yep, we've raced around just about everything. That marker you just have to make a mental note of and factor it into your position when milling/starting. I've done that start several times and it kind of pinches in and can get crowded, seen the buoy up close. I can see how it can happen with anything more then a half a dozen boats coming up on plane, theres not a lot of room and with boat wash its hairy to say the least. Also bringing a canopied cat up on plane there a sizable "blackout" period where you have zero forward visibility. These guys are accustomed to the whole process and just had some bad luck it really sucks. Glad they are OK boats can be fixed (and yes that one is certainly fixable I've done much worse)


I suppose if they were in their old Apache they might have to just buff off a little green paint lol . . . . .

Warpaint was in the rear of the milling and were coming up strong to get in the start line behind the pace boat. So much spray and water, even if they did see it, they probably wouldn't have been able to avoid at their speed and proximity to the other racers. We were watching from Pier House and it was a shame... Kudos to the team for at least leaving the boat in the wet pits for fans to see, as well as team CRC...

Not typically. I asked Scott Begovich this exact question a few years ago.




The running joke on Sunset Pier during the Sunday races after they moved the corner closer to the pits by several hundred feet...
...was such that someone else was going to hit it and knock it back the other way.

Supposedly, they moved the turn, in due to sea-turtles on the course at the far end of the corner. However, the can was right in the apex of the turn. Qatar completely blew right by the turn on the first lap as both turbines were no where near that corner while milling, and could not tell where/how the turn had been modified unless such was radioed to them. SEVERAL boats scared some paint off of that same green can, and it's a damn wonder it was not hit again. It was not a good situation,

Come on guys post the GoPro videos already. If not the actual on-board, with all those camera mounts I noted, someone caught it in their footage from that start.

Main thing everyone is ok and saved the boat. There is plenty of time to fix her up this winter, so please share this "Bell Ringer" action. Then we can have a contest for the funniest caption to add..

They were coming up from the rear so I don't think anyone else got a shot of it.

I don't know if its been posted or not but if you go to this link http://new.livestream.com/sbi/keywest2013
and watch the 5th video down from the top (titled "Race 2 Friday") @ 26:25 you'll see Warpaint hit the marker

go pro footage would be better but at least you can see it happen

Thanks for the link Nate.

After watching that, my submission: "Oh Crap, They Sure Have Big Manatees Down Here..."

I trimmed one of my videos for just the start. You can see the marker before they hit it. Also, you can see how close they came to hitting Qatar 20 and why Qatar 20 started so far afterwards.

http://youtu.be/tyzkBcQ7RY8

Drive was not hurt the green can exited out the right side before the drive the bottom of the boat is all tore up

Correct. At the time the video was made hitting a channel marker was NOT in the top 100 likely causes.