At this speed it doesn't matter if you wear a helmet or not, or if you are confined to a closed cockpit… 170mph and thats all she wrote if it goes wrong!

I'm not sure I understand the whole concept of poker run as it has turned in to. You bring out your boat no matter what style, go to different areas and get cards, party at the end and see who draws the best hand. When did these all become poker races? There would be more gearheads of all types to admire these machines at the docks pulling in and out than out on the water. And if there are 2 guys wanting to settle a debate over who is fastest...go settle it alone and come back and talk smack or whatever with everyone after it's done. I haven't been to the loto shootout in years, but it seems like the best way to show these boats off...with way more spectators to see who is the fastest with each style of boat. Get together, watch fast boats go really fast in a very controlled environment. Have a fun run (not race) if you want to to show off the boats, save the speed show for the actual shootout with radar gun and no excuses.

The place to run 150 plus is out in the open spaces. When we have a poker run on a course which is by itself fairly narrow and congested we need realistic speed limits.

Wannabe

By the way, I don't disagree with you that the other thread has some great ideas. And its originator is someone who knows his stuff. He would be my first choice to lead the effort that I described without a doubt. Unfortunately, his thread hasn't been effective. Not that its a competition, but that thread was started 5-years ago. We just had fatalities last week. I'm not sure if it will, but I'm hoping my thread will result in real some action and not 5 years worth of talk

As Pat stated, it's the boat operators that need to put the reighns on and slow the f**k down. I've yet to hear of a mechanical failure that caused any of these recent Poker run incedents. I've been on few Poker runs myself (Key West) and have attended many small boat events (River Ranch, Jupiter Hot Boat Ralley, Tiki Bar Ralley, Clewiston 200hp shootout, etc.) where tripple digit speeds were attained. I've found more pleasure in riding along side my buddies, shooting pictures, admiring other boats, and socializing than the bragging rights of being the first one to the card stops or the fast guy on the water. Boats, motors, drives, etc have become so advanced that they've outpaced the abilities of most of the people that can afford to buy/drive them. It becomes more of a problem when these boats are driven to these extreme speeds during Poker runs where many other "civilian" boaters, spectators, boat wakes, etc. are present. These speeds should only be run in controlled environments (shootouts) or when the operator knows he has the "clean" water and no other boat traffic to be concerned about. We all watched with horror the video of the Fountain that beat the daylights out of everyone on board and he was going half the speed of these powerful cats!! It's time for us as a community to wake up, man up, and agree in advance NOT to run beyond a specific speed limit during these events..These are social events, NOT races and therefore the drivers need to regulate themselves to maintaining the safety of their passengers as well as the rest of the fleet.

On another note, I find it interesting that all of these incedents took place on closed bodies of water with the pack running relatively close to each other considering the speeds they were running. To my knowledge there have not been any tradgic accidents on the Key West, Jacksonville or Bahamas Poker runs. When the boats have the ability to spread out over large bodies of water the safety factors improve....

You're right, in the PR environment. But there were 3 fatalities within a couple of days of each other in Key West during the race. That goes to what can be done about the blow-over. Regarding PRs, does anyone really think that EVERYONE is going to control themselves and follow a set of rules. Why would they?

If I remember correctly both boats went over in Key West Harbor....Big Thunder Marine kited while accelerating down the straight away in front of the fans before Mallery Square.....again, lots of boat wakes bouncing off the sea wall and an increase in accelleration down the straight away that was in "protected" water...bad things happen fast at those speeds with little (if any at all) time to correct...

the first safety device is that melon on top of the shoulders. you can't fix stupid, especially when it has $$$. note;Key West's harbor was favored for the racing back when I lived there.you have 5 channels meeting there, depending on temp, winds and current trends. that was the challenge for racer's. have seen go from 6-8 ft at shipping channel to FAC in several hours. driving fast may seem ok, but lots of other boaters don't pay any mind.

Slow down in areas that are congested questionable or could produce an incident.....keeping distances from others in the run(i.e. if a drive breaks and boat hooks?) Just because you have a fast boat or the fastest doesn't mean you have to show it 110% all the time....