It's tragic that two people, were killed doing something they love to do. It's definitely not a manufacture problem , but driver error, that's the only way you stuff or go over backwards , lets slow down a bit and pay attention to water conditions , and maybe let you competitor go buy so you can live another day, peace.

I've been thinking a lot about the accident. Every body says poker runs are open course and there corect. But spectators don't come to see these big boats putt around they come to watch them go fast. So why is there never a closed course race on Friday or sunday ? Put a speed limit on the poker run but let there be a place where everybody can stretch there legs I think it would make for a more compete weekend it wouldn't be hard to break the registered boats up into a few classes and let them race on a course that has the proper safety crews on sight even make everybody pass a submersible test of some kind that morning I'm sure there's a reason they don't but it seems to me like it would solve a lot of problems keeping everybody safer at the poker run but not taking away there chance to show off there boats and power

I hate to say it but its, all about the Money!! That weekend brings millions into the economy.. The only way the accidents will stop is if everyone involved including the spectator boats start doing what's right.. Put all the ego's aside and start practicing safe boating! That's my opinion!

In one of the videos that shows the 2 cats just feet away from spectators is absolutely crazy stupid!!! Then the one of Pure Platinum taking the line to just try and manuever to get ahead of the other boat is even more stupid!!

Come on we all know what the answer is how do we in force it?

I was at LC in 09 when Kevin was killed and seen him and his friend at the dock when the paramedics where working on them and that is something engraved in my mind. I have been to the last 3 of the 5 years and refuse to run in or ride with someone. Lc is a great lake and has a great poker run but the traffic on this weekend is out of control. The problem I see is the ego takes over and the brain shuts off and most of the people I no are guilty of this and that's the reason I won't ride . The other issue I see is most of the spectators weight to long before they leave the dock. Hopefully the poker run does not get shut down but after watching some of the vids things have gotten out of hand

Not having ever been in a 140MPH boat such as these, it scares the daylights out of me to think we, your, our families could be spectators with the kids swimming and one these crazy guys went blowing through our raft area...Our thoughts and prayers with the families and all their loved ones. " Lord Guide Us"....

I was told years ago after the lc poker run was over all the fast boats would go down by the dam and air them out.

Self policing and common sense will only work for some but very few. Adding some sort of stabilizing canard to cats won't happen because of liability to the maker of the idem and the boat builder. After viewing all of the vids posted and knowing it is NOT a closed course the pokerrun community needs to step up and accept responsibility, plain and simple! Every year we read or post on threads pertaining to an accident that resulted in death or serious body injury yet changes are NOT made. After reading the posts and some of the cavalier attitudes I am thoroughly disgusted! To say men died doing what they loved or **** happens and if you don't like it stay home are a thing of the past. Why are we as a community willing to accept this? Boating in general is a beautiful sport/hobby and it is up to me, you and anyone with a boat to show the public how wonderful it is. Yet we continuously punch ourselves in the face and show off a black eye. And people here still wonder why performance boating is a dying pastime...

And herein comes one of the 'Unintended Consequence" issues, as Boatme can attest ... if you want to promote a (wink, wink nod, nod) "RACE" plus assuming all kinds of risk from any poker player who gets a hangnail, insisting on 'safety gear' is how you do it.

Mandating safety gear assumes that you are requiring competent gear: i.e. Snell SA2000+ helmet (no skateboard 'stubbies'), 16kg collared 'racing' vest, dead-man cord for every occupant, etc., which means they have to be inspected and approved prior, and DQ issued for any violation.

Will this make the organiser a 'partner' in the non-race, 'race?' Sure.
Will this raise the decibel level of WHINE to SCREECH? You know it.
Will this affect turnout? Oh, absolutely.

{important] ... Is a PokerRun that insists on safety gear insurable? Probably not. Insurance Companies insure Fish OR Fowl, but not both.

There are ways to turn down the recklessness of SxSxSxS 150mph running in a creek-arm, but mandating safety gear is not it.

ugh

Not hard to figure out why this tragic event happened after watching how close those boats came to spectators that were obviously anchored off to the sides. Brains and common sense were left at the docks and luckily only 2 men lost their lives.

Hi Smitty

Hawthorn Woods, I know the area well. Its going to be very nice up there soon with the cooler weather and fall colors. I disagree with you about adding a device that would control blow-overs. Obviously the idea behind a Cat is to pack air at speed to provide lift. The problem is when there is too much lift. There is no reason that existing technology could not solve this problem. There is hardware today that can read data and make physical tiny to huge adjustments by the millisecond. I'm not talking about something as primitive as a Nascar roof flap but more of a highly engineered device that works on many inputs of data per second. How its shaped, its size, where its located, how to dump or exhaust air are just a few of the questions. But basically the device would operate by the angle of the boat as it relates to whatever the point of no return is. The thing I've noticed about blow-overs is that when the actually get to the point of no return, they typically do it more slowly than once it reaches that point.