The Mail man is Back-22 Donzi smoking first day of testing...to be continued
08-31-2016 | 09:27 PM
#71
Gold Member
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,468
Likes: 211
From: Grand Haven, MI
We were tied up a few boat lengths past the finish line on Saturday. Depth finder showed about 79' there and most of the lake is 50+ from what we noticed, heck our dock depth was at 39' only ten feet from shore.
During the run you could hear it getting squirrelly with drastic rpm surges, sounded like he got out of it not far from the finish, recovered and hammered back into it, she snapped 90 degrees & it was a big violent splash & parts galor. Couldn't see if he was thrown clear though. Boat sank like a 12-ton anchor.
Rescue boats on site immediately and more came within a minute or two. Worst part as a spectator was not seeing any fire boats leave quickly & no input from radio feed, so no one knew what was happening.
After rescue boats left, few sherrif boats circled around I presume to make sure the boat was on the bottom & not likely to bob back up & become a race hazard.
Never did get any word if they found him, he was OK, or anything on the radio. Racing resumed shortly thereafter, which led to lots of speculation going from boat to boat.
Relieved to hear he was pronounced OK the next morning. Best wishes on a full recovery and hopefully something is salvageable from the boat. I know up in NE IL it's a $1,000 per day fine from DNR if your boat is left at the bottom and minimum $500 to pull it up.
During the run you could hear it getting squirrelly with drastic rpm surges, sounded like he got out of it not far from the finish, recovered and hammered back into it, she snapped 90 degrees & it was a big violent splash & parts galor. Couldn't see if he was thrown clear though. Boat sank like a 12-ton anchor.
Rescue boats on site immediately and more came within a minute or two. Worst part as a spectator was not seeing any fire boats leave quickly & no input from radio feed, so no one knew what was happening.
After rescue boats left, few sherrif boats circled around I presume to make sure the boat was on the bottom & not likely to bob back up & become a race hazard.
Never did get any word if they found him, he was OK, or anything on the radio. Racing resumed shortly thereafter, which led to lots of speculation going from boat to boat.
Relieved to hear he was pronounced OK the next morning. Best wishes on a full recovery and hopefully something is salvageable from the boat. I know up in NE IL it's a $1,000 per day fine from DNR if your boat is left at the bottom and minimum $500 to pull it up.
08-31-2016 | 09:41 PM
#73
Registered
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 783
Likes: 22
From: Chestertown, MD
Jeff has a lot of reading when he opens this thread. I watched it a few times. As I said on Facebook. We learn from our mistakes and I'm sure he will be back to the drawing board looking into what happened exactly and why. Hope for a speedy recovery.
09-01-2016 | 07:22 AM
#74
Registered
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 5,825
Likes: 612
From: Clarkston, Michigan
Thanks for the pix 'Poodle. We all wanted to see the engine but not that way. He probably felt a lot of pressure to put in a good run. Started out with too much trim. That accounts for the porpoise but that crazy chine walk. That shouldn't have happened. Did this boat not have hydraulic steering? Maybe there is a single ram on the other side. If not, maybe the drive broke off in the chine walk and caused the spinout. So glad the injuries were relatively minor. 
09-01-2016 | 07:40 AM
#75
Registered
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 356
Likes: 15
From: LaPorte, IN
Thanks for the pix 'Poodle. We all wanted to see the engine but not that way. He probably felt a lot of pressure to put in a good run. Started out with too much trim. That accounts for the porpoise but that crazy chine walk. That shouldn't have happened. Did this boat not have hydraulic steering? Maybe there is a single ram on the other side. If not, maybe the drive broke off in the chine walk and caused the spinout. So glad the injuries were relatively minor.
09-01-2016 | 07:44 AM
#76
Registered
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 5,825
Likes: 612
From: Clarkston, Michigan
09-01-2016 | 07:56 AM
#77
Registered
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 10,041
Likes: 712
From: Toledo Oh
Thanks for the pix 'Poodle. We all wanted to see the engine but not that way. He probably felt a lot of pressure to put in a good run. Started out with too much trim. That accounts for the porpoise but that crazy chine walk. That shouldn't have happened. Did this boat not have hydraulic steering? Maybe there is a single ram on the other side. If not, maybe the drive broke off in the chine walk and caused the spinout. So glad the injuries were relatively minor.
09-01-2016 | 09:26 AM
#78
Platinum Member
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 482
Likes: 400
From: Danville, IN
The officers that were first there were sitting right behind my boat and they started moving that direction even before the crash. You could see that it was going bad LONG before it happened, and in his defense maybe it didn't feel all that bad in the boat until the last couple hops. Those officers hammered it over there instantly. Very fast response time in a fast boat. Everyone doing poker runs should be thinking about life jackets for the simple fact that a responder can give you a chance at life even if you are knocked out and face down.
That engine will probably be fine. Take it apart and freshen it up and back on the lake.
That engine will probably be fine. Take it apart and freshen it up and back on the lake.
09-02-2016 | 01:19 PM
#79
Registered
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 20
Likes: 1
Good to know that Jeff is recovering from that dramatic spinn out. I think he earns a great deal of credit and respect for all the work and effort he has put down in his Classic over the years to make it fast and finally get it to LOTO. Great achievement. Sorry about the spinn out but looking at the video the course seems to be too bumpy and inconsistent caused by all the waves going back and forth in the narrow lake to put down a decent high speed run in the 22. Maybe Jeff wanted a little to much that day and kept the throttle to deep to long. Hell... who wouldnt itīs LOTO ..right. Hope to hear Jeffs comments about the run in the near future. Bjorn carapi
09-02-2016 | 02:43 PM
#80
Registered
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,400
Likes: 25
From: Michigan
Holy chit! I figured there would be some damage but nothing to that extent!
