Commentary: The Price of What
 

A must-read by Rich Luhrs, http://speedonthewater.com/commentar...e-of-what.html.

This piece likely will stir strong emotions. As the publisher of this commentary, I would ask that people try to respond with the same level of respect and thoughtfulness with which it was written.

Capsule. Easy peasy. Thanks again Matt.

Hit the nail on the head!

Good read Matt. Thanks. I've also always been puzzled by the "at least they died doing what they loved line" but sometimes it's just hard to say the "right" thing at times. One really just needs to remember that.

I hope his wise words will finally be heard, and taken to heart.

Rich's commentary was tremendous, and should be thought provoking to many, but I fear it will not be to those in a position to effect the necessary change. One thing is for certain - while fatalities will always be part of racing, obviously preventable deaths should not happen. And none of the three deaths this weekend should have happened.

Personally, I really like the message presented in the article. One unified offshore racing circuit and sanctioning body would be good for the sport in more ways than one. Sponsors and venues could pool there resources instead of dividing them. The rules would be unilateral, so it would be a level playing field. The sanctioning body could work with the teams to develop better saftey measures and all the resources could be pooled together.

Very Well Written!
 

Very well written and makes a lot of sense!!

Offshore racing splitting back in the day to all of these smaller groups has really hurt the sport. Look at what happened with Indy car and Champ cars.

Now they are combined and with new rules and safety for 2012, you watch the success of the racing division over the next few years....

Thoughts and prayers to all of the families and friends.
Sad week in Key West!

Absolutely, straight on correct. While you can never remove all risks from the sport, the "alphabet soup" situation has done nothing positive for the sport from a safety, competition or fans standpoint. While I feel there is little hope of putting it all back together again, I hope all the organizing groups involved will use these tragedy's to rethink what's really important and find some common ground. At least something positive might come from this mess if so.

The only way the whole sport is going to get safer is to have one set of safety standards. The only way that's going to happen is exactly what Rich suggested - unity. Too bad that one little word is so hard to attain. How may more do we have to loose because nobody can agree?

I dont believe Unity would have prevented the accidents. strickter safety standards for a canopy maybe but people still pass in other sports with their strict safety standards. As for doing what they love i wouldnt say is an insult, just easier to cope with how a persons goes. I would rather go doing what I truely loved than a damn drunk driver plowing into me....

Unity is unity.
Safety is safety.

There is unity in Europe and they have had recent tragedies.

All the points re investigating better safety features in the boats are very important for sure.

If you hang on to waiting for unity before you take the safety steps that have been mentioned it would be a big mistake.

Great accurate article.

I will miss my friend Joey G. something fierce. I've spent this entire weekend trying to recall every moment i had with him; inside and outside of racing!

Don't forget that hydros are 100% purpose built RACE machines. You are delusional if you think a 4 person cockpit that's larger than a SUV is going to sustain a 200 + MPH crash. Offshore boats are multipurpose built these days.

Hey guys I kept watching the videos of the big thunder wreck and it was awfull to watch that. I kept asking myself one thing WHY did the race still continue making it take forever for rescue to get there trying not to hit boats flying by going 100+ and trying to get to the crash site. It didn't make any sense to me and hopefully you guys can share some light on me and maybe I'll see it from a different perspective. But it brought tears to my eyes watching that wreck and seeing how long it took for rescue to get there meanwhile the other boats just kept hauling tail, that's dangerous in itself. I'm not trying to stir anything up I just believe they would have had a BETTER chance of making it if rescue would have arrived sooner by not having to maneuver through the race still going on. Nobody knows if it was from the injuries from the crash or from drowning but I really hope it wasn't from drowning. If it's innapropriate then delete my response here but I guess I'm just throwing out suggestions so maybe we can learn from this and it doesn't happen again because I have said it was tough watching that video. We love watching the races but please stay safe guys.

I agree w/ 272Baja. How come the boats that followed the accident didn't cirlce back around to try to assist the crashed boat? I thought that was custom in a boat race?

One of the problems has always been ego...isnt that why all the splits in organizations..the alphabet soup as he called it?? Rich makes several great points. I would love to see unity but i wont hold my breath. nhra has rules where a car has to be certified to run certain speeds and times. Faster than eighty mph you need a canopy...over a hundred you need a canopy with strucural steel reinforcing... Just Saying...please dont wait for unity act on more safety asap

Well the other racers would not help. The emergency response people were all over that. What would be needed is a yellow or red flag system to stop the race until the emergency has been resolved.

