I would think the skeg got broken as a result of the spin -- not the cause of the spin.

Too Old: Sorry for the confusion. I was refering to the "TURN at 90 mph" where he was. It is plenty wide for 90 mph in a straight line or even following the gentle bend of the lake, but not for a u-turn in a 46 foot cat, IMHO. No, I can't blame a broken skeg on the driver, but we all can blame stupid/dangerous driving on the driver. He was showing off for the crowd (and NONE of us have EVER done that). Went out East beyond view, turned around and did a fly by, trying to dial in his trim (by the changes to the rooster tail), and then the blow out happened. He was in the middle of the channel, and it was near dusk.


And you are close to right, the horny toad is at the 7 mile marker, near the apex of horse shoe bend.

My guess is that the broken skeg didn't cause the spin, it was a result of it.

I told you it was blow out.:D

H2OCowgirl and I was just approching the Horny Toad when Lick This was pulling out. We watched from the water as they ran down the lake a ways, then made a U turn and stepped on it. I to was watching the rooster tail change with trim adjustments as they set up for a flyby. Understand I am only speculating here, but it seemed he was in a perfect straight line when the boat "suddenly" veered hard and spun in a wall of water. I've seen cats make high speed turns, and they didn't look anything like this. If a skeg was broken, I would guess it was a result of the spin. If I was a bettin man, I'd say "somebody" sittin on somebodies lap accidently bumped a shifter into neutral?

Hey Gordo that accident happend out in front of the Horney Toad not in Party cove ;) ;)

Chart I think that there is plenty of room to turn a cat there, especially at that speed. However it is always when you are showing off that this stuff happens and if he said he was trying to make a turn there then he was definatly trying to show off. I would rather see him go by WOT then at 90, there were plenty of boats running that fast that had already gone past.

Jon

A few misc. thoughts:

- It did not look to me that he was going close to 90mph. I think you were being generous Jon, when you suggested 70mph in your first post.

- My experience is in v bottem boats, and ones slower than 90 mph. But even in one of them at wot, I probably would not have tried a u turn there. Keep in mind, he had at most 1/2 the channel to work with as he was middleish at the time. Don't cats require more realestate to turn than v's?

- I did not see the "start of a turn", but I was at water level out on the end of the dock at the time, and others were up at the bar, with a higher view point. I'll defer to them on this.

- Skater must build a heck of a hull to take that abuse and be able to limp off. I hope no one in the boat hurt anything more than their pride.

- How often do skegs break off in the water?

Jon, Fred, I respect both of you and always try to read threads you start, but it seems we are on different sides on this one. I have nothing against speed. (At LOTO about 10 years ago Arneson (sp?) blew by me in his turbine powered Skater at speed for the film crew in the helecopter trying to keep up with him, and it is one of my boating highlights). If in fact Lick This was trying to do a U turn, at highway speeds, in a big cat, that was not trimmed out well, in that location, then I do not think that would be prudent driving. All the evidence I saw suggested poor driving of the boat, followed by a PWC-like 180 that may or may not have been caused by equipment failure. But it was an impressive thing to see.

Rivergirl - for the record it is a flatdeck & canopied 46' Skater with Sterling 1300 HPs. A very reliable source told me it has run a best of approx 155 mph.

Kilokat: I have heard that same speed figure from some one that I also consider knowledgable about the boat. I guess first time out it only went 110-115:eek: :eek: Man set up on those things must be critical!!!!

Chart: I feel it was operator error due to the way the roostertail was all over the place on the pass. From what I have seen at the races they do not run big rooster tails except for when they start off. His came down the way I would expect it to then it went back up, lots of spray from the back of the boat and then a few seconds later they did their best immitation of a top.

The U turn occured well before the spin. When he spun, he was headed in a straight line.