speed limits.
No divers and no helicopters (false)... I was in the PR drivers meeting Friday morning for Canopied boats and was told that "we are on our own, no divers or support" although, I did see a helicopter flying. Not sure if it was for rescue or photos.
"I highly doubt there’s many drivers that have gotten behind the wheel of a 150+mph boat and have never had some sort of safety training. " Last I heard, you only need $800,000 to go 180 at a Poker Run. Nothing else. You don't even need to know how to swim or rescue yourself let alone how to turn.
Case in point is the Outerlimits from Smoke On The Water that just left my warehouse with the police homicide tapes still on it. Had the boat had a Canopy and the Driver had known not to turn at 130, perhaps it would not have been there.
"Boats running in every which direction? Well, that's a bit dramatic." No really. By running on a long narrow lake/river by the time we were heading to the first card the fastest fleet was already heading back to our direction and by the second card stop the lake had boats moving in a narrow triangle. Then throw in all of pleasure boaters.
"criticizing the event on an open forum and trying to compare the stringent compliance the race course has will surely not help anything" May be it will. Every other event I can think of where vehicles can run 180 mph has these safety features.
NASCAR, F1, Hydro Racing, Motorcycle Racing, Track Days, Drag Racing, Offshore Racing, Plane Racing have I left any out? Why not have all the safety rules in place?
I don't want to get into a huge debate and I do understand your thoughts on this. However, there are safety rules in place with more being added every year. This event has been going on in one form or another with various organizers along the way for over 15 years with out incident. That alone speaks volumes of the safety measures that are taken.
You say there is a risk in this environment and I agree, there is a calculated risk with all boating, especially of the high performance nature. You say there are regulations with all the listed racing events you posted above...One huge difference. Those are professional events. This is a pleasure boater event. And on that topic, I've heard a LOT of grumbling about the idea (from participants) that professional boats/drivers should not be allowed to participate.
Safety rules are one thing. Restrictions are another. I'll be the first to say there are many "styles" of poker runs out there. This style of poker run is derived from the "old school" style. Meaning there are designated stops, go out get your cards and everyone meet back at the end of the day. Other runs are point A to point B poker runs, using the boats basically as transportation. The difference is what makes this poker run so great.
I will say, Jim is ALWAYS open to ideas on how to increase safety and is always looking to make it a safer event.
Last edited by thisistank; 04-30-2008 at 03:08 PM.
04-30-2008, 04:12 PM
#30
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The facts have now been disclosed, and really the only thing that is important is to just learn from mistakes and hopefully the organizers will limit the event to just non race boats and that safety next year will be of higher priority. More stringent rules and a reasonable speed limit considering how narrow the waterway is and that you have both running those high speeds in each direction, nobody is saying to do away with these runs, just control them so this great sport does'nt get killed by the fed's. Those boats are awesome and it does'nt take running dangerously at wot to get noticed and have something to be proud of, everyone knows they are big money and fast just by looking.