272 I will take a stab for your answer.. safety boats are placed at a somewhat strategic position on the course inside the race way... it takes a lil time, very little time to respond, If you watch the video and watch the seconds you will see their responce time is pretty fast. they arent weaving in an out of the race boats for they have the inside already an can run in hard, but also being safe of spectator boats. As for the boats racing by still, as the other teams pass they know the safety crews are there responding. all that would happen is a racer getting in the way no scuba gear to go under for a period of time if heaven forbid needed, and possibly putting themselves in danger as well as the accident scene.. Or turning back and now facing boats that didnt see the accident now see a boat heading the opposite direction towards em.. That is the safety crews "job" . Sounds crued using job but all I could come up with...

JPD Motorsports thanks for clearing it up for me. I guess I just figured it would be safer for everyone if the race stopped but I definitely see your point and it makes sense.

Very well stated by Rich. Once again I can only hope that people actually listen to him. We all love this sport, but it is time to acknowlege that things have gotten quite a bit out of hand: the speeds gains have greatly outpaced the safety gains. It is time to make a concentrated effort to get the safety technology on par with the speeds that are now being run, or the speeds need to come down. Look what NASCAR did over twenty years ago when they realized that 220 mph laps at Daytona were simply too fast to be run safely: they slowed the cars down.

Amen ..... only .... I think you can lower that speed number :(

150

Truth be told, in this and most other serious accidents, there is very little other competitiors can do other than get in the way of trained safety crews. Yes, it may have seemed like a long time, but it was actually a pretty quick response.

Well said, what I was meaning was for the race to actually stop so the safety crews don't have to worry about being hit by a another boat coming on by. The video shows other boats blowing by at high speeds which I would think it would be easier if they just stopped(not meaning stop and jumping in the water to help) so the safety boats would have a better path to the distressed boat without having to worry about being hit by the race boats.

The rescue boat was on the scene in 30 seconds and divers were in the water in 45 seconds. It seems like a long time when watching, but really it cannot get much faster than that.
I am fairly certain it was the impact and canopy destruction that caused their fatal injuries.

True Safty&make these guys unite it whould be huge!

the last line sums it all up,well said.

Having been fished out of flipped boats as well as having had to race around them there is actually more room then it looks. There are a few things that alert drivers of caution, low hovering helicopter or orange smoke, Etc. As a rule racers will approach light on the throttle as well as giving ample room for rescue to do its job even though it may not appear like it on the video.

Thanks for giving me a better perspective guys. It was just tragic what happened this week, way too many lives lost. These guys always put on a great show when they race, I have been going to the Clearwater races these last couple of years and it's a blast to watch it just sucks what happened in Key West. I can't even imagine what their families are going through right now.

Matt:
I have to agree in most part with Rich's commentary on this weeks very unfortunate losses and injuries. A lot of us in the performance boating industry as well as many of the racers and even race fans have been calling for unity in the world of offshore boat racing. It's not just easy to say that unification alone will solve the problems and inject new safety to the sport in short order, but as many of us have been saying for 4-5 years now unification may help prevent the ultimate demise of this sport and the furthur shrinking of performance boating.
When these deaths occur the many misinformed outside people start scrutinizing the safety of the sport. When this happens the number of participants , sponsors, funding, venues and the very future of the sport is jeprodized to what could be a point of extinction. This industry and particularly the racing organizations and individuals need to push now and move towards unification with the first and foremost goal being the better establishment of safety for the racers in these boats!
The technology, reasons and ability for instituting these new saftey measures are here and the time is no better than now!
My opinionated four word prophecy for the sport, "DO IT OR DIE!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Thanks for your comments. The only point on which we differ (and the reason I'm "obsolete") is that I have been saying this for the last 20-25 years.

T2x

You are the best proponent for this objective Rich.

However this sport here in the US is just not organized.

Grant it there are small entities organizing races here and there as well as some series but if the organizers make the requirements for racing more and more expensive they will see the numbers of racers dwindle down to nothing. I don't know exactly the age of the boats racing last weekend but my guess is only the 3-5 boats has anything onboard remotely resembling what your preaching. And the show would be a lot different with only 3-5 boats.

Unless you get an entity with financial horsepower making a descent show and requiring stringent safety equipment, whatever it is your suggestions are although very accurate will just not happen, your aware of that look at the last 25 years as you said.

Racing in Europe and the Middle East seems organized a little more like what we aim for but still heavily politicized and dependent on the entity pumping the organizing cash.

