The answer to your question is already there..

Yes offshoreboats see all kinds of angles, but only when they are being used as offshoreboats. When doing radar runs, shootouts and kilo's, they arent running offshore, they are running on a smooth controlled course. so those angles would not come into play unless things are going wrong, in which case you want the system to work.

The Flight Club modified 368 was originally planning on being a 200+ boat with 2000+ HP engines. I remember conversations during its construction coming from Skater that basically said something funny happens at 190. This was 10 years ago. No doubt technology developed around the proven Mystics have come a long way. I think the fact that the FC boat ran as well as it did with limited testing says the boat will break 200 easily with a little more power. With the steel reinforced cage and canopy, the boat is "safer" than most.

I commend Ron for pulling out. There are many reasons the boat wasn't finished by the first partnership, but one I remember was the reality of how fast it was going to be and the wives pressure of "why"? Back then, 170 in an open 32 Skater was pretty nuts.

My thought on these shootout boats vs drag boats is beyond the proven "safer" crashes of the top fuel boats, the expense or total loss of wrecking a $500k plus Skater etc. is way different than wrecking a spatula with 8000HP built to live 5 seconds. Even if you had a 100% chance of surviving a blow over, who is going to knowingly take a chance with a machine like these.

Bottom line is 8 highly missed souls were lost this one season all in single boat accidents at speed. It is no doubt time for a breather and consideration of what these machines have quickly become.

The FLIGHT CLUB was built 10 years ago? And what is the difference between one built for 200MPH and the basic 100 MPH Skater? And FYI, 170MPH in a 32' cat is still nuts!
:)

You could fit in Al Copelands "Phenomenon"! 56ft should doo the trick? Lol, they could never get lay down any good times, I think it the theoretical speed of 285?? It was for sale a while back.. not sure what happened to it.

Contrary to popular belief, there has been some decent advancements recently in cat design to specifically address high speed stability. The one that come to mind is the 50' Statement which uses a radically redesigned tunnel entrance.

If you do some reading, you'll find they patented this design and somewhat claimed it solves the blow over problem. Much like a velocity stack, the design accelerates airflow thru the tunnel, and focuses that into "channels" I guess you'd call them near the stern. Hence the air exiting the tunnel is very clean and actually moving faster than the air around or over the boat. The aero guys can explain these benefits, but the popular "shake down" video looks super stable at 180mph.

https://youtu.be/Wsc_qmnmKLw

If they can figure out how to keep them from catching fire, maybe we'll get to see one go fast enough one day to prove their stability theory...

Keep "them"...it was one boat and from a fluke accident.

Also they have no real desire to see their boats go 200. The one they are building now used their design but was subbed out for the lay up. If you have noticed (which I am sure most have) they are sticking to what works for them CC's.

I wouldn't be shocked if this is the last passion to roll out from them with turbine power.

Speaking of shocked, I didn't know they were still in business. There website is like 4 years out-dated and I haven't seen anything advertised.
That's not good sign.

They have 5 ads for 2017 boats just in the OSO classifieds (5 of 11 total).......safe to say they are building boats and not spending their time on their website but didn't you see the opening page has 2 boats with Merc 400 OB's? They didn't come out in 2012......hmmm

That boat is the Spruce Goose of the performance boating world.......

they have waiting list for new boats and are selling more than ever.

I would say that is a good sign