In the worst accident ever seen at the loto shoot out event the boat would of had to take a 90 degree turn and maintain speed then kitted to get into the spectator fleet

My OSO editor is my copy editor for OSO stuff ... guess I made a few too many mistakes for her to catch. That's on me. They will be corrected.

Thank you. I can always use a copy editor.

I agree we call them OFFSHORE boats so a drag race (shootout) could be considered not what they were built / designed for. Don't take this the wrong was as I enjoy watching these events just the same.

They shortened the TF & TFFC runs from 1320' to 1000' and it didn't slow them down, fewer accident's ? maybe, less carnage yes....if it saves lives ( DO IT ) as long as there's Big Balls and big money they will go fast, reprop, regear, retune......jmo

What a bunch of crap. Slowing these boats down at these speeds will not make a difference. These are not kids, they are adults and understand the risks of pushing the boats to their limits. Let'em run, or go home...but don't try to restrict speeds in an effort to say "we tried" if something goes wrong. Most of these people will try to figure out how to get to their max speed quicker...thats all.

... just look at the drag boats - pushing over 8000hp in the 1/4 mile! Years ago they just needed a bit more power out of a hemi or BBC - Shootouts are no different. The Mystics of all power plants prove it... People are prone to have addictive personalities be it narcotics, women or each person's flavor of speed. How fast and how wild you live depends on your money flow and how bad you want "it" vs the sacrifice(s). Just IMHO..

Just wanted to add and not dogging here but it is what it is --- some of those at the Shootout could never run what Boyne Thunder waters had dished out last year. DCB comes to mind at the top of that list. I doubt Eliminator anything under 38 ft could run in that either just to name a few.

in the last 5 years some of the pleasure boats running are dam near full blown race boats and faster than full blown race boats from not long ago.i have a picture of dave scott at 185 in his race boat,today quite a few of the bigger pleasure boat cat,s are faster than 185.sooner or later steps need to be taken to make these events safer,imo that time is now.i think it will not take to long before the shorter course speeds will approach the current one mile speeds.will the spectators enjoy 170 vs 200 mph speeds?my guess is yes.

The excitement of the event is really not the speed, it's the acceleration all the way up to the speed. Shortening the course certainly will limit a few of the boats' top speeds, but it will definitely change participant's planned rate of acceleration.
While sitting for hours in staging at LOTO last year (uhhg), it was evident that the key to the biggest horsepower boats' runs was figuring out how to manage all the hp into getting the boat to take a set where the hp could be put to the water.
Shortening the course will reduce the time and distance available for these boats to accelerate safely and smoothly. I expect seeing more runs aborted and fewer "picture perfect" runs as teams work through the challenges of getting a grip on handling under harder acceleration.
I'm not sure it will actually appear to be safer at first glance but I hope the desired outcome of increased safety is met.

we are trying to do this with out any control surface's using a lifting body(no wings) the sport needs control surface systems even if its run by the sensors in a smart phone the technology if already developed and out there....top fuel hydro saftey pods that break away would help save lives we should never have a blow over we can stop it!....heres an example of having control systems darn cool ride! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo3Xr5Fxsws