Maybe it can happen, Steve David explains a system that worked in Unlimited Hydro although the series is relatively small but at least there is not twenty competing sanctioning bodies setting up races, I think.

Unless someone with major money starts organizing the sport and taking a hard stance on safety it is simply going to continue as it as been for a very long time without any concise direction or safety plan, unfortunately.

This is not a criticism it is the reality of the sport we are passionate about unfortunately. Talking here accomplishes nothing, this sport is marginal at best currently and nothing on the horizon will change this unfortunately.

Thank God for the commitment of the die hard passionate racers that are doing it currently they deserve all our admiration considering only passion keeps them there, and we have at least that to enjoy. Thanks guys.

You 're right.

We lost a dear competitor to all, Ian Stirling 2010 at the 3C Europeans. So there has been tragedies The year before there was at least one flip no fatal injuries at the EC's. Uptil 2010 open boats was allowed in all lower classes.

Regarding safety Offshore Racing is lagging globally.
Look at Class1 ... no Tiger Masks for example but the plain jane scuba regulators in canopy boats just like the U.I.M. outboards use...even open helmets allowed which IMO is a death trap.

Hans-Aid and full face helmets would be the minimum in all classes IMO. Closed canopies add Tiger Masks for 2012.

Regarding Unity in Europe etc.. well.. lets not go into that...it's not as united anymore.

Rich you and I have had HOURS of this conversation. Set up safety forums offered our help. So far only Randy Scism, John Cosker and our Team seem interested in setting the next standard. Thanks Rich

For those of you who think that Rich Luhrs and Marc Granet agree on nothing, see above.

Got to disagree with you on one thing, GLH my friend: I don't believe conversations like this "accomplish nothing." In fact, I think they bring people together and force them to think. At the very least, they bring out information about which people can make their own decisions. At best, they affect positive change.

I don't know if I missed it in any of the posts.......... but the race was stopped.

I'll say this and you can delete it. Been brewing since I read of the first accident and thinking it forever.
The racers need to make a decision and then "inform" the sanctioning bodies that you run with what you will and will not do.
Do you guys race Offshore or Inshore?
Not to be a smart ass (and why my post will get vaporized) but really........
Over the last 30 yrs you have been moved inshore where the speeds have come up from the 80's/90's of the ocean racing boats to 130's and up on the inshore/protected courses.
What I see is that the "Offshore" fraternity has catered to the modern version of "Offshore" but went to Key West and found Offshore conditions in boats and speeds never designed for them.
Inshore races sells boats, fill poker runs etc.

IMO, you need to decide which you want cause this weekend is proof you can't have both. If you want to continue on as is, you need to totally re-think your course locations so you have more control of over conditions. As fast as you guys are in the condition's you found in K.W. it's just a matter of time. You want to go fast? Close/protect the courses. Period.

Signed, a fan from day one.

The higher speeds being generated by the new boats and equipment are definitly a big factor in the probability of more serious crashes in todays offshore/inshore boats. It is also obvious that a stronger unified approach to safety construction, equipment and training by the sanctioning body should help lessen the quantities of these injury and death result crashes. This will also only happen when a strong empowered unified sanctioning body spends more time reviewing race course conditions and has enough power and control to call or postpone a race when conditions just become too dangerous for the racers, even when the emotions and adrenaline of the racers is too high for their own good! It's a very unpopular thing to do when a body must postpone or call a race because of these "Too Dangerous" conditions. Lets face it there is a thrill for spectators to seeing big boats going fast and getting a lot of air, but there is no thrill watching racers seriously injured or dying from the serious crashes that can result!
I hope this remains primarily a "Skill Sport" not just a "Thrill Sport" !

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Great article Matt. Well said.

Short of foaming the guys in up to their eyes, offshore racing is about as safe as amateur cropdusting. If you would appreciate that the frickin' poker run has boats that will outrun ALL of the raceboats, save one, you can appreciate the potential for fatalities. Years ago, I was in Ron Jones' unlimited shop, when he was at the top of his game. As we sat in the waiting room, I looked around the room and saw pictures of all my heroes, Muncey, Manchester, Wilson and so on. They had one thing in common: THEY WERE ALL KILLED IN AN UNLIMITED HYDROPLANE! The unlimited guys have taken the tiger by the tail, and fixed their problem. We are blessed to have one of their best in our midst, Steve David. Start a safety committee with Steve and Rich Luhrs, Bill Seebold, Chris Hodges, etc., and get something going. It ain't gonna fix itself.........