Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I was watching the Fort Lauderdale race this weekend and was thinking about the race teams.

Would you rather have a seperate throttle man or driver, or run the throttles and drive yourself.

I really have never seen any real reason to split it up. It's definitely more dangerous to have to rely on someone elses driving or throttle skills no matter how good they are.

A very experienced ex racer friend of mine agreed the he would rather handle the boat himself if he were to do it again.

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Having never raced, I really can't give an opinion, but I'm not going to miss the opportunity to post whore a little!! :drink: :evilb:

I think that I would rather throttle and drive, but have someone else operating the trim or at least the tabs. I'm sure that any way that it's done...would take alot of seat time together to learn each others tendencies.

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Being a former racer, both cats and vees, twin and triple engine applications, I would most definitely prefer to have one person drive, while the other throttles. Having 2 hands on the wheel at all times while running at those speeds so close to others is of paramount importance for safety and control!

It would not be surprising to me whatsoever if many of the accidents you see today in pleasure boats running at speed is due to the nature of someone trying to do it all him or herself. You simply do not have enough arms, eyes and fingers to operate the wheel, throttles, trim tabs and drives correctly and safely doing it yourself.

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

AGREED

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

i would say it depends on the boat. the faster the boat, the more i would lean towards two guys running it.... the extra set of eyes is probably a big help as well... of course i have never raced, so that is just my .01 worth... :D

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I ran the drive trim and tabs on Gary's boat a couple times in FL, and it worked well after a little syncronization curve. The sticks were installed for the throttle, but they were connected to the driver's side sticks.


However, having side-by-side bolsters on Monsoon; I prefer to drive and throttle the boat, and have a Throttle-Woman with her hands on my main stick. :D :D :D

I fully expect GLH to prefer a throttle-man in that position. Maybe even tomtbone. :eek: :eek: :drink: :drink:

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I know the guy with pair-a-dice does both.. he has a foot throttle

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

There is no way to throttle and drive safely at race speeds, period. I would never run the speeds that BK and I run alone. The first thing that he taught me and probably Shane too was "both hands on the wheel and grip tight....never let go of the wheel". BK's advice was correct the first time we tripped and stuck the front end of the boat and 80mph in 5 footers. The pull on the wheel was huge!! I think alot of egos say that they can do both as well but it is just not the case. I also have been shown that an experienced throttleman can tweak a few extra mph out of the boat that I was not able to find. I would encourage anyone with dual controls to let an experienced throttleman take them for a ride in their own boat..... it will be an education!!

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I have done it both ways on the race course and prefer a throttleman and a driver. Doing both has gotten me in trouble.

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

dont know about the new stuff but in the obsolete boat i run 2 people in harmony are the way to go key word being harmony......i throttle with my left hand........drive with my right........trim with my right letting go of the wheel momentarily.can hold it with my leg............but wheel stays put.......maybe thats what got skrocki nervous was me letting go of the wheel to trim.............it was sloppy that day............m.m................

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

dhlaw,

I concur. BK, Ben Kramer...uh I mean Bruce Kreimeier is a GREAT THROTTLEMAN. He taught me a tremendous amount about driving vee bottoms. Until racing with Bruce I had only raced cats. I felt insanely comfortable running with him. He is extremely talented and ironically speaks little about his racing experiences or ailities but rather let's his skills stand on their own. I too don't believe that running a boat at high speeds can be done as safely with a foot throttle as it can by having compitent driver and T-man.

Have a great season with Bruce! :cool:

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

What we ultimately strive for is non-verbal communication in the cockpit....... I can tell when he is ready to turn by the feel coming back into the wheel b/c of the drives coming down, the tab changes and the engine noise. BK and I are close to having that level of confidence but I still have to be told at times what is happening or to settle down. Its amazing that he can control the boat so well from the left side, but he does. I remember my first race and the boat starting to chine walk and me trying to counter steer to no avail..... Bk just chopped the sticks for a split second, settled the boat and raged on. The difference between poker running and racing is enormous....... Until you have pushed the limits with somebody who is experienced you have not really run an offshore boat!!!

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Sounds like racing boats is like sex.......you can do it yourself, but having a partner makes much more sense!!!! :evilb: :D

(and both are cool to watch!)

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

:D :D :D :D

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

lets see........, setting the attitude, timing the waves, settling the boat, steering over confused waves, looking forward, behind you, to each side of you, holding on, trimming the tabs, trimming the drives, throttling...........easier at low speeds, but...........

at over 80 mph in 4-6' seas and beyond........only two people can do it safely.....key word.....SAFELY!

