36Tango

I looked up the SBI rules and could not find anything on air supplies. I did, though, find that they have some canopy "guidelines" that are not printed, but you can call a number to get them. It is on page 17 of the rulebook. Here is a link:
http://superboat.com/wp-content/uplo...es-9-21-11.pdf

HabanaJoe

Frank, I agree with you that Mike A could have a bone to pick with John C but that has nothing to do with how the case is being handled, sending letters to sponsors, contributors etc is not uncommon.

F1-00 Racing

iTrader: (1)

Very good points.... Unfortunately with future safety being the alleged reason for this litigation, with the loss of present sponsors and potential sponsors we wont have a sport to go and be safe in, hell a guy that owns a pontoon boat is now affected with his rates going up as a result to this crap.

I am curious as to what safety changes he made after the losses of Jack Stoerre and Jack Carmody, they happened on his watch. Yes as tragic as KW was in 2011, what about Corpus in 2001 and Daytona in 2003? 1 loss is too many if you ask me

Catmando

It should be MANDATORY that a seat belt knife be attached to EVERY seat belt or somewhere close to it and the safety inspectors instructed to make sure it is there before each and every race.

HabanaJoe

First - I'm in no way arguing with you just a little debate here about this, but I do agree to be in a closed cockpit without air is not safe or smart.

Liability I believe falls on the organizations doing the inspections not the boat owners, so if a rule was in effect about air and that rule was not adhered to by the boat owner and a boat was allowed to race the organization is at fault. The race organization has a right to not allow someone to race if they fell something is not safe.

I read the link to the rules that 36 tango posted and found them to be enlightening regarding the canopy, that they "recommend" you follow something and then this statement - "The SBIP President also has the authority to allow a non-compliant boat to compete provided that after consultation with the Board of Governors he determines that the intent of the guidelines has been met and that the safety of the riding crew and fellow competitors is not jeopardized."

So, someone can now make a "judgement" call as to whether something is safe and you don't need to follow strict guidlines if he feels you intented to but just didn't quite follow them???? - that to me says trouble.

You talk about being professionals, I do not believe CART/NASCAR/F1 allows for the governing body to judge safety issues which is what we're talking about here - it is met or not.

When you look at those rules and they go into extreme detail about a propellar and then say "safety" can be determined by the intent to meet guidelines - I can see there is something wrong here!

CigDaze

I've perused both the General Rules and the Technical Rules. Perhaps I missed it, but nowhere can I find anything about any sort of breathing apparatuses, oxygen, air etc. I find that concerning.

Catastrophe

I find it equally concerning that a canopy boat racer would care if that was in the rules or not.
There is something to be said for self preservation.

36Tango

For what it is worth:

OPA is pretty specific (page 9)
http://www.oparacing.org/images/OPA_2011_Rulebook.pdf

OSS is very specific (pages 48-50)
http://www.offshoresuperseries.com/C...2011_Draft.pdf

On the bottom of page 61, APBA requires an air system, but no details. They do outline the Lavin Guidelines for canopy construction. It says that info can be received from the Mark Lavin Memorial Safety Foundation. I assume that this Foundation comes out of a bad result in the past. I have not seen the guidelines (nor would I probably understand them):
http://www.offshoresuperseries.com/C...ARules2011.pdf

At the very least, these rulebooks make for interesting reading. Some cover very precise details, while some are pretty vague.

HabanaJoe

36 tango - good work! Everyone will have to make their own comparisons between all of these you found - we'll see what everyone thinks about the differences?

Panther

If I remember correctly the industry itself, not APBA, made some changes after Carmody with single pod canopy's as opposed to dual? Also, didn't APBA claim it was during testing and not during the race. Hmmmm.

Jus sayin...

Here's an intersting link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...torboat_racing