T2x

Adivan man....Good point, but my reply was aimed at an earlier respondent who said I was using 40 year old technology big blocks in my boat( my boat is outboard powered and the latest 2.5 liter race version was , in fact developed 3 years ago)... Actually, the engine is secondary to the builder/creator today for offshore use. Outboards must be spec'ed or created by Mark Beyer (Mercury's best kept secret), while Inboards not created by Mercruiser, Sterling, Professional Marine Racing, Zul, and VERY few others are highly questionable as power choices.

You are right that there is very little new under the offshore sun, but there are some elegant executions of older concepts..... and some "cookie cutter" formulaic products that look good , while performing in a highly mediocre or sub par way.

BODYSHOT1

T2x,

Thanks for the response!

Marty

Adivanman

t2x. I would agree with what most of what you said there. I would throw in the fact the recent offerings of big block mercruiser power (500efi and 496 particularly) are also only three or so years old. You are correct, development is neccessary for evolution.

I would add that though, that there are far more instances of mediocre operators than there are mediocre boats being produced. I would argue that offshore powerboating and high speed operation is more dangerous due to operator inexperience that poor hull execution. Lets be honest, a first time boat owner should not have 2000HP and go 90 mph - cat or V.

T2x

Twin29 and Adivan: Kudos to both of you for identifying the real bottom line.... There are an inexcuseable number of 80 plus mile an hour boats in the hands of novices, alcoholics, and egomaniacs....and some novice alcoholic egomaniacs all in one. There are probably no more than 250-300 people in the entire country who can truly handle a fast boat. While there have been "boot camps", even those did not offer 100 plus mile per hour cats or vees. Unless you have crashed at these speeds, one cannot imagine how fast things go dreadfully wrong.
In a tunnel boat race some years ago, I hooked in a turn and went through the cockpit shroud and into the water like a torpedo....no big deal...except, I left a fully tied (tightly) sneaker nestled on the throttle pedal...without my foot in it....Now that's a SUDDEN Stop. When racing, I knew the risks, tried to keep acceptable limits on myself (never drive at 10/10ths unless absolutely required...and never for long periods). While certainly not the best tunnel racer in history (Actually I'm honorable mention in the "middle of the pack with quirky sense of humor" section), I did have numerous skills honed from a career that started in my pre teen years...and still I had accidents..... Baja says "Speed changes you"( and it seems to have affected "High" Tide)but in reality when used foolishly... Speed Kills.

I had a helmet, a ballistic vest, and a life jacket on, and there was an ambulance at all races. Joe Clueless with his supercharged dupersupercraft barrel rolling 3 miles offshore with the wife and kids on board has no such safety precautions, nor any clue of what he might be doing wrong...until it is far too late. The average pleasure boater/Poker Runner has no protective gear, frequently sharp edges and objects in the cockpit (think auto focus camera in the face at 100 mph...followed by the color TV from the cabin) and worst of all no concept of the prescription for disaster at his control...... And then he spins his drives in because "some guy told him that another guy thinks that a famous guy says that a top builder endorses"....... on his stylishly "step bottomed boat".....and you begin to understand the source of T2x's ire.

Sadly, I've lost too many close, close friends on too many occasions, and know first hand what the stakes are. To date they have died, for the most part, in vain.....because I still see the same errors that killed them repeated in racing and performance boating today...

Just "Keepin the Faith"

T2x

NICKSLICK

On this board, I often read of guys eeaking out every last mph, and of boats that bust a 100...

My 1978 SCARAB 300 has a pair 502's and TRS 330 DRIVES, and on a good day, I can almost hit 68mph.

When I do this, it scares the living hell out of me.

Its alot of fun, but man, I can only hit it for a few seconds before I back down.

I only boat in the open ocean, and even on the calmest of days, sometimes a wave will come out of no where. On a few occasions, I have almost lost control, and on a few other occassions, I have had to slowly power off and come to a stop, to see if my engines were still in the boat.

This is my first true hi perf boat, and I plan on taking my time before trying to go any faster.

Lets all be careful...

My 2 cents.

Nick

Ron P

Nick, to let you in on a secret. All along the east coast we have bays. All these super speeds are done in the bay not the ocean. I doubt you will find anyone hitting 100 in the open ocean.

pullmytrigger

when I first got into the performance boating scene it was an eye opener to me the speeds and the things people were doing in their boats with basically nobody around. I mean, we used to do 130 140 but we had an ambulence, medical personal and sometimes even a helicopter on the site.....if you bailed, corner workers were there before you even stopped going "ass over tea kettle"(my father) and the maximum response time for the ambulence was about 4 minutes..... people still thought we were crazy. Something real bad happens even a mile or two offshore.....who even knows your there? and the water thing.....Get knocked out cold from a crash (been there).....on dry land, at least you could lie there till you came to....in water?.... The limited 10/10ths rule is a good one....Poker Run safety....in my view marginal at best....huge fields of boats spread out over miles and miles, slow response time for medical, if they even know youve crashed....not the organizers fault.....best bet,'Slow er down to 90' there Johnny T.....But the thing that pisses me off the most is.... You got guys driving around in their boats acting like *******s,cutting people off, blasting through no wake zones, cat or vee, 60mph or 160,doesnt matter,people rolling their big vee, people stuffing 5 miles offshore.....If you hurt yourself because your stupid I realy dont have a lot of sympathy for you, but the part that really pisses me is pretty soon you got some politicians going....."John...we really must have a look at these....what do you call them?....Oh Yes.....High..Performance..Boaters....Yes John....They are hurting themselves....and the Public....I think we should set up a commitee...or maybe a task force....to have a look at them" SCARY... Its as much your sport as it is anyone elses because when "John" the politican comes we will all get thrown into a great big bucket called 'High Performance Boaters'

Hustler 26

T2x or twin29 what is the 10/10th rule?Also what is the function of a ballastic vest. Thanks.

[ 09-27-2001: Message edited by: Hustler 26 ]

pullmytrigger

26- 10/10ths is as the English put it....running 100%,completly flat out, or (WFO) The vest, in the event of a crash prevents things from piercing right through you thanks for listening

Hustler 26

twin29 thanks for the response.