I think what others are saying is that giving an award for the first person to a stop can be a liability for not only the organizers of the event but the other boat owners. It is basically encouraging owners to race their boats for a prize which then constitutes a race. My insurance covers me for poker runs however if I entered a poker run where a prize was being given to the fastest/first person to a stop my insurance would/could be absolved from covering me during the event. The other issue at hand is not everyone understands how to drive/run their boat at WOT with other boats in close proximity.

Search "Smoke On The Water Poker Run"

You will see i know what i am talking about!
My partner Bob and I were sued after two died at our event The lawyers for the insurance companys were trying to prove it was a race not a rally so as not to pay any opf the lawsuit claims. Also running in the poker run without PFD's is just plain iresponsable. You think it cant happen?? watch the dirt bag lawyers decend if you have somone hurt on your boat without a Life jacket or with a trophy for fastest in your hand

There was no mention of trophies or prizes in the morning. So it came as a bit of a surprise.


This thread has gotten off track and I don't want people getting in trouble over something that was supposed to be fun.

At what point did I claim you didn't know what you were talking about? Also when did I say that I know anything about running a poker run? I posted pictures of a poker run I was in because I was happy with the performance of the boat I built. Poker run or no poker run I drive my boat the same every weekend if the conditions permit. The only difference with a poker run to me is that there are more faster boats on the water.

Sorry if you feel I'm irresponsible for not wearing pfd's or having people on my boat wear them.

If you don't like the post or have issues with the irresponsible conduct portrayed in the post then use your option and skip it. In this case I will make it easy for you and ask to have this thread deleted. In the future I will try and use better judgement before posting pics of high speed boats on a performance boat website.

And i do not want people having fun doing somthing that gets them in trouble. Again the Thropy thing was not your fault but is a real problem for the orginzxer of the event. That said, it is very irresponsable not to have yourself and your passangers wearing PDF,s running with a number of other boatrs around you. What happens if you break the drive and spin out ??? NEVER run in an event without your PDF's

We aren't jumping on you. Plenty of people run their boats wide open on Poker Runs. What we have a problem with is the organizer of the run promoting racing to the first stop, by giving an award. What this does is encourace aggressive driving. While there are plenty of people that run fast, putting an award on the line pushes some folks to get more agressive, thus putting everyone envolved in danger. I am not saying you, yourself, did anything wrong or put people in danger. I am saying the organizer is the one putting people at risk.

As far as life jackets go......... The organizer should make it manditory, however if they don't/didn't then it is your choice. While I personally would make sure everyone on board had them on, if not manditory, than your choice. I won't preach on that topic. Just keep in mind, even if your passengers, by choice, don't want to wear life jackets, if anything were to happen (no matter how close of friends they are) the lawyers well come a knockin fast than you could ever imagine.

Again, congrats on your hard work paying off in a well performing boat.

Maybe you and the other safety patrol members should go buy a pontoon boat and shut the f$%k up. I am so tired of hearing this bull****. The guy had a good time and is proud of his boat. Leave it alone I don't care if he had a pfd on its his choice. If you got sued tough **** move on.

If the drive brakes I'm f'd! I own a shop were I build drag bikes for a living. I have built and raced my bikes for the last 15 years and there are dangers that come with doing this type of job. I could play the what if game for days. What if I blow a tire, what if I blow a motor at 150 mph, what if the brakes fail. There are so many things that can happen, but I maintain the bikes as good as possible to avoid these kinds of things. Well it's the same with the boat. I try and maintenance the boat the best I can in hopes to catch something before it breaks. I understand there are risks and I don't want to see anyone getting hurt doing what they love. I have built hundreds of drag chassis and thousands of motors and sent my products to at least 8 different countries and my number 1 goal next to winning races is safety. That being said my best friend got into a bad wreck last year on a bike I built him years ago. He changed his brakes and one of the bolts that holds the caliper on sheared off and caused the wreck. I was crushed to see him wreck and it made me question building bikes anymore. When he finally came out of the hospital he told me to stop worrying about it as he knew the risks involved. It still bothered me, but I was happy he came through ok. My point is there are risks with everyone of my hobbies. It's who I am I guess. I don't like football, baseball etc. I like motorcycles, hot rods, dirt bikes, boats and anything to do with speed and performance. It's a character flaw I guess. I have pfd's on the boat and everyone on the boat knows they are there and are more then welcome to wear one. I have them as an option, but can't make anyone wear them. Specially if I choose not to wear one. I suppose I should lead by example, but I don't wear them on a regular basis.

Again, this is my hobby and I don't want anyone to get hurt so don't take any of this the wrong way.

I guess the guy stressing about life jakets is preaching the saftey side... If you race drag bikes, you wear leathes, helmets, gloves, etc. So god forbid something breaks, you have some form of safety gear on. Same with football, baseball, etc. All participants wear protective gear in case of the "what if". Again, I am not sying you have to wear your jackets. I think in an event like that or even just out on the lake running at a high rate of speed , you "should". I wear a seat belt, and did before they made it a law. Because I think it is safer. But I do believe it should be the drivers choice. If out on the public water ways at high speed, not in a race, you "should" but that is your choice. However in an organized even it should be manditory. But if it wasn't then it's back in your court as to wether or not you were jackets. My point on the jakets was, if someone on your boat ever got hurt in an event like this and wasn't wearing a jacket, regardless of their choice, I guarantee there would be a lawyer coming after your insurance company and you. It is a wonderful thing your boat performed as expected. No failure and one hurt. The problem is accidents/failures do happen, and far too often it isn't till after do we realize.......

My only real issue was not with you, but again the fact that a poker run was turned into a race to the first stop. Granted, this didn't force people to race. But it made a poker run a shootout/race.

For the other guy firing off profanities about those who have issue with the safety side, you, my friend are the ones we are trying to protect ourselves from.

U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Craig Lawrance said the men on board were part of a Smoke on the Water Poker Run that included 60 to 70 boats. He said the boat was speeding from Grand Haven to Holland when the driver overcompensated for a missed turn, slowing from about 110 mph to about 70 mph.



A 20-year-old Bristol, R.I., man died from his injuries, and the 42-year-old missing man is from Hartland, Wis., authorities said. Ottawa County sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Allman said he likely drowned.

Sgt. Scott Tatrow of the Allegan County Sheriff's Department told WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids that the passengers were wearing life preservers but they came off when straps broke from impact with the water.

Great job on building a FAST boat and USING it for what it SUPPOSE to do.

Not your fault people cant let go of the past and before someone says learn from the past... PLEASE this is real life and people are going to do what they do.

I did look up the "Smoke" story and I'm sorry you(boatme) let an idiot enter and run a boat he obviously couldn't handle but the PDF's did NOTHING according to the sheriffs dept. so again for me "personal preference" just like seat belts and motorcycle helmets.