Just a thought...and....don't get your panties in a knot..:-)

[DON MAHER]

Andy,

Your right about how far a boat can travel out of the water at the very high speeds we are seeing now, and the risk is very real that a serious injury may happen. But, the risk is just as real at a heat race with a 60mph boat that is out of control for what ever reason! Point is, longer shut down is safer.

Don

PS. Just for clarification, Jeorges boat hit the shore about 50ft. past the lights & ski ramped that long distance.

It did not blow off.

 

[Andy Greene]

Andy,

Your right about how far a boat can travel out of the water at the very high speeds we are seeing now, and the risk is very real that a serious injury may happen. But, the risk is just as real at a heat race with a 60mph boat that is out of control for what ever reason! Point is, longer shut down is safer.

Don

PS. Just for clarification, Jeorges boat hit the shore about 50ft. past the lights & ski ramped that long distance.

It did not blow off.

Thanks for the clarification Don , It had been a while since I watched the video - tried to find it - seems its been shelved so to speak, would love to see it again,

as I recall it tripped and flew , but yeah.

 

[Mark Stein]

Rod,

Personally I would not be in favor of changing the 330' distance. It is true that I use all the course length possible, but with my SAW riggers are predictable and I let them coast as long as possible before I give them some rudder to turn around. A big component of SAW racing is keeping the boat at speed for that minimum distance. We have all seen plenty of boats trip the first light and blow over before they reach the second one. Keeping the length consistent keeps the challenge consistent and hence records are consistent.

I believe it would also be costly to resurvey the courses to make shorter lengths. Some of the lakes would not be terribly difficult as the lights are on two shores. However some of the lakes like Legg Lake and Flint have poles in the middle of the lake, making it difficult.

Tyler

Another +1

 

[Mark Grannis]

I see the point of having more run up room, But.....Tylers record of 133 mph only took 1.6 seconds to go 330 feet. If you cut the timed distance to 200 feet you only extend run up distance by 65 feet and run down distance by 65 feet. So, you only have 65 extra feet to slow down So, the reality is.........Tyler gets 3 tenths of a second more time to slow down before hitting the bank. That is not worth the effort to shorten the timed distance!

John

Nice perspective Mr. Finch. Please make sure all people are following the safety rules at timed events and races at all times. Pond length is not a factor in safety ever.

 

[shoboat]

Boaters,

Come to Thread Lake in Flint, Michigan next week.

There is plenty of room to run up and shut down safely.

Lake is over 900 feet wide

And over 4000 feet long I believe,Terry will know the exact

dimensions.

Thanks For Reading,

Mark Sholund

 

[gooycheese]

My thought would be, our straight away records are like bonneville salt flat land speed records, not like 1/4 mile drags. Ya know I was amazed at how much lead in to the straight aways you do have. Mr Finch makes sence to me.

 

[DON MAHER]

Hey John,

Not questioning your math, but 133mph is not what we are talking about here. Tyler's T hydro record is almost 143 mph and as I am sure you are aware was close to, if not over 150mph exiting the traps! How many ft. do you burn for every 1sec. you don't react on the shut down? See were we are going with this? 750-800ft shut down is just not going to be enough when speeds get up to these high numbers, witch will be in the very near future!

Don

 

[Terry Keeley]

Boaters,

Come to Thread Lake in Flint, Michigan next week.

There is plenty of room to run up and shut down safely.

Lake is over 900 feet wide

And over 4000 feet long I believe,Terry will know the exact

dimensions.

Thanks For Reading,

Mark Sholund

Thread lake is one of the biggest sites we run at, about 2100' x 700' (to the sensor poles).

 

[Don Ferrette]

One other thing that I'd like to point out is that the speed isn't the only obstacle, keeping the boat on the water for the full distance is no less a challenge. For all the years I've been doing SAWs I can't even begin to count how many times I've witnessed a completely ballistic pass come to a premature end as the boat left the water, some of those being my own stuff. I feel that shortening the trap length will make it easier and takes away from those who've set records at the full 330'. There is no question that everyone should be following all the rules especially regarding safety and insuring the well being of both participants AND spectators, but to play the safety card here doesn't hold much merit in my opinion. Everyone one knows there are inherent risks involved with what we do and we all still make the choice to do so.................

 

[Terry Keeley]

Just watch the lat 5 sec.

 

[Don Ferrette]

I remember that one Terry. This was a video done by Chris Harris' son from the 2011 E-City spring SAWs, we set a ton of records that weekend-

 

[Terry Keeley]

Sweet!

