Hahahaha good one!

You mean a 21' Sh*tbox that blew past the 60mph group and though he was king of the landfill? :evilb:

Fat fingers today ...... :cool-smiley-027:

Setting up a proper safety management system is only half the battle. Attracting a diverse group requires proper and repeated messaging.

The Florida Power Boat Club runs as many lead boats as required and for at least the past five years has had the 55-65 MPH group on the large runs.

He have also set up the 110 and above group to get the faster boats out and away from everyone else. Remember Key West 2007 we had five departure groups on Thrusday alone.

Which works until a couple of trigger happy Cat pilots decide to jump the start at the last card stop, and run back through most of the pack.

We had a closing rate of 257 MPH with the boat that was coming towards us.

I've been lucky enough to run as a navigator with the guys from Typhoon for the last 8 years in the 1000 Islands PR, we've ben a pace boat for 5 of them.
The year they stopped sending the under 75mph out first was a huge step towards making the run safer.

If you want to see the fast boats run, then tie up on the side of the run.
On an Open Ocean run you might have room to let the fast boats through, on a river run, (and the St. Lawrence isn't a small river) there is just no room.

We also like to see the fast boats scream past us, but like you said it depends on the body of water, we are out on Lake MI or Lake Erie in pretty wide open areas. The thing I like best about the Lake Erie runs is that at each card stop we dock and even get off the boat for a while, then we try our best to start off again at the same time and in the same direction. Most of us enjoy the start when more boats are grouped together. We did a few runs on Lake MI that after a while you felt like you were out there completely on your own, especially towards the end of the run when a lot of the boats had broke down. The area is large and the distance between stops can be 40 miles or more so the boats really spread out. I think it's hard to make a sweeping decision that fits all poker runs, each one has a different assortment of boats and waterways.

Well put!

I had a rebuttle to this but as it is a open forum no need to argue over opinions as everyone has there own. Like Ms Pat said the poker runs we typically attend are on VERY Large bodies of water and the boats spread out quickly.

I also agree that all the faster boats should go first.. Let them get out and blow off the Adrenaline they need to. I think it is way to unsafe to have the big Super Cats blow by the little guy.. He may hear them coming and move to the right or left to see them " rip by" ( as someone put)... and things happen too quick.. Send them out Fastest to Slowest.. The fast one can get to the card stops/ lunch quickest. Serve Lunch when the slow boats get there... Lets the Fast boats Refuel for the ride home... and tighten all the hardware they just loosened.

Just my .02

I should have included the Great Lakes when I said Open ocean, or just left it as Open water.....

No disrespect meant to the Great Lake Boaters.

I also have noticed that and really like that idea, with the speeds of the smaller boats cruising between 35-50 MPH for 95% of the run with short burst at WOT. This way you have more boats entering that wouldn't of entered normally and boat owners don't have to drive their boats at WOT. It would also be safer and save on expensive repairs if you try to push it at WOT for a prolonged period. If you detonate a drive or an engine, you will not likely to enter again.