[ApS]

Mee-n-Mac: I recall your post on that incident. I was going to ask a question but then forgot to. I'll ask it now ... what do you estimate his speed to have been ?

APS: It was likely his WOT (wide open throttle). One would have to do a search of his boat and his motor displacement (which I couldn't have possibly noted, except for color) to get "a figure" for WOT. The speed record for bass boats was set this summer, at 112MPH.

I was reading, anchored, with no other boat traffic for miles. The options open to me included standing up to jump clear. There was no time...I had no chance. It was my closest call on Winnipesaukee.

That includes being thrown out of my own boat at speed, and once having been chased -- at night -- by a drunk neighbor with his lights out. Now that he's passed-on last year, I can safely say here that it was the Cris Craft cruiser "Sea Witch". (About 27-feet long). I think I have a few neighbor-colleagues (here at winni.com) who can verify that boat, and perhaps its owner's proclivities while boating.

Here: Try a similar relaxing, sunny, reading afternoon anchored off your shore. It could raise your "Fear Factor". Anchored, you no longer have the option to swerve "safely".

Sidebar: I have a license in SCCA's "Flagging & Communications". (SCCA is amateur car racing).

In Flagging, one learns how to dodge little "Formulas" -- and big Camaros -- spinning at you just using your "Nike power". While track safety has improved, I learned...fear.

There was a racing team sponsored by the "No Fear" brand of clothing. At a driver's school contemporary with that team's presence, we instructors were handed-out free T-shirts that had the message "Know Fear". It took some of the "macho" out of the students.

Mee-n-Mac: I also wanted to ask if you were of the opinion that he never saw you, just saw you and turned or just plain old "buzzed" you ?

APS: He never saw me -- he took sudden evasive action -- only just soon enough to miss me by [a too-close] 40 feet. There's that old missing 110-feet problem. I suspect that he was "touring" at WOT. There is a lot of new construction along my shoreline to ogle. I've "toured" it too, but at sane speeds.

There was no "buzz"-- no intervening objects. This was October, and a neighbor's raft -- formerly at 300 feet distant -- had been removed for the season. It was an open sightline to my anchored rowboat and me. No excuse for this behavior -- or that speed.

That said, I don't think speeding bass boats pose a threat in most early morning bass tournaments. There's usually a lot of fog then, and they proceed -- with their GPS, and at WOT -- at their own peril. I don't have a problem with a single sky-diver, motorcyclist, or boater speeding. It's when they play amongst us that bothers me -- a lot.

You're "senior enough" here to also recall my post -- here at winni.com -- about the tunnel hull boat that split the difference between my dock and a 14-foot Hobie (used as a raft due to dropped wind) by five teenage girls? I was criticized: "It couldn't have been going over 100MPH". (I think I said 110MPH).

Speeds on tunnel hulls have exceeded 170MPH, I've since discovered. Here's a video at just 150MPH. Their insurance premiums (in the five figures) exceed their bank loan payments today! Below is a photo of the underside, to show the tunnel hull/ catamaran design.

Mee-n-Mac: Same, only darker.

APS: The humor -- if that what it is -- is losing me. A sightline is especially important at night.

Mee-n-Mac: I could make an assumption here but I rather you explain more. Can you explain a bit more on the tunnel vision effect. What's it's nature, what happens and at what speeds ? I think I know what you mean but I'd rather not assume.

APS: The best way to experience "tunnel vision" is to accelerate a Porsche Turbo from a stop to "as fast as you dare" on a familiar street.

Your vision resolutely collapses into a tiny dot on the "sightline". Nothing appears peripherally, except blurred, ephemeral, streaks.***

I mean, I've got hours at 130MPH. I know "tunnel vision". I know Fear. You must not have read the URL I posted here, last time, on "tunnel-vision".

***(The streaks diminish as the rate of acceleration slows, but "tunnel vision" continues to increase; or, the "important" image in the very center of your vision decreases in size).

Mee-n-Mac: Should we set up a kiddie pool because Les Hall said it?

APS: That was Les...being "tongue in cheek".

(I still don't understand M&M's "Cockapoos are more dangerous than Rotweilers" thread. Or how anyone with a nodding acquaintence -- or better -- with physics, can defend mass, energy and speed in 4½ Bajas at WOT. Or how fast boats take up less of the lake than slow boats. It seems like I'm debating someone TWI)!

We don't always express our thoughts cogently: I'm certainly guilty of it -- but I can blame caffeine! I certainly hope I never appear to be defending hopeless causes -- like BWI, DWI, OWI, TWI -- or something.

Les Hall is certainly one of the Internet's Best on ALL powerboating issues. He has even defended "Blow-Boaters!" (Note his other, balanced, answers to issues regarding "GFBLs", their "Speed Bumps", and their "Lake Lice" complaints).

Cal: Here's another example of these "Bad Boys" at work

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Personally? I think it's the cynical answer to bad headlines and to boost an agenda. It's lipstick on a pig.

It's not like the former American Cancer Society benefits put on by local airplane pilots on Winnipesaukee. They needed no "special protection" from laws and bad headlines.

Yours is a "nice" evil. It's like the tax on cigarettes: It may be funding some worthwhile Government program with "our" tax money, but it will still shorten lives in the end.

I recall $45,000 given to the winner of a California Offshore Poker Run. That was $45,000 less that went to charity that day. With $345,000-and-up speedboats, having "loaded" owners with Tournillon, Littlefield, Mastronardi, and too many other's reputations, what else could they do but kidnap a charity to boost an agenda?

Leave out the Boat Rides/Poker Run part, and I'd be slapping you guys on the back!

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