Rip High Life!
 

So sad, our thoughts and prayers are with his family...



http://news.bostonherald.com/news/re...&position=also

god bless you. you will be missed mike

I hung out with him on many occasions he will be missed was a great guy.
All of the comments made on the story pisses me off sorry just a side note
-Mike

very sad

Very sad.... rip... high life!!!

Very tragic my heart goes out his family I remember seeing him at the seaport a couple years back seemed like a great guy. Very sure he will be missed. God bless

after reading some of the coments i see the ignorance of people. they hear cigaret boat and see a black guy on the bow and automatically think its a young stupid hoodlum, little do they know it was a non drunk, retired race boat driver who was 58 years old.
i hate stupid people.

they keep saying the boat capsized, thats not what hapened. seas where 2-4 foots with some boat waves in between, the guys where not close to anyone or harming anyone.
mikes boat came out of the water a little bit and when it landed the 30 year old hull just couldnt take it. it blew apart. just disintegrated. the motors still attached to the transom took off another 100 feet at wide open then sank very fast.
the boat just came apart. it wasnt alcohol or bad driving it was boat malfunction best i could see

Wow.
 

In absolute shock. We had been talking about putting a Bahamas trip together. Great guy, full of knowledge and always offering to help. Still have all the pix's he sent me of his boat.
Prayers to friends, family and survivors. Can't imagine being part of the group on scene.
Prayers also to the survivor. Please keep us posted.

Gary

for what its worth i went back and read my info, i said race, but it was not a "race" the few go fast where leaving so they cruzed slow down the river then spun around and did a fly buy for everyone. there was a guy in a cat doing it all day. i shouldnt say race. one of the boats ran 80, one 70 and one 62 so theres not much of a race there.

thanks for sharing your story, this is the kind of stuff you wont read in the media. RIP high life

most of the stuff in the media is false. yes he is going to have alcohol in is system, we where drinking, he was calm and steady because he knew he was driving home and hade 4 others on the boat. when he was leaving i in no way thought he was drunk, or even buzzed. a couple of the passengers where but who cares. i ended up shatered but i was sleeping over so who cares. like i said he was not at fault, he may have had the speed up there but he wasnt out of control, he wasnt buzzing the beach or people on it, there was little to no boat traffic it was a very controled fly buy, there was other boats right with him that where 100% fine, so its not like he did something wrong. its to bad. he was going to do the poker run next weekend then come meet up with us for my birthday party. sucks. i am going to miss him and his very knowledgeable ways

some people just met him that day and everyone was like wow, what a nice guy, man he loves boats etc etc and that was before anything happened.

Tragic and so sorry to hear about your good friend. Can't imagine the loss. This was broadcast on CNN early this morning, I ck'd our website and nothing stated yet. Was hoping not one of our own. RIP.

its always the good guys getting killed
 

man I feel for you been there twice, loosing Mike sux real bad , he was a real nice guy. me and SS Mike stopped by Mikes house for hours one day coming back from maine. he had so many pics of the old races and knew a lot. I think he has a lil donzi 16, 18 in his yard that we was working on too.I wonder if his kids need help with bills coming up and the other guy who was with him missing work. if so we could do a run this fall for Mike out of walters place TKOs a run from either plymouth or cohasset to boston and back we could stop at. I made a chart with 5stops 2years ago for Mike for a pokerrun he wanted to do so its somewhere in my house. so we you help out with any outstanding bills his kids might end up with. we talked a few weeks ago about adding tanks to my saber so I could run a around long island race or the one off fl next year. he had 5 tanks in his boat. well hope to see everyone at fallriver run in my saber.well I hope his son lets us know if he needs help. gona m iss yah MIKE god bless RIP.ps Noyzee take care of youself and the others with you its tuff at 1st to go back out after seeing something like this. Artie:(:(:(

thanks art and let me know. maybe we can do something. not sure whats what just yet but i need to get the info on the arrangements etc.
very sad

Can anybody pm me any of his info ( I.E. ) mailing address? I'd like to make a anonymous donation to his family to help with final expenses. I didn't know him other than his posts on this site, but as a fellow boater I feel its my duty to help.
Having dealt with two family members final expenses in recent years I know it is very costly especially when its unexpected. And I'm sure his family would appreciate some support.
[email protected]
Sincerely, mike diamond

Do you think.....
 

there's a chance it was mechanical failure??? Sounds like from you experienced witnesses that is was more in the line of hull failure due to wave impact?? Can't get past the idea of all the old Magnum race boats still in operation though. I guess with enough use/miles/fatigue etc, anything is possible.
If it had been steering failure (what always has me scared) it most likely would have snap rolled.
The description of it looking like an explosion though just doesn't add up.
I've raced and then played with fast boats all my life and lost many, many friends and it is never easy. To be there as a witness to something like this though is just numbing.
Know that we are all behind scenes with you in our thoughts and prayers as well.
I agree with helping the families how ever we can.
Well done guys.

