OSO Bobthebuilder to go for Key West - Cancun - Key West record ( for Jennifur)
06-12-2008, 08:02 PM
#421
Registered
Wow,
I'm blown away by all the excitement this generated. Very Cool!
Ok so we're back in Fl. (BTW flying is a lot faster than boating.
I don't know what we were thinking!)
We left the boat in Cancun, Bob and I will fly back on Sat and hopefully return to KW on Sunday.
So let me say even though we are really only half way, this was quite an adventure.
I just have to say that Bob is an incredilbe ambassador to this sport. There are just not enough things I can say about him that could come close to describing the caliber of person that he is.
He approached me with this idea last year and we were going to use another customer's boat. It didn't work out then but now that he had his own boat capable to meet th challenge Bob was determined to make it happen. So after a number of weeks of bad weather it finally looked like we had our break.
Intially we were on a roll averaging 60-65 mph cruise but unfortunately that illusion of a smooth crossing came to an end.
The farther west the rougher it got. As we were rounding Cuba it seemed to settle down for a while. However out of nowhere we hit a bit of a rogue wave an launched. Jay wasn't prepared and we hit pretty hard jolting Jay's back. Our main concern from that point was his well being so we had to back off. For a while it seemed our record hopes were in jeopardy. But Jay hung in there and with the skill of Powerboat's Kevin Cooper throttle hand we began to make up for the lost time.
I toook some video and pics which we'll try to get it on soon.
Second half starts Sunday stay tuned!
Thanks again to Bob, and of course Kevin, Hans and Jay.
I'm going to get some sleep now.
Terry Sobo
I'm blown away by all the excitement this generated. Very Cool!
Ok so we're back in Fl. (BTW flying is a lot faster than boating.
I don't know what we were thinking!)
We left the boat in Cancun, Bob and I will fly back on Sat and hopefully return to KW on Sunday.
So let me say even though we are really only half way, this was quite an adventure.
I just have to say that Bob is an incredilbe ambassador to this sport. There are just not enough things I can say about him that could come close to describing the caliber of person that he is.
He approached me with this idea last year and we were going to use another customer's boat. It didn't work out then but now that he had his own boat capable to meet th challenge Bob was determined to make it happen. So after a number of weeks of bad weather it finally looked like we had our break.
Intially we were on a roll averaging 60-65 mph cruise but unfortunately that illusion of a smooth crossing came to an end.
The farther west the rougher it got. As we were rounding Cuba it seemed to settle down for a while. However out of nowhere we hit a bit of a rogue wave an launched. Jay wasn't prepared and we hit pretty hard jolting Jay's back. Our main concern from that point was his well being so we had to back off. For a while it seemed our record hopes were in jeopardy. But Jay hung in there and with the skill of Powerboat's Kevin Cooper throttle hand we began to make up for the lost time.
I toook some video and pics which we'll try to get it on soon.
Second half starts Sunday stay tuned!
Thanks again to Bob, and of course Kevin, Hans and Jay.
I'm going to get some sleep now.
Terry Sobo
06-12-2008, 08:23 PM
#422
Registered
Wow! Yesterday was a day that I will never forget!
A massive Thank You to Bob for letting me participate in this incredible adventure! I'm still rocking back and forth slightly and look forward to soaking in my hot-tub for a while!
We left Key West yesterday morning in relatively calm seas and headed west southwest in a fairly straight line towards Cancun. It was pretty strange to be running off the coast of Cuba. I never imagined the mountain ranges there to be as big and visible as they were. In hindsight I'm amazed how very few ships we saw during our crossing, and maybe most amazed at the little skiff with an outboard that we ran by about 20+ miles off the coast of Cancun in water that I would not have been caught dead in, in that tiny little thing!
The water and waves got progressively more challenging as the day went on, and by the time we got to the straights of Yucatan, the seas were big and getting bigger, and like a washing machine the white caps were all around.
The last 150+ miles were no joke, and there were many many moments when the horizon was simply water....
Rather than speculate "how big" the waves really were, I'll just say that standing up behind the front bolster seats on "Predator", I could not see the horizon, only walls of water!