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

The other thing that I forgot to mention is that you have $70,000 worth of motors singing along at 5300rpm....... its good to have somebody minding the guages to avoid major malfunctions. Drops in oil pressure, high water temps , irregular tach readings, ect if caught can save big dollars.... I cant even see the guages nor would I even look!!!

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

damn, forgot that myself, watching the guages can be a full time job.......2 oil pressure, 2 fuel pressure, 2 water temps, 2 oil temps, 2 knock sensors......forget about the tachs!

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

water pressure guage will give you notice prior to overheating.........good investment in any boat..................m.m. carry on......

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I definitely see the point in it. I was just wanting to hear from some of the racers. I wasn't sure if some teams had both because it's required, or if they really prefer being split.

I NEVER would compare a poker run to racing. I personally do the runs for the party and hanging out with other folks. There are some that do them purely to be the big dog. Whatever floats your boat, but poker runs ain't racing. :drink:

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

I think alot depends on the boat. For me, my 24 skater really needs one on the wheel and one on the sticks.

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

It's all about the water conditions........

In calm water...... on a tight course.... a single driver....with a foot throttle...and trim on the steering wheel...(you shouldn't need tabs in calm water)...... will walk away from a driver/throttleman duo.

In rougher water ...you need hands on the throttle to pull back as the props leave the water..... at that point a second person becomes an asset.....(He can also handle trimming the drives)...

We fooled around with an electronic kill switch on the wheel to mimic full-on/full-off throttling (leaving total control in one man's hands even in rough water)and that still has a lot of potential IMHO

In all three scenarios two hands on the wheel is a must.

The wild card here is that most top throttlemen...are also better drivers than most of the guys they team with. (not all ...but most) So a Johnny Tomlinson or a Joey Imprescia is going to do a lot better as a single driver...than Charlie Checkbook.

T2x

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Yahh but.... no bucks no Buck Rodgers...

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Two people, IMHO, no question about it!

The driver should be looking further down the course maybe 100 yards or so. The T-man should be looking closer to the bow, reading the waves trying to get a rythym going.

Bottom line is in rough water a single operator is going to sacrifice his driving skills to throttle properly OR sacrifice his throttling skills to drive properly. Either way, DON'T DO IT! (Or let me know if you are so I can stay away from you on the race course!)

Tom Caruso
Total Marine Racing

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

TSG,
I wish more people thought like you. I cant tell you how many runs I have been to and been passed by 33 footers with 6 people on board chine walking by at 95mph!! I just cant bring myself to be reckless like that.... maybe because I have experienced how quickly and violently things can go wrong........

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

The Pair-a-dice team runs with a split heel toe foot throttle with trim switch on the wheel. also in rough or calm water during a race you can not run the speeds we do without both hands on the wheel at all times
See you at the races,
Rick

www.pair-a-dice-racing.com

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

you mean that is not how they are suppose to run?

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Plus in rough water can you see yourself throttling the boat making sure that you don't blow the drives, watching the guages, trimming down the motors in the turns, searching for the next turn buoy, checkin your mirrors, and turning the boat all at the same time while whoopin up on the competition?


If this were drag racing it would be a different story but in "OFFSHORE" powerboat racing they split up the driver and throttleman for a reason and that is because one can't do it all. (and win)

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

HMMM...Bob Nordskog used to do it ALL with a custom foot-throttle in his stand up boats, trim buttons on steering wheel....navigator navigated (remember how to do that?), worked the tabs, & kept an eye on the gauges...Nowadays you don't need to look at the gauges if you set them up with idiot/warning lights...navigator???!!!Who needs a navigator on the type of course's they run today???...lol...I set all my perf boats up with pedals & trim on the wheel (or a seperate trim pedal)...I prefer it this way...But I'm pretty coordinated...lol

Re: Throttle man, or no throttle man
 

Perhaps in today's version of "offshore," where a race last less than an hour and covers less than 50 miles, one GOOD person could handle both jobs. Same for poker-runs.

But when races were more than 150 miles, I doubt that many people could maintain enough concentration to do it properly over several hours. I sure couldn't.

Of course, ther are exceptions like Bob Nordskog. Heck, even Alan Feingold proved he could do it alone (as in, completely by himself in the boat) in Key West in Kid Apache (1990), after he got pissed off at his crew and left without them. :drink: :drink: