Boatme and I definitely see eye to eye on this matter. I made it pretty clear in the other thread before I started receiving pm's... Back to lurking

Apparently some did not hear this

So I will repeat it for those that have there heads in the sand and are drinking the legal kool-aid

After the accident and subsequent lawsuit after the two deaths at Smoke On The Water Poker Run I had two sponsors (one that contributed a fair amount of money but more important provided many services for free) immediately call me and tell me they had to back away from our event due to the fact that they heard the lawyers were swarming. Others followed suit with questions concerns and comments like “I am sorry but we just can not expose ourselves to a lawsuit” Some has said Poker runs are different than races to that I say “get your ego out of the sand” when it comes to putting on an event we are all relatively the same and I have put on races as well as poker runs and I am here to tell you the mechanisms are very similar, not exactly the same, but close enough that the ramifications of suing sponsors will result in the same outcome FEWER SPONSORS!!!

Mike A was a so-called “Consultant” to the other lawyers that were directly involved in our lawsuit, and guess what sports fans, he did nothing directly with his involvement in the suits to help make offshore boating or poker runs safer.

I believe Mike A was also the Lawyer involved as the attorney for Tom Newby's ex wife. (Tom died in helicopter crash photographing a boat from the air). I was told that the legal system went after the boat manufacture, (Skater) the magazine company,(Powerboat Mag), the owner of the boat, (Bill Pyburn) The driver of the boat (Bob Teague) and finally the true guy at fault for the accident, the helicopter pilot and his company. Did this suit and the money that Toms wife recieved help make the sport of offshore boating, and the activity of action shots for magazines better ? NOPE!!! Did Mike A champion for better standards after the fact with his cut of the lawsuit?

Making our favorite sport better will come from lessons learned by those DIRECTLY involved and will come as a result of these tragedies and trying to make changes based on what WE in the sport have learned, not as a result of lawsuits looking for big money that make a few people wealthy and keep chipping away at the very small sport of offshore boating and racing.

Get your heads out of the sand people!!!! Do you hear the noise???? It is the slow sucking sound of sponsors going away and the sport losing one more piece of ground

I will say it yet one more time. The sport needs to be safer, and inquiry needs to be made to find answers to THREE deaths in Key west (Not just Joey) But it needs to be done by Coast Guard , local officials, and those active in the sport (racers,promoters,ect...) not by Lawyers who's true motivation is MONEY

Every time I start to think about putting on another race or Poker Run (I had been working with Charlie McCarthy on a long distance race) I hear the one ugly word that prevails in this sport, LAWYER and I think twice

Time to go find a row boat to sit on and watch from the cheap seats

Why do you think Pat is interested in this ???

He is a sponsor for a few events, and In talking to him the other day he is concerned about his involvement as a sponsor in the future

He is not the only sponsor that has reached out to me recently to discuss the ramifications of there involvement in sponsorship

Is this proof enough that the sponsors are watching ???

(Sorry Pat did not mean to toss you under the bus just needed a good example)

Interesting fact. There are more attorneys in Dade/Miami, Fl. than in the entire country of Japan. Since 90+ % of the lawmakers are attorneys, they make laws that allow themselves to suck a lifestyle out of other people's misery. As long as they make the laws, we are f&&&&d...........

Bravo!!!!!

For you guys (and girls) that think the the lawyers are always correct and “The Law States” is the final word. Consider this. Most of the waivers are constructed with the help of lawyers who say “This will protect you” then they are made irrelevant by another lawyer that says “This does not absolve you from liability”

I will keep screaming this till everyone understands IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY plain and simple. I will be willing to bet that this will never see a courtroom and will be SETTLED for money and POOF the issue will die, making the sport better will no longer be the issue. There will be NO AWARD by the court there will be a financial SETTLEMENT and then disappear. End of story

Where is Mike A in all of this? I am sure he is watching! Come on Mike, post in public (not pm's to individuals) Tell us you are in this suit pro bono and that every dollar settled for is going into making the sport safer. Then prove updates on where the settlement money has gone. Make me out to be wrong about the suspected motivation (I would love to be wrong about this)

For those that might say Mike A has better things to do than follow this on OSO, you are wrong! He has sent private messages responding to this to others. He is watching. So Mike come on and explain how a financial lawsuit will help the sport. Please educate me so I can be convinced my thoughts on this are wrong. I do not mind admitting I am wrong if I can be proven to be that

Come on Mike educate me as to why sponsors insurance companies are being pursued, and tell me how that will help the sport. I am a low educated individual, so some times things need to be spelled out for me. I am not afraid to post my information here, Can you do the same ??

This is a forum for discussion. I am not afraid to discuss, but I hate to be one sided in a debate, it is only good if two parties with information on both sides of the fence provide it for consideration

I have stated my side I respectfully request the other side

Hold your breath, it will be here any minute.

From what i hear, the air system on board worked, joey had a dual stage air system. While he was harnessed in the boat he was breathing off a large tank in the boat. Once he released his harness it disconnects the boat tank and he immediately starts breathing off his leg bottle. From what i heard joey disconnected his boat tank and the leg bottle only supplies a couple of minutes of air to get out of the boat. The rescue crew took 7-10 minutes to get to joey and by the time they got there his leg bottle had run out. it should never take rescue divers over 2 minutes to get to a flipped boat.