You cannot control the weather, but I never felt unsafe in the boat(it flew level the entire time!) and had complete confidence in the three men running it!
I really really really want to thank Terry Sobo & Kevin Cooper, who along with Bob B. did an absolutely AMAZING job running the boat from Key West to Cancun, and getting us there in record time and above all SAFELY!
Thank you for the experience of a lifetime!
Hans Haedelt
and Jayboat was awesome too, and I'm sure will have pics up soon!
A massive Thank You to Bob for letting me participate in this incredible adventure! I'm still rocking back and forth slightly and look forward to soaking in my hot-tub for a while!
We left Key West yesterday morning in relatively calm seas and headed west southwest in a fairly straight line towards Cancun. It was pretty strange to be running off the coast of Cuba. I never imagined the mountain ranges there to be as big and visible as they were. In hindsight I'm amazed how very few ships we saw during our crossing, and maybe most amazed at the little skiff with an outboard that we ran by about 20+ miles off the coast of Cancun in water that I would not have been caught dead in, in that tiny little thing!
The water and waves got progressively more challenging as the day went on, and by the time we got to the straights of Yucatan, the seas were big and getting bigger, and like a washing machine the white caps were all around.
The last 150+ miles were no joke, and there were many many moments when the horizon was simply water....
Rather than speculate "how big" the waves really were, I'll just say that standing up behind the front bolster seats on "Predator", I could not see the horizon, only walls of water!
You cannot control the weather, but I never felt unsafe in the boat(it flew level the entire time!) and had complete confidence in the three men running it!
I really really really want to thank Terry Sobo & Kevin Cooper, who along with Bob B. did an absolutely AMAZING job running the boat from Key West to Cancun, and getting us there in record time and above all SAFELY!
Thank you for the experience of a lifetime!
Hans Haedelt
and Jayboat was awesome too, and I'm sure will have pics up soon!
Last edited by rockstrmkr; 06-12-2008 at 09:52 PM.
06-12-2008, 08:25 PM
#423
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Wow,
I'm blown away by all the excitement this generated. Very Cool!
Ok so we're back in Fl. (BTW flying is a lot faster than boating.
I don't know what we were thinking!)
We left the boat in Cancun, Bob and I will fly back on Sat and hopefully return to KW on Sunday.
So let me say even though we are really only half way, this was quite an adventure.
I just have to say that Bob is an incredilbe ambassador to this sport. There are just not enough things I can say about him that could come close to describing the caliber of person that he is.
He approached me with this idea last year and we were going to use another customer's boat. It didn't work out then but now that he had his own boat capable to meet th challenge Bob was determined to make it happen. So after a number of weeks of bad weather it finally looked like we had our break.
Intially we were on a roll averaging 60-65 mph cruise but unfortunately that illusion of a smooth crossing came to an end.
The farther west the rougher it got. As we were rounding Cuba it seemed to settle down for a while. However out of nowhere we hit a bit of a rogue wave an launched. Jay wasn't prepared and we hit pretty hard jolting Jay's back. Our main concern from that point was his well being so we had to back off. For a while it seemed our record hopes were in jeopardy. But Jay hung in there and with the skill of Powerboat's Kevin Cooper throttle hand we began to make up for the lost time.
I toook some video and pics which we'll try to get it on soon.
Second half starts Sunday stay tuned!
Thanks again to Bob, and of course Kevin, Hans and Jay.
I'm going to get some sleep now.
Terry Sobo
I'm blown away by all the excitement this generated. Very Cool!
Ok so we're back in Fl. (BTW flying is a lot faster than boating.
I don't know what we were thinking!)
We left the boat in Cancun, Bob and I will fly back on Sat and hopefully return to KW on Sunday.
So let me say even though we are really only half way, this was quite an adventure.
I just have to say that Bob is an incredilbe ambassador to this sport. There are just not enough things I can say about him that could come close to describing the caliber of person that he is.
He approached me with this idea last year and we were going to use another customer's boat. It didn't work out then but now that he had his own boat capable to meet th challenge Bob was determined to make it happen. So after a number of weeks of bad weather it finally looked like we had our break.
