Originally Posted by Mike A.

Sorry ICU Looking, there is no way to conclude anything from this photograph, other than the Fountain and CMS collided. The photo also suggests that the three boats were on totally different lines. In fact, you can see that the outside chine of the port sponson on A&A is in contact with the water which suggests it was turning to starboard.

To know what happened you would need onboard video from the three boats. Video from inside the cockpit of CMS would give the best perspective. My best guess is that there was a clear hole between the Fountain and A&A, CMS attempted to charge through it at a much higher rate of speed to get to the pace boat, the A&A crew unwittingly closed the hole by drifting over to their right without checking their mirrors, they hit, and knocked CMS into the Fountain.

At the end of the day, the fault lies with the starter. You cannot throw the green before all of the boats are on the line, especially if there is a huge disparity between the top speeds and acceleration rates of the boats in the start. Just think about it. The pace boat takes off and throws the green right away before all the boats are in line - which it did. You have a top team in CMS that can accelerate to 150mph in the blink of an eye and they pour the coals to the motors to catch up to the other boats. They pick a line between A&A and the Fountain and go. At first there is plenty of room, but suddenly A&A moves over, perhaps to avoid the wake of the other CMS, perhaps because they think the old dog leg right leaving the harbor to turn 1 is still there, or maybe just because. Regardless, if they do not check their mirrors, or their spotter does not say anything before moving over, and CMS is already up to speed, then a collision is going to occur. Shoot, there could have been a 20-50 mph speed difference between the boats at the time, and with no brakes a collision would be unavoidable.

Knowing what I know, that scenario seems far more likely than a 12' wide CMS just trying to blast its way through a 10' wide space between two boats just 'cause. Hopefully, tomorrow the starters will be more patient. Let everyone line up before throwing the green.

Originally Posted by Mike A.

LOL. Uh, federal rules of the road do not apply to offshore powerboat racing, number one. Number two, where are the "series of photographs" you refer to because they would be helpful. Number three, you might not want to see the video to draw your conclusions but anyone truly wanting to know what happened would definitely want to as video would be THE best evidence. Because as you acknowledge, if one of the other two boats made a drastic coursechange then that crew is at least partially at fault. Good discussion though.

Originally Posted by Scott B

LMAO, yeah they are turning to stbd Mike. But they weren't turning the wheel I bet, they were clearly pushed...

Originally Posted by sutphen 30

ballzie maneuver,just glad it its only damaged fiberglass.pics are a great photo op.

Originally Posted by Mike A.

Now THIS I can agree with!

Originally Posted by I.C.U.Lookin

Great discussion.

http://superboat.com/wp-content/uplo...es-3-4-141.pdf

Sbi rules. Page 42. Section E #2. Clearly states leaving room in a passing (formerly overtaking) situation.

This picture shows the cms behind the fountain at least. Damage on the A&A boat is on stbd quarter. All pretty convincing that CMS pushed up in the middle of those 2.