 

[KenOlvis]

One other thing that I'd like to point out is that the speed isn't the only obstacle, keeping the boat on the water for the full distance is no less a challenge. For all the years I've been doing SAWs I can't even begin to count how many times I've witnessed a completely ballistic pass come to a premature end as the boat left the water, some of those being my own stuff. I feel that shortening the trap length will make it easier and takes away from those who've set records at the full 330'. There is no question that everyone should be following all the rules especially regarding safety and insuring the well being of both participants AND spectators, but to play the safety card here doesn't hold much merit in my opinion. Everyone one knows there are inherent risks involved with what we do and we all still make the choice to do so.................

Now that is the best reason to leave things as is.

 

[Andy Greene]

One other thing that I'd like to point out is that the speed isn't the only obstacle, keeping the boat on the water for the full distance is no less a challenge. For all the years I've been doing SAWs I can't even begin to count how many times I've witnessed a completely ballistic pass come to a premature end as the boat left the water, some of those being my own stuff. I feel that shortening the trap length will make it easier and takes away from those who've set records at the full 330'. There is no question that everyone should be following all the rules especially regarding safety and insuring the well being of both participants AND spectators, but to play the safety card here doesn't hold much merit in my opinion. Everyone one knows there are inherent risks involved with what we do and we all still make the choice to do so...........

Boaters,

Come to Thread Lake in Flint, Michigan next week.

There is plenty of room to run up and shut down safely.

Lake is over 900 feet wide

And over 4000 feet long I believe,Terry will know the exact

dimensions.

Thanks For Reading,

Mark Sholund

Thread lake is one of the biggest sites we run at, about 2100' x 700' (to the sensor poles).

Take a good long look at Tylers record run - bout 5 secs in -

Legg may have all the room in the world , but that means nothing if you dont keep people out of the way . At least 1 of those 3 people where 15-20 ft or less from that boat at speed.

the other 2 , not much better, if you ever saw the Jeorge video - well yeah .

Im almost beside myself that you guys run with zero safety netting, In a public park .

Not trying to be the safety police here , just pointing out some VERY obvious dangers that IF it happened - will be a game changer for sure.

https://youtu.be/hx1rm-8QSFQ

 

[RaceMechaniX]

Andy,

Trust me when I say you are not the first person to point out spectators and their proximity. They are actually further away than the video makes them look appear, but it was too close. Following this video and all the uproar we bought safety fence, stakes and printed signs. Guess what, the park made us take it down. We were allowed to leave the signs up, but all the fence had to be removed. Legg Lake is a public park and people are allowed to sit, fish and generally do what they want short of swimming in the lake. We chase the fisherman away from the trap area and require a spotter for all boats running. It's still dangerous, that will not change.

Most of the lakes I have run at have similar issues where they are publicly accessible.

Tyler

 

[John Finch]

Hey John,

Not questioning your math, but 133mph is not what we are talking about here. Tyler's T hydro record is almost 143 mph and as I am sure you are aware was close to, if not over 150mph exiting the traps! How many ft. do you burn for every 1sec. you don't react on the shut down? See were we are going with this? 750-800ft shut down is just not going to be enough when speeds get up to these high numbers, witch will be in the very near future!

Don

Don,

I was just using 133 mph as an example. Trying to get things in perspective. At e- city my gas boat enters the traps in the 90 mph range and leaves the traps at 115 for what the timing lights says is 102 mph. I undersand the boats are still accelerating as they go through the traps, so you are right...... less time to shut down than one might think. Longer lakes are my only suggestion. Perhaps Terry's Lake is the place to do SAW. I stopped running SAW at E-city with my gas boats because even though my boats are faster than my records indicate, there is just not enough room to go faster through the timing lights. Got to live with the facts and travel far far away if I want to go faster on the clock. Not sure I am up for that. Flint is a long way away.

John

 

[bzubee]

John bring them to Huntsville We have loads of room now!

 

[John Finch]

I am tempted Bill. It is hard to justify a day and a half drive and $1,000 in travel and hotel to what may be just watching the wind blow like the last two times I was there. I know you can't control the weather and the pond looks really nice with the course on the other side. Believe me, I am tempted. If I can find someone else to go with me I might give it a shot again. Maybe I should set up some mono hulls for rough water. That may be the ticket.

John

 

[DON MAHER]

John,

I know how you feel about the travel time and expense. I feel the same! This is one of the reasons to look at different ways to use our existing courses!!! The new Huntsville is course is very nice and I know why it is called "Huntsville", because you are always hunting for calm water LOL

Don

 

[KenOlvis]

Moving timing marks isnt making the lake bigger.

If the boat is still accelerating through the course an haven't reach top speed by the end marker traps now. How is this new approach going to be a benefit. A bigger lake is the only answer more approach more runoff.