Troublesome Boat Operation

[KAP]

Ok here is a crazy photo!

I was going to do a separate thread but thought I would just post it here.

This was a real photo taken at DSPR a couple years back. If you can zoom into the center of the photo.

I received this from a trusted source. I thought it was photo shop but it is not. I said no way and he assured me he witnessed it and a lady friend in the boat took the picture.

Nuts is all I have to say...mindless people.

[RogerThat99]

That DS pic is unbelievable. thanks for all the info KAP.

[Stainless]

That DS pic is unbelievable. thanks for all the info KAP.

Yea, WTF is that jet ski doing there? Even though he has a right to be there, thats just dumb!

[KAP]

The jet ski photo has to be one of the all time DARWIN award nominations.

I was speechless when I saw it .

In my boat the trim buttons are always at my finger tips [mounted on throttles]. I would love to get some valuable commentary from racers on techniques to avoid. That would be a good column to read.

KAP

P.S. Getting ready for Bayfair...it is going to be a fun weekend. I think someone should do a role call on who is going thread.

[GotHalos]

Thank you for the info.

As far as the jetski picture, I can't even fathom what on earth they were thinking. It seems to me the two passengers in the rear of the Skater are thinking the same thing.

[hpboats83]

Frankly, I think the problem is two fold, the boats are too fast and there's not enough training. I could literally today go and buy a 50' Mystic for 1.5MM (as a hypothetical for this conversation) and they will throw me the keys and I will be on the water tomorrow morning. Could you imagine me doing that with a Cesna with twin turbines? I could still go buy it today but I wouldn't be "on the water or in the air" for quite some time.

Even the best throttle man in the world runs into trouble due to situations out of his control when running at a extremely high rate of speed because he wasn't on a closed course. I'm not a fan of any more government regulation; however, I think that if you want to buy a boat (V or Cat) that runs over X speed, you need to prove some form of "ability to safely operate."

[hpboats83]

After thinking about this more, I wonder if you had a cat (let's pick on Mystic for the sake of this discussion) that had some sort of a front wing/canard (similar to the new Al Copeland boat "Phenomenon") that was computer controlled by some sort of a gyro-stabilization (don't think that's a real word) that could receive inputs hundreds of times per second/minute that could help maintain the attitude of a boat and help keep it flying level and when it sensed a blow over possible, make a severe correction to help prevent a blow over and prevent an accident before it happened, might turn into a great safety feature.

[2FORCEFULL]

Yea, WTF is that jet ski doing there? Even though he has a right to be there, thats just dumb!

I would say #2....lol

[Cat & Mice]

That DS pic is crazy.

Here is the problem with some wing to prevent blowing over. If in fact it worked then guys would push it to the point that it can not work. Just like they push the limits of the trim. It would only allow the boat to go faster to get to the edge. If the driver does not know how to stay off the edge then he will fall off eventually regardless of where the edge is.

These boats already go fast enough. We don't need wings to make them more stable at high speeds. They can already be stable at high speeds. You just have to know where the edge is and not get close to it.

MP

[gn7]

That DS pic is crazy.

Here is the problem with some wing to prevent blowing over. If in fact it worked then guys would push it to the point that it can not work. Just like they push the limits of the trim. It would only allow the boat to go faster to get to the edge. If the driver does not know how to stay off the edge then he will fall off eventually regardless of where the edge is.

These boats already go fast enough. We don't need wings to make them more stable at high speeds. They can already be stable at high speeds. You just have to know where the edge is and not get close to it.

MP

When you walk a tight rope, you have to be aware that you can fall off. You can decide to walk the wire 3 feet off the ground, or 300 ft. One might sprain your ankle, the other can get you killed. How much rush to you live for, and willing to give up to do it is your decision to make. Anybody that gets into one of those things and enters a Poker Run, or an actual offshore race and thinks it can't happen to them, shouldn't be getting in it to start with, because they are too clueless about what they are doing.
They have been kiting air packers since the day they were invented, and they will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Its the nature of the beast.

No wing is going to stop this. Only one thing comes to mind. Some means of relieving the tunnel pressure if the boat's attitude gets to a pre determined attack angle. Not unlike the flaps on the Cup cars that disrupts the airflow over the car.
It would require some type of inertia lever like the Cup cars have, that only allow it to activate when the attack angle of the boat exceeds a given point.
You cannot depend on the driver to do it, or even allow him to have control over it. There isn't enough time, or even the presence of mind to do it 99% of the time.

Unlimiteds have a canard wing to control the front lift, and they still kite REGULARLY. A canard wing is not the answer.