PRCK!!!!!!!!!

You were goin to steer this year!! Back outside seat for you pal.

Hope your boat is back together. Wash down comin up in June!

GRAMPS

In the hands of a less experienced driver a cat can get really ugly even at slower speeds.

If you are talking 100+, you are hauling azz and it doesn't matter... you can screw up just as easy in either.

I prefer V hulls because I don't like the flat turning, and if you get caught in the really rough stuff the V always wins. Cats do run very smooth up until a certain point, then you are hosed.

You might want to check on that assertation with the super cat guys. They usually run very fast in some very rough water.

I'm surprised you didn't say "it's the head locker for you" :evilb:

At the rate my parts NEVER seem to show up, I'll be lucky to have my cat running by August :(

ps, I could have my "steering hand" ready by early June :D

Told you over and over to get your parts from some place other than Walmart.

mmmmmm really BIG Daddy , Lost a few engines at 100 plus and no crashes yet (knock on wood ) :cool-smiley-011:

How bout .......NO!..... Have you been to an offshore race lately?

Hey now, if I could have gone to WallyWorld for parts, they would have been here by now :)

See, that's the kind of valuable information you can get from OSO. I never would have known that. But then again, I doubt I will ever find myself in front of a cat in a Poker Run...:D:D:D

Tank's video at Desert Storm contradicts this statement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLqhnaYzPXQ

Guy is running 170 and loses a motor with no drama.....

Other posters have mentioned that cats take a long time to slow down. How else can cats get ugly (in a way that Vs don't)?

Been in both go-fast hulls and chose a v due to maneuverability, it always seemed like a v could turn easier and more safely than a cat. That accounts for alot on our smaller lakes when you find an idiot running on the wrong side coming around a turn. No doubt a cat could handle the big chop better than my step hull, but I'll beat him in the turns. Just got to hang with them long enough in the straight aways to get to the turns, lol:p

That's what freaked me about about the accident, good driver, lots of race experience, then all done.

Then flip and it's all done.

I've been in plenty of "oh s**t" moments in my V but it always lands on it's feet and keeps on going.

Was that video the Chicago Poker Run last year? We were in water just like running 110 in a cat.

That video was the Chi town run! Just found the link. So you are saying that cats can not run fast like a big v in the rough. Seems like that big v was having a lot of problems in the rough. We were floating along for a nice ride with the front runners (cats). It gets old hearing how great V's are in the rough and cats can not run. Watch an offshore race.

A Big vee will land transom-first pretty much by itself. That is, unless you tab it down so badly, then power off the top of a big roller. Cats fly pretty much level. In big water, it's easier to stick the bow in and "stuff". Depending on the speed you're running, it can be an experience that ranges from wettening to damaging to lethal. It used to be that vees were safer, but when they started adding steps and such, that started to change.

It's not so much which is safer but how fast is too fast to have a chance of escaping uninjured and unbroken. This has quite a bit to do with driver skill and experience and ALOT to do with that individual's judgement. Some people who have spent lifetimes at high speeds are now dead from their comfort levels at speed and minor lapses in judgement.

I was just watching that Desert Storm clip where the guys broke at 160- they were still headed upstairs when it broke. I couldn't help but notice they were going 170 in fairly close proximity to land and other boats in a open-cockpit boat. They're wearing ball caps and what look to be mini-vests. Often times your own choices and actions dicatate the outcome.

No, I haven't seen an offshore race in years. The water is lighter than it's ever been in today's offshore racing.

The new big cats run better on bigger water than ever before, but there is still a point where it all goes the crap. So, now they handle 4-6 footers well at speed. How about 10 footers?

It's the basic design of the hull that causes the problem, and the basic design can't be changed or it won't be a cat anymore.

36' Spectra. I thought it had 575SC Merc's. I had the Tampa news clipping on it. Possible blowover? Driver and two passengers. Both passengers basically unhurt. Did they ever find the Driver?

Sorry your wrong there buddy .. that thinking went out with the hoola hoop 30 yrs ago .. i raced a little 28 skater with 2 outboards in 10 footers in ocean city maryland and ran just as well if not better than art lilly in his 33 fountain with twin 7oo's... cat technology today far surpasses what a v can do .. just a fact

The gap has narrowed so severely because all these deep vees have been laid up potato chip thin and light. Physics is physics, boys. Either you move or the water does. Technology has absolutely nothing to do with it.

And I wouldn't do too much bragging about rough-water duels with a Fountain. :)

He had 1400 hp to our 560hp he was also the b class national and world champion that yr.

I've had many v's and many cats the main difference is that a well set up cat floats over the waves while a v slams off them .... big difference... thats technology! :D

As I've said before the only reason that a 120 mph vee is safer than a 120 mph cat of equal length is because most "120 mph vees" ........do about 80.:p

T2x

now thats good, ha ha

Good one ! :D

+1


I'd love to see pictures of the race with 10 footers. I have never seen a race run in 10 foot seas, and didn't know one was ever run. Closest I've seen is maybe the apache challenge. sloppy but well under 10 feet.

Brad
Good luck in those big rollers doing 110!
By the way I think you did an outstanding job on your MTI.
Ed

Grand Haven Michigan in '85. Copeland had his Popeye's 50 aluminum Cougar and Gentry had his 48' wooden Cougar. Average speed was in the low 60's. The boats disappeared inside the swells.

Theres no way you've been in "real" 4-6' seas with a 26 cat and tried to run. Maybe a little faster than idel and just keep the bow into it. As for the 32 Fountain, its a great lake or bay boat but not designed for that either.

In real 4-6' stuff you need at least a 38 TG or a 42 Fountain.

As for cats, I just don't like the ride. To me they feel "floaty", like they aren't stuck to the water. Been over 120 in a V and 156 in a cat. (yes t2, really over 120 in V w/ Mr. Fountain :))

Technology is progressing almost daily at places like this.

http://www.stevens.edu/press/media/0...vandenberg.mpg

No disrespect Brad but the Chicago run in 2006 had bigger seas and all Cats stayed in until afternoon run including you.

Here is a similar question asked here.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=149820

Some found this question to be Dumb (Thanks T2x:grinser010:).

However Parnell I feel answered it the best!

Here is his response.

KR

Ocean city maryland 1992 US offshore ...20-30 mph winds, raining and they cancelled the f boats. Reggie stuffed his 42 fountain (ohio Steel ) going out of the inlet (lots of fun in a canopied 28 skater) I'm sure jeff from freeze frame has some footage

Nice!

they have done it several times in Class 1.... they have cancelled practices before for 20 foot seas though.

Nice rooster tail action ! :cool-smiley-011:

Nice Shots ! :cool-smiley-026:

Sean
That is rough water, but it is not 10' seas. I give those cat guys a lot of credit to even try and run that water.
I have seen 38' Cigarette's running true 6' plus water with the occasional scary 8' underneath the Verrazano bridge heading out into the Raritan bay in a howling headwind. It is something to see, but God help them if the waves spread a little and they fall in the trough.
Ed

didn't say those pics were, but they do race in that when they race around england and norway... those were just some pics i had handy.

the race this weekend in ftl was 5-7's according to SBI, and the 32 ft outboard cats ran nearly as fast as the 40 ft supervees.

Gerry
I respect Parnell's opinion........absolutely!
I would love to see a 40' Skater go by Kemosabe in true 8' plus seas. I would be very impressed by that feat.
Ed