A copied post from another OSO thread

#46
aintercept
Registered


Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 2 I have a 35 Cig Playboy and often run with Mike. I was not with him yesterday but according to a local HM they were coming in-bound which would have made it a following sea off Boston Light. According to an eye witness the boat launched straight into the air and came down on its stern and slapped into a 5-foot roller. The deck of the boat was torn right off and Mike was likely killed instantly. The passenger was air lifted to an area hospital with sever injuries. The mystery to me is that Mike has been running offshore boats for the last 30+ years. I am so disturbed to think that this happened to a seasoned veteran. But let it be a lesson to us all that these things can happen in a fast boat and we need to always be aware of the limitations of our boats and the operator. This is a loss that will effect me dearly.


I seriously doubt some of the comments in the thread above. Sorry. Likely when the boat stuffed, the water pressure forces were enough to blow apart the srewed and bolted hull to deck joint. The water pressure forces on a stuff impact are huge, but I doubt it blew apart the hull.

Before everyone disects this accident, let's respect that Mike had 30 years of offshore powerboat experince in these waters.

God rest his soul, and let's pray for his passenger!

Really no need to explain. I would hope most of us here on OSO wouldn't read too deep into your comments and jump to conclusions. That's what the outside media is for!

What a shame!

Anybody know who was riding with him? Was he an OSO member? What is his condition?

Very sad.... rip... high life!!!

:(

This is a sad day!

Having PMd back and forth but never met in person, one of the reasons I was considering the mass PR over the CT run was to finally meet him in person and put a face with the name.

He will be in my thoughts and prayers as will the passenger and his family

Performance is about pushing it closer to the limits. This could have happened to any one of us on any given day.

it was not driver error from what i can tell. maybe a bit fast but mike being a pro i wouldnt think he would over drive the boat. i guaranty he hit the wave and was just waiting to land and go for the next but the boat didnt make it.

Artie I remeber the night like it was last night we had to be there for atleast 3.5 hours and we looked up'd the O/B Saber talking about mikes 300 XS's and how they would scream on that and if the Carerra I had used a pair. I figured he was with you Noyzee
-Mike

Very sad! My thoughts go out to those that are friends and family. This is unfortunately like the third or forth type of accident this year. Becareful out there and keep this in the back of your head.

He loved those 300x 's!

Tragic loss.Met Mike at Borden Light a few years ago. RIP

Ive been thinking about this all day and can't help but wonder??? I'm sure everyone here has pushed their boat to or past the limit. And I'd also imagine that mike had run his boat a lot harder before than he was this past weekend. It was just a freak accident. So sad.

Also the comments on this in the herald are horrible, the people are commenting like he and all " cigarette boaters " deserve this.

I was looking forward to meeting Mike next weekend at Earls Marine poker run. The love he had for Offshore boating was obvious. The name of his boat says it all " HIGH LIFE " God Speed MIKE.

High Life Accident
 

Hello to all on this forum, I am the son of the passenger in Mike Spirito's boat at the time of the accident.

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words, Mike was a friend of our family for the past 15-20 years and I know my dad enjoyed spending time with him either on his boat or just shooting pool at my dad's place.

My dad will be in the hospital for the next few weeks with several injuries, broken jaw, lost teeth, broken facial bones, and will require several surgeries.

I will pass on all your prayers and well wishes to him.

For Mike's family reading this our prayers and sympathy go out to you for your loss we will all miss Mike dearly, he was a great guy and lots of fun to be around.

"Coming on line now to hear this is just shocking!........spoke to him in the early spring. He was advocating (as always) the benefits of OB's on a magnum. Just unbelievable and sad! .........Something very catastrophic happened to mike's hull on re-entry and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the hull & deck bond letting go. I've found (on inspection) the weakest point on my 27 sport was obviously the hull & deck bond. Glassed only at the nose and midship the rest of the bolted deck moved to freely for my comfort.............what a tragedy and loss!

Skytech67 my prayes are with you and your dad for a full recovery..... Mike was a very good friend who would would call to talk boating especially in january when it was 10 degrees.....we had to be ready for April..... thanks for all of your support.... my prays are with you both.......

Rip

Really hope your dad gets better quickly and makes a full recovery!
Well be hoping for the best for him and keeping him in our thoughts

Very sad story, rest in peace Mike.

skytech67, I wish your dad the best in hopes of a good recovery.


I have to agree, Those jerks have no idea what they are talking about. The article didn't even get all the details right. And then we have people saying that he deserved it for going fast. The article didn't even say how fast he was going. It pisses me off. Especially saying that cigarette boaters deserve to die.

Yup they can all suck it mike was the man and I'm down for a mike remeberence run I don't care if I have to paddle my toilet
-Mike

Rip High Life
 

RIP Mike, so sad, sorry your life was cut short.

Horrible news...

Mike Family

Our prayers go out for you and for Mike to RIP.. He is talking about O/Bs with the racers up there.

Skytech67,, Prayers for your Dad and his full recovery

Jim

RIP Mike

NK

mike i agree a fun run in remeberence of mike , have cpba get it together and all proceeds raised go to his family

While it sounds like your father has some rather serious injuries, I'm glad to hear he will pull though this in time. Please send him our best wishes...