How Fast is 180 mph?
 

Something to consider, http://boatermouth.com//index.php?vi...ntent&Itemid=8.

We seem to toss this number around pretty casually these days.

Sage words of advice Matt! In a day and time where just about any idiot with money can buy a boat that will run 150 MPH, many people forget that you need a hell of a lot of water and a hell of a lot of experience to do this kind of thing safely. Even pros like JT are getting worried. That says a lot.

I remember what an APBA offical told me years ago when we were having a friendly discussion about the requirments for Lifeline PFD's in the old A class. He told me that you can roller skate on water at about 60 MPH. At two or three times that, very bad things can happen. And throw alcohol into the mix ...

AMEN Brother!

264 feet per second.... DAMN

At least for me, running 150 is completely different than running 180+....

180ish I feel like I do right before a moto looking at the starting gate, a nervous energy.

I applaud everyone who runs big numbers. It is not easy and damn sure not cheap.

Yup,,thats why I am still amazed they can get away with running 140-150mph on poker runs on public lakes without closing off the course. At that speed all it takes is some joe blow bozo to cut across with 10 kids on his pontoon boat in front of a group of 140mph boats to end poker runs as we know them..

(at 140mph your still covering 200ft per second)

You scare me.... LOL.

Yep, seems like every 10 mph after 120 gets a bit more edgy. Of course IMO 170 in 31' of boat is just plan crazy. Even seeing Olsen run 170 in 33' in not so optimal water made me wonder when do you call it good.

No doubt, that 31 would get awful small at those speeds. :eek:

Gary is very good at reading the water or the wind conditions. I trust him completely, so if he wants to run, we run. If you even tap the trim postive, and I do mean TAP the button, or anything else for that matter at those speeds, it makes a big change. I called Johnny T last year and picked his brain about running that fast. He had great advice for me. He is the man for sure.

Havasu isn't ready for what Predator has under the hatch this year. :drink:

So true, Gary understands conditions. He's one of few I would trust in almost any water. But you still scare me... :eek:

I made a similar comment about a month ago when people were talking about goldigger, saying it only does 150, my response was "only"?...since when is 150 slow?

Nobody is safe at ballistic speeds.....

There are a few guys (maybe 6)who have an enormous skill set, coupled with whatever experience one can gain at above 150, but nobody can honestly say that they have it "covered"....... The fact is the more time you spend at those speeds, the more the odds stack up against you.

T2x

100% agree T2X and Thank you Matt, It was great to read a point of view from the best

Scotty B

Too Fast?
 

You are right on Matt. Like most of us here on OSO, I have been performance boating a long time and watched the speeds go up and up. Sometimes I amaze myself at the speeds we cruise at, but the boats of today feel so much more stable, I find myself forgetting we are running in the three digits. I remember when you ran 100mph, you were really sweating and holding on for dear life and you had really done something special. Not anymore! I just bought a boat that runs 130mph with stock power and this same boat was run at 177mph by the owner of the company with slightly more power. I wonder if there is a limit where we will start to fly. But it sure is a great feeling to have that kind of power at your fingertips. How exhilarating! I ran a Lambo at 170 through the dessert near Vegas and it felt so fast. It boggles my mind to think about the fact that boats are running this fast and staying in the water. I hope will do not keep pushing the edge until someone is hurt. After all, these are pleasure boats, aren’t they?

I had my corvette up to 165 on a flat road, every tiny bump wanted to pitch me all over, my eliminator feels like a ballistic missle at 90 I couldnt even imagine doubling that

Find a better road,ha ha.... In seriousness you are very correct, while on a road you have the option of braking when spooked, in a boat at 150 there is no brake and conditions can change instantly.

yea 150 in a my mustang and you feel every little thing plus the road doesn't look near as wide at that speed either.:eek: I can't imagine the feel of 150 on the water...i have only been 80mph and that is nothing these days. reading that article really make me stop and think about the respect and cation you have to have while operating one of these machines at speed!!!

I remember a few years back at a particular poker run the Capt's meeting had a minute about the 1-2 boats running over 100. Fast forward just 3 years and I sat in the SAME meeting and the COAST GUARD officer was discussing the OVER 160 GROUP. :eek::party-smiley-004:

I whould guess the bigger the boat the safer you'd feel:confused:I can't Imagine 180 sick speed car or boat:eek:

I had a convertible mustang that wanted to wreck itself anything over 110. 120 felt like the car was going to start doing doughnuts.