Intially we were on a roll averaging 60-65 mph cruise but unfortunately that illusion of a smooth crossing came to an end.
The farther west the rougher it got. As we were rounding Cuba it seemed to settle down for a while. However out of nowhere we hit a bit of a rogue wave an launched. Jay wasn't prepared and we hit pretty hard jolting Jay's back. Our main concern from that point was his well being so we had to back off. For a while it seemed our record hopes were in jeopardy. But Jay hung in there and with the skill of Powerboat's Kevin Cooper throttle hand we began to make up for the lost time.
I toook some video and pics which we'll try to get it on soon.
Second half starts Sunday stay tuned!
Thanks again to Bob, and of course Kevin, Hans and Jay.
I'm going to get some sleep now.
Terry Sobo
Very cool..looking forward towards some video footage...I'm just glad it turned out great for all parties involved.
06-12-2008, 10:17 PM
#428
VIP Member
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Marco Island, FL; Waterloo, ON, CAN
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Story # 1
OK, it's story time ! LOL
On Tues afternoon when Terry, Jay, Hans and I repositioned Team PREDATOR from Marco to Key West the water was like glass the entire 100 miles across the Gulf. My fastest time ever has been 1.5 hrs. and we were running so strong I could see that we were running ahead of that previous time by almost 10 minutes. I thought might as well keep the hammer down cause if we are going to break anything I want it to be today, not on our way to Cancun. Guess what? We threw a blade off a 5 blade prop that had only 35 hrs on it. We had a left and right spare aboard for the trip. We made a decision to finish the run into Key West on 2 motors and change the prop in the Galleon Marina. Thank you Terry ! We were now without a spare tho and leaving for Cancun in less than 10 hrs. Nor Tech flew in that evening 2 more spare props for us. Thank you Nor Tech ! No further prop issues on the run to Cancun. Keep our fingers crossed on the return.
Bob
On Tues afternoon when Terry, Jay, Hans and I repositioned Team PREDATOR from Marco to Key West the water was like glass the entire 100 miles across the Gulf. My fastest time ever has been 1.5 hrs. and we were running so strong I could see that we were running ahead of that previous time by almost 10 minutes. I thought might as well keep the hammer down cause if we are going to break anything I want it to be today, not on our way to Cancun. Guess what? We threw a blade off a 5 blade prop that had only 35 hrs on it. We had a left and right spare aboard for the trip. We made a decision to finish the run into Key West on 2 motors and change the prop in the Galleon Marina. Thank you Terry ! We were now without a spare tho and leaving for Cancun in less than 10 hrs. Nor Tech flew in that evening 2 more spare props for us. Thank you Nor Tech ! No further prop issues on the run to Cancun. Keep our fingers crossed on the return.
Bob
06-12-2008, 10:26 PM
#429
Registered
Bob -
You left out the part where Terry is in the water at the Galleon with the prop in his hand, treading water and trying to hand off the prop....And of course I'm not paying attention (as usual) and he's slowly sinking with his arm extended holding the prop above his head....Good thing Kevin was there!!!
Sorry Terry
You left out the part where Terry is in the water at the Galleon with the prop in his hand, treading water and trying to hand off the prop....And of course I'm not paying attention (as usual) and he's slowly sinking with his arm extended holding the prop above his head....Good thing Kevin was there!!!
Sorry Terry
06-12-2008, 10:31 PM
#430
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Marco Island, FL; Waterloo, ON, CAN
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Story #2
At 3 am I wake up ( not sure I ever went to sleep ) and I am doing a mental check of all the safety gear on the boat. I have a sports bag that I keep 8 lifejackets in. I'm thinking - I cannot remember seeing it on the boat. At 6 AM I have gone thru the boat and it's not there. Crew arrives at the boat and I announce major crisis - we have no lifejackets other than the one Terry brought along. We may have to wait until 9 AM for West Marine to open. I go back on board and start ripping everthing out of every locker. By luck I found 4 jackets that I had pulled off old PREDATOR. Crisis solved and we were ready to go. I am still looking for my sports bag with 8 brand new Mustang lifejackets.
Bob
Bob
Last edited by Bobthebuilder; 06-12-2008 at 10:34 PM.
