Wow, glad I'm a week-day boater. It gets down right lonely on the Great Lakes! My 22' boat can run 85+. I can cruise at 80 in good conditions. It's scary but quite predictable when I hit a rogue wave. We wear vests and I the tether and I have an orange waterproof case with emergency gear and electronics. Any speed can be dangerous.

So to answer your question of "when is fast too fast?". Never when it's on the open water. It's an adrenaline rush that I need to stay somewhat sane!!

Its 'too fast' when the operator doesnt have the seat time with the specific boat they are operating, and the proper amount of respect for the speed they are going.

Had a buddy with a fountain many years ago, boat was doing in low 80's, he had about four seasons in the boat, and was good with it. He got in someones hydrostream one day and within two minutes of being behind the wheel, doing no where near 80, he had enough and wanted to go back in, something about the boat freaked him ....but he knew it right away and he knew not to push it.

So many variables in a boat.....size, power, steps, not steps, single, dual, props in, props out, etc, etc......each change is a learning curve, and it all depends on operator experience at the end of the day. If I were a passenger in a Skater with Teague driving and doing 130 mph, I would probably feel safer then being in a 17' Whaler with some of the knuckleheads I see at the ramp on a sunday

Hey, that means I can hang! :)

Hopefully i'll run into you on the water sometime this season. I'd like to check out your Carrera

[QUOTE=RunninHotRacing163.1;3364767]Yes I have, although I dont know that I've done so at 200 mph. With that said, I cant believe you're comparing going 200 mph on water to going 200 mph in the air, it's not even remotely close to apples to apples!!! You cant tell me you get the same pucker factor going 400 mph in a jet (at 30,000') as you do 'just' going 163 mph on the water...

I started running them in a 40-45mph boat and had just as much fun..
here is one run last year
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...&id=1337757563

[QUOTE=SS930;3364799] Scot i've done 200 mph in a car,205 mph on a bike, 163.1 mph in the boat,280 Knots in the plane , and whether its on water,air ,or land brutha Ch!t can happen at any time we have no say so or control over .. they dont put a 4cyl in a Lambo cause someone may buy one that is'nt on top of his game and speed savy :grinser010:

Lots of good input on here.

The fact is that the "Offshore boats" will always get the blame even if its not our fault. There are a much higher percentage of boating problems in the other catagories. So we should start thinking about it before "the man" does.

Flying vs boating. I have to agree with SS930. Not saying flying is easy. You just don't see average people buying super sonic speed planes, stealth fighters, putting twin turbos on their cessna, etc! Imagine if people spent the weekends "cruising the sky, airplane poker runs, "tieing up" in large groups in the sky while some drunk show off does a fly by! Sky divers jumping from all directions (ie tubers and jet skiers)

If you look at cars the sports cars and "speed" always get blammed. Look at what the police enforce, speeding! Not grandma driving to slow, people on their phones, or the person merging onto the freeway who thinks they actually have the right away and everyone better "let" them in.

We all should work as a team now before someone does it for us.

Well traction control, ABS,speed limiters etc etc..you get the picture...

I know firsthand What gets taken off for example a (Oreca) Viper GTS or a Lambo Gallardo when you take them to the FIA GT races as I´ve been a chief mech for both.
A Funny note way back was when different tuning companies had no trouble taking off the 160mph speed limiter on the E Class Merc but just a few could bypass the one that kicked in at 195... Brabus was one that managed and guaranteed a top speed of 226 from their 7.3 V12 E-Class.

Smoking toiler paper again ..what was that...??
Daredevil is the Junkie but do not tangle me with those antics. I smoke only Cigars and drink stuff that rat can´t handle or afford.

This thread seems to be going two different directions.

One is traveling too fast in somewhat congested areas. This is typically on lakes and rivers, although that's not always the case. Some idiot doing stupid things whether at 60 or 130 mph. Big brother will eventually step in if the tree huggers have their way...

The other is just traveling too fast on water in general and the speed these pleasure boats are becoming capable of. What I'm talking about here is an average Joe with a big wallet can pretty much walk in and buy an open cockpit boat with 4000 hp strapped under his azz. There will always be some yahoo with cash in his pocket wanting the biggest, baddest, and fastest. At some point were are going to see real speed related disasters... How close are we, or are we here today?

There are so many variables to this question.
I agree without any "outside variables", top speed safety is relative to the driver's ability, the set up in the boat, and water conditions.
The other problem we face is the outside variables. We can control some of this to an extent. When we are running for fun, it is exactly that, fun. Be courteous, throttle back in crowded areas and remember we are the ones that will get the finger pointed at first! As for poker runs, the same thing applies. Also in poker runs, we in NJ have moved our big run to Friday and basically have the bay and ocean to ourselves. We have self imposed speed limits, strict safety rules that we abide by, and even police escorts through some of the most congested areas. Once we hit the open ocean, then it is throttles down away from Joe Public.

The "outside variables" we can't control are:
the idiots who don't follow the rules, have little to no experience, and/or drunk.
the family that has far too many people crammed on to their boat and decide to stop for no reason in the channel.
the jet-skis and tubers that cut aimlessly through the channel in front of us.

The reality is too fast is all about balancing our fun with safety. We all know the risks involved with going 70, 120, 180+ mph on the water and we are willing to take those risks. Their are our close friends, navigators, spouses, etc. who are willing to do the same.

It is when anyone on our boat or around our boat is unknowingly put in a position where their safety is compromised by our actions. That is when we are going too fast.