That said, 185mph on 1-94 on my bike felt really, really nice...

I've never been over 80 in a boat, but I can't wait to join the +100 club. I can't even imagine what the +140 club would feel like.

I had the pleasure of running on the autobahn at 265kph (165 mph) from south of Heidelberg to Frankfurt in about 45 minutes... I basically never lifted off the floor... after a while the sensation of speed became almost surreal.. I can't imagine that in a boat... and needless to say I was pretty well physically and more so, emotionally spent when I was done...

that said, I would do it again in a second..

i just need to use the water to get my fix here on this side of the pond...

Well I have only been in a car at those speeds. 172 MPH at Datona and that little bump in the 4th turn felt like the car was gonna fly off the road.

Just can not imagine what 180 feels like when you hit a 2' chop.

Water force or pressure vs speed:
50mph = 36psi
75mph = 81psi
100mph = 145psi
125mph = 226psi
150mph = 326psi
175mph = 443psi
200mph = 579psi !!!
Think about it!

Its extremely fast......we all know that....

in a cat the faster you go the sensation that the water is causing the boat to react is replaced by the sensation of flight. it's kinda spooky when you feel the boat start to be influenced more by the wind than the water!

The drag boat guys figured it out years ago. They were going past 200 decades ago and many died. They came to a conclusion that crashes were going to be frequent and have perfected capsules to give the drivers a decent chance of survival. I got hooked on performance boats years ago in a blown flatbottom. Started racing it at age 15. My dad and I put it together and I drove most of the time. I learned a lot about the "edge". To know where the edge is you have to approach it. The only way in my opinion to learn 200 mph boat driving is in the controlled setting of racing where boats are enclosed with all available safety equipment and emergency support. We dabbled in it for a while and came to realize all to many of the really pro people were getting killed. I knew I wasn't willing to take such a great risk.
Now break away capsules have saved many drivers. The break away design is something I think that the offshore boats should consider after analyzing the failures that killed the Class 1 drivers recently.
Matt's point is exactly right. Not many people have been there and it is incredible that pleasure type boats can achieve this speed. This speed requires a whole new level of skill set that I hope the owners take time to master......
I had dinner with Bob Teaque last Fall. He told me he rides in the boat with no one. If he's in the boat he's going to be driving....Think he's well aware of the risk.

i just wonder if collectively one day boat manufacturers and engine builders will say thats fast enough......they did with the superbikes after they rolled out suzuki hayabusa which went insanely fast. now i no these 2 environments are oceans apart :party-smiley-004: as far as making comparisons,way to much $$$ in the boating bus not to continue to push the envelope but man im actually surprised there havent been more accidents whike running in the triple digits.

really cool reading the thoughts from you guys who can run that fast, gives me white knuckles just thinking about running at 150 and then seeing a few large waves from a monster yacht that just rolled by a couple minutes before. do u even have time to react ..........:eek:

Paintman,
About waves, I always assume there could be one so I never drive faster than I am comfortable crossing one unless I know there's not one there. How do I know?. I will cruise down the lake observing conditions, if it looks good, I will turn around and drive the same path back and let it rip. If I see much traffic especially PWC's it is a no go.

I am also very picky about where we go real fast and if there are other boats or jet ski’s around we back off. At 100+, stuff comes at you so fast. I don't think people on the waterways ever think about a boat approaching at these speeds, so they don't look that far out. I always think about who is with me and who is on the other vessel we are overtaking. The wave that comes out of nowhere is alway the one I worry about. You ask yourself, what made that roller?

I'm still thinking about that guy going 170 through the dessert.

Been around Daytona 100's of times on motorcycles, you should go though 4 on a 180+hp F-USA bike. Trap speed at the line was 186-191 depending on draft, the front wheel is off the ground for a while over that bump in 4, about the time you think you are going to hit the wall you get the front back on the ground.Do that lap after lap never gets boring. Been right around 200 on some turbo Busa'a and ZX14's, and 180's in some race cars. Allmost everytime on a track, I have no real need to go over 100ish in a boat, not with people on it or other people not knowing whats going on around them. Just not worth the risk for me anyway in a 250k-1.mil in a boat, I can jump on a 10k motorcycle get my fix then go relax on my boat and not crash it.

