We have a scale for our bipolar condition that this reminds me of. When we start our support group meetings everyone introduces themselves, tells what the diagnosis is of their condition (I am bipolar 1 with psychotic features) and rates their condition on a scale of 1 - 10. 1 means about to pull the trigger and commit suicide, 5 is pretty stable and ten is so manic that you are bouncing off the walls so much that it is a danger to society. I usually say I am a 3 and a 7 at the same time, but sometimnes a 2 or 3 and an 8, meaning depressed and pretty manic at the same time.

I think the bipolar scale just about covers my boat rides too. I am a nine while driving until something inevitably breaks and then I am a 2 or a 3 until I get the boat back on the trailer and then strangly enough I am a 7 just from looking at it on the trailer and remembering how much fun it is to drive.

I would like to say I am a six on Chris' great scale, but some people who see me running think I am crazy, which just happens to be true! I would like to think that those who have been out with me who know performance boats think I am a six, but part of my mental illness is delusions of grandeur after all :-) At least I don't jsut run WOT in any condition...

#5 has me written all over it.........

Doesn't make you a bad person!!!!

Yea, if Im not blowing engines or drives, I m not trying hard enough. Thats where the fun is, pushing it till they break.

Oh by the way, it helps to live up here in the great white north so you have all winter to fix everything you broke in the summer. Quess if I lived down south I might have a different attitude.

Owning an Apache is cheating, plain and simple. It lets you do things others can only fantasize about while watching Ben's old race videos and crying unconsolably. Nothing like catching a couple hundred feet of air off a rogue 12 footer at 90 mph.

I new a guy who did that...........had burnt lips most of the time...............m.m.......just joking.......I thought it was about keeping them running!!!!!!!!!mark.............

Tom, 1st lets clarify what the average boat cruises at... 23mph?
When I go out w/ friends, I cruise at 50, which is 4000rpm, which is 75% of wot 5500rpm. So I don't run at speeds which the average boater runs.
On the other hand... 50 is screaming fast for a non boater. Especially w/o a canopy, which your boat seems to have.
I won't run wide open all the time, that irresponsible to my engine and equipment.

BTW, do only run your boat during your manic swings? JK.

I run my boat to switch from depressed to manic. It works great! Then it breaks, I get depressed until it gets back on the trailer, then I get to a perfect slightly manic state with delusions of grandeur that I like very much. Boating is the only thing that no matter how depressed it takes me out of it.

Real depression is not something you can "snap out of" or "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" or "have a cup of coffee and get on with life" as so many people try to advise me of. Methamphetamine or lack of sleep for several days (actually sleep deprivation therapy is being researched as effective) might work, but the risk of going too manic is very high. Too manic is worse than depressed. Not only am I at risk of my own life, everybody around me wants to kill themself too just from putting up with me. www.bipolarinorder.org might help explain it more if you are interested.

Manic Depression has given me the ability to do great things in my life, or at least the delusion to think they were!

Tom to help me understand BP disorder better, I'll need pics of your boat.