Offshoreonly.com - I flew in a BAT BOAT!!!! Thanks TOM!!!

Bat-Boat Tom drove all the way from San Diego, up to Long Beach last Saturday with his hot-rod Bat Boat in tow to take myself and Kevin on rides!!! I didn't think he was going to ever make it since he's never been up there, but better late than never!

Anyway, we met him at the dock in Long Beach, and OMG!!! That boat is mucho smaller than I ever imagined! When he started to pull up to the dock, I was starting to really wonder what this boat was all about.....I mean, it is only something like 22 feet, with about 600+ HP???? What am I thinking, what am I doing?

My worries lasted about 2 seconds!! :) :) Tom docked his BB and we finally met and talked about the boat while I put on a full LifeLine suit. I have never been in a boat where you are harnessed in with a cockpit and all, so this was quite the adventure. I crawled in, snapped the 5-point belt on, put the helmet on, plugged the intercom in, put the neckbrace on, fastened my hatch, and I was ready for action!!!

We idled out of the no-wake zone while I was telling Tom....."Hey Tom, you don't need to impress me.....okay?" :D :D

He hit the throttle and the boat jumped on plane. The boat is somewhat difficult to see out of, so he asked me to tell him of any boats I saw. So I did........I pointed out the 70 foot Catalina Flyer cat heading towards us, and mentioned that it throws off a pretty good wake. :) My mistake......next thing I know we're heading for the wake at about 70mph.........YAHOOOOOOOOO!!! We flew about 2 boat lengths and landed perfectly. We headed out past the breakwater to the nasty stuff and the BB flew straight and level. Quite the experiance.

Thanks Tom for the experiance. It was really something and we hope to see you in San Diego next month when SCOPE comes down!!!