As you know by now, Dave and I rolled our cat in St Clair. Lucky, we are unhurt and the boat is fine with only the cowls missing. I wanted to thank everone for their help and concern, it was amazing. Eric from Strictly Business (our arch rival ) got the boat dried out and worked on it till 11pm! Mack and Warren from Joker were blowing out fuel lines. Rob (Phragel) help us all weekend. Guys, thank you! You are what makes racing OPA great.

On another note. Anytime you have an opportunity to do a dunker test, DO IT! The training kept me calm, we knew what to do and got out without trouble. It is amazing how hard it is to push open the hatch when you are upside down.

Lastly and most importantly, thank you to all the resuce people, EMS, Fire Chief and everyone who made sure we were all right. It was great to see you in the water. Thank you for calling my wife and letting her know we were alright.

Thanks again to everyone.

Dean Howard

Glad you guys are ok... I agree that the dunker should be performed every chance you get. The more you do it, the more your reaction becomes automatic.

we were so worried when we heard what happened, we could not see the roll from where we were at the St Clair Inn, one of the Jersey guys had a marine radio and heard you were OK. But it was sure great to see you later on the scooter, we assumed you were on the way back to make sure the boat got out of the water in one piece. We saw it hanging on the lift and it looked pretty good. Are you guys bruised and feeling sore?

Thanks alot. Sorry I couldn't talk we were having touble with the pump. Not even any bruises. Dave reinforced the canopy and it held up perfectly. Now today I got a kidney stone! What a couple of days!

It's truely amazing how far the boats have come as far as safety goes, not only does it give drivers more confidence to run harder but it also helps the spectators who have loved ones racing breathe easier from the shoreline. Great job by all the builders and crews.

Glad you guys are ok... Sounds like the boat held up and all the OPA Safety training worked perfectly.

Reindl

Sparky called me last night and told me you flipped but was not sure of your condition until later that evening. Glad to see you guys are ok!

Dean & Dave glad to hear you guys are OK, do you know what happened? Rick did you make the race?

Not with my Boat, Family emergency stopped everything and had me out of town all week. Saturday Morning Neil called and asked if I would like to throttle his boat and we lucked into 2nd in Class #5

You guys are the best!!! I had no less than 6 calls from different teams checking to see if our guys were ok and then several teams stopped at the crane to check on them. Warren and Mack ... you guys rock. It meant alot to me to see you guys come running up as soon as you heard and I really needed that hug. Thanks.

Dean and Dave .... dont scare me like that again. Love you guys!