I had my supercharged Viper GTS at 192 mph on Interstate 91 in CT...Fastest I have ever been in a car! Was looking for 200 but ran out of room which if I hadnt backed out of it probably would have offed myself...Tough decision but the right one! Al

Yup.... went up another 10mph but I didn't feel like taking a picture then! You do need the right tools and circumstances...

+1. I've only GPS'd 147 on my ZX-10R, but a bike feels good at speed. Well, the wind buffets your head around a bit on that bike, even tucked in, but it tracks great. There is nothing like a bike for cheap speed. And the road still feels nice and wide.

Kudos to you FAST boaters. I'm stuck at 75, but still loving the sensation. :drink:

The best I've done w/my Yamaha R1 is 167 on gps had more to go, then cars started to appear and backed off. I can't watch the speedo at that speed, to much going on around me.

Nothing in Excess -Everything in Moderation?
 

I think Matt's thread here on ever increasing boat speeds is timely and very important for the future of the performance boating sport and industry.
I believe the big looming problem and sleeping dog here is that at these speeds in boats today there is almost NO ROOM FOR ERROR!
or untimely conditions as some here have mentioned.
At moderate high speeds in a lot of recreational performance boats and were probably only talking 90 mph or so a recipe for disaster is in process almost most of the time on most of the waterways and lakes and its many times just Luck that more serious crashes and incidents don't occur.
Most of the time the 150-180mph capable larger performance boats are being operated or driven by some highly skilled, careful, and capable people.
Its the fact that just through DOCK TALK and Forum conversation and such more and more boaters are being offered the boats and equipment that allow them to reach these higher speeds, many times without the proper skill sets, training or reason to realize that it does take special conditions, special experience, certain type and place for these speeds and yes, a good amount of luck to prevent a boating disaster!
Luckily the design, strength and capability of these new boats helps in reaching these speeds and the large costs tend to prevent just EVERYBODY in the sport from running at these speeds.
My point here is that if we over glorify and keep huge speed as a major reason for performance boating WE WILL KILL THIS SPORT!
As more big speed boats are made available to novice owners and handlers and the boating picture is filled with more of these boats the opportunity for deadly and disaster filled accidents increases every season and as we already know these accidents jump quickly into the media, public knowledge and the worst part lawmaker opportunities to make glorious public statements, fire up the people in this country who don't even want boats on THEIR lakes and waterways! and create legislation that every year further restricts performance boating.
Fellow OSO'ers lets please use some foresight and not make attaining huge speeds on the water as the single motivating reason for having this performance boat sport and the overall recreation and enjoyment that it provides!!!!!
I hope my words can help us all give pause and a great deal of thought to the potential danger that lies in this quest for extreme speeds that seem to many times drive this sport!

OK, I got down off my soapbox and put it away for now!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

I agree with Ray. I do not want loose the right to go fast on water and when someone asks that question you know is coming, "how fast does that thing go" I am reluctant to tell them, as the general public is horrified by the speeds of today's boat. If I l just say "high 90's" they still think it is way too fast. If they only knew the truth!! Are speed limits just around the corner?

With cats available with 1350's off the shelves the people here will have to get use to hearing about people unfortunately wiping themselves out more frequently.

I hope I'm wrong but I have been over 150 in a boat and it's a strange place, to be phenomenally respected...

But I am a grown man making my own decisions and not putting anyone innocent in danger when I do this crap.

Leave me alone, live and let live.

As for some form of "something has to be done/legislated to stop this" crap... It's empty talk. No one can stop anyone putting a boat in the water and flooring the throttles in an open space or offshore.

It's not like cars where the economics of giving speeding tickets are profitable for the government, there simply isn't enough fast boats for them to care economically and the resources for governmental entity to patrol waterways would make it too expensive to enforce anyway. Even if every two-three months a few people kill themselves, chr!st 50,000 people die in car crash every year, that's 137 a day... that's 1 every 10 minutes...

I've done 165 + in an open cockpit Skater.

Sat behind the canopy that blocked much of the wind.

Quite honestly, I had more excitement hanging my 19 ft Laser powered by a single 2.4 MERC EFI at 91 mph or my Bullet 130 at 70 mph than running the higher speeds in a more larger comfortable boat.

I got to experience the 165 mark for which I am forever grateful.

Perhaps one day I will see what it's like in a full canopy at a little higher speed but it is something I really only need to do once for my satisfaction...
:drink:

from a friend in his GT3RS...