I have seen the course map, and it looks like a quarter mile run up to the half
mile course. We lobbied for a fairly long run up to the half mile. 9-11 is the date.

thursday night before the shoot out all the boats that are
makeing runs are going to be down on main street st. charles from like five to eight or nine i think.

Gheez, are we gonna have enough water???

Until August we could not get out of our marina and were having to use the public ramp in Alton because the water was too high. Now it is too low.

My last trip there in june I had to deal with the low waters @ alton. How about the ramps in grafton?
If I get good news from my marina shop tomorrow I plan on being there for the races.

Speedy will be there for both the street party and the race

We are thinking about coming and wanted to know some details. Where is a good place to stay? Where can we launch the boat and what time does the shootout start?

we are planning on attending to view. Not sure if we will drag the boat home or not. What ramp would one use for a 36' V bottom to launch?

Other wise I might try to hitch a ride with someone that boats on the river.

I would look at Alton Il for lodging. Alton marina is nice and if low water becomes a problem there are 2 other ramps right along river road that is close proximity to Portage Des Sioux. Piasa creek and graftons harbor.
All race details are here:
http://www.backstoppersboatrace.com/LINKS-INFO.html

That is my old home town and I'm really hoping to make it if I can get my boat fixed in time..

The question I had myself for someone is, what is deadline for registration if you wanted to run?

Here is an awsome map that shows the the 3 Il marinas (Alton, Piasa, Grafton) in relationship to race site, Portage Des Sioux.

http://www.visitalton.com/pdfs/BywayBoatingMap.pdf

Baywatch there are always someone at Alton or Grafton to let you know about water depths for launching that 36.

Is it the same map at Visitalton ???
thnx