First Day At The Lake!

[Rich Jones]

Beautiful Day in Cincy! Hit the lake with Mario, Troy, TJ, and Robert. Backlash picked up where it left off last year. As I was starting to try some new props, the “Pond Gods” unleashed their fury on my turn fin . Ugh! Likely a turtle strike.

 

[Wasted wages]

Daym..... slow turtles.

Hit one with the twin a few years back, tore 1/4 of the bottom clean out of it...

 

[Roxyflash]

Nice to get out at least you were with good company!

 

[Rich Jones]

Well since the turn fin went byebye, I’ve completely lost the sweet spot I had with my setup. No matter what I did with 2-3 different fins and multiple strut adjustments, I haven’t been able to keep the boat from blowing off. So, I decided to go with the 1 in flat (no positive or negative angle) strut setting. Maybe a little deeper. I think I measured about 1 1/16. Then I put on a brand new G Force fin I got from Bob English. All the sudden, “Hey, not bad”. Two runs with no blowoffs. The only problem now is that I seem to have developed a carb problem. It has decent speed, but not what it was because it is surging at full throttle. I will rebuild the carb, as it is probably due and see what we have next week. So while I left the lake yesterday with an issue, the boat is handling much better. I’ll take it! Here’s some screen shots of a video of my boat in flight for your enjoyment

 

[Joey Jones]

Hate to see that. Bill Zuber hit a turtle with his hydro at SOWEGA a few weekends ago. That turn fin looked like it was shot with a .45! I couldn't believe it.

 

[Rich Jones]

A great shot from this past weekend taken by Mario Johnston showing the boat throwing up a massive rooster tail coming around buoy 6.

 

[Rich Jones]

Hate to see that. Bill Zuber hit a turtle with his hydro at SOWEGA a few weekends ago. That turn find looked like it was shot with a .45! I couldn't believe it.

Yeah it’s crazy. While realistically these boats are “toys”, the forces involved and speeds are no joke. What I found out the very next week was that it was NOT a turtle, but a large branch that was semi submerged. While our club is diligent about keeping debris off the course, there’s just no way to get everything all the time. They pulled the branch in the general area of the incident and saw a large slice out of it and it’s most likely what I hit. And it’s a great reminder about safety practices. There should never be anyone in or near the water while the boats are in. The drivers stand is about as close as you want to be because I’ve seen boats blow off and hit the beach (could have been mine, don’t remember ). I don’t even want to think about what could happen if someone got hit with one.

 

[bzubee]

Hate to see that. Bill Zuber hit a turtle with his hydro at SOWEGA a few weekends ago. That turn find looked like it was shot with a .45! I couldn't believe it.

This was my turn fin after it bit a turtle. They found the turtle the next day.

 

[Rich Jones]

Ouch!

 

[bzubee]

It wasn't a normal water turtle, I think it was a snapping turtle had a different type shell. It's dead now.

 

[Robert Dewater]

This was my turn fin after it bit a turtle. They found the turtle the next day.

Im guessing it killed the lil turtle dood ?

 

[bzubee]

Oh yeah it's not going hurt another boat.

 

[Rich Jones]

Oh yeah it's not going hurt another boat.

Doh!!!!

 

[Wasted wages]

 

[Lay26]

I was going to say Rich you are lucky... had a backlash come in the shop with half the back of the sponson blown out...turn fin was gone because of a turtle strike...I did the repairs and had her back on the water looking good