Winger Ed.
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2004
- Messages
- 649
Last week, I went out with Hooty for a bit of high speed boating. Or, so I thought when we made the plans.<br /><br />The wind was gusting, and after launching, I noticed the waves were running about 2' high*** and white capping.<br /><br />***<br />In the new hydro, your butttt is about even with the water's surface, and the bottom of the hull is pretty much flat. So, in rough conditions, keeping the nose of it up is rather important.<br />**** <br /><br />No problem, I thought. We'll just get over to the other side where the cliffs block the wind. The water will be flat, and I can test my new settings and hi-tech 26" Chopper prop. <br /><br />In doing so, I tried to keep the nose up, that meant that at about 30mph,,,, only the last 6-8 inches of the top of EVERY!!! wave or swell was chopped off and sent straight into my face. This is while you're taking a pounding that would push the average size hemoroid up under your eyebrows. <br /><br /><br />Much to my relief, Hooty finally came around and passed me, as he hugged the shore I was trying to get to.<br /><br />As he passed, I swung in behind him. I figgered his boat would flatten the water a bit.<br /><br /><br />So, I pulled in behind him and punched it....<br /><br />All I remember is feeling the prop bite, the normal sensation of acceleration where your sunglasses try to become contac lenses, and seeing the tach go past 5000. Which is about 70mph.<br /><br />Then,<br />Before I could react, and get off the 'go' pedal, There was a 'rough' wave about a foot tall at eye level and right in front of me..... Then I was on it. <br /><br />About a millionth of a second later, I was airborne, but still accelerating over the top of that wave like a motorcycle making a jump.<br /><br />Then, before that millionth of a second had passed,,,,,,, the boat stopped its verticle assent, tipped over, and nosed in. Shortly thereafter, I was looking up at the surface of the lake, feeling my life vest pulling me up and out of POCO LOCO.<br /><br />WOW!!!,,, WHAT A RUSH!!! <br /><br />At this point, my sunglasses had departed the Airframe. But while they pushed back hard enough to bruise my smooth, delicately complected forehead,,,, they did keep the water from going up under them around the corner, and blasting up under my eyelids.<br /><br /><br />In that instant, I looked up and saw the surface of the lake...... I figured the front of the boat had about 5,000 pounds of bouyancy, and since we were coming up so fast,,,, I just held my breath and hung onto the steering wheel rather than relax and let myself be lifted out. <br /><br /><br />I don't know how deep we dove, but I do remember it seemed to get darker and darker before I saw it getting more and more bright as me & the boat changed direction and were pulled up and closer to the Sun. The 150 Merc. V-6 flipped up hard enough to crush the top cowling and destroy the fwd. cable of the twin cable steering system. That's when I think the overtilt mercury switch shut it off. I wonder if the engine wasn't so healthy and with such high compression, it wouldn't have rotated a few more times rather than coming to rest as it did. I think with 3 or 4 more revolutions of the crankshaft- it would have sucked in a bit of Lake Grapevine in the process, and destroyed itself. <br /><br />Anyway;<br />On the downstroke, the weight of the engine coming down so hard & fast ripped the transom about half way off. The top braces going from the transom to the frame of the boat made from 1/4" Al. bar stock were torn apart at their mounting holes. <br /><br />But;<br />After coming to rest....more or less above the level of the lake.... The cockpit and my lap was filled level full with water, I heard both bilge pumps come on and empty it in about a minute or 2. <br /><br />Then, after gathering my wits, I hit the key and and that bad boy Merc. fired right up and brought me back to the dock.<br /><br />///////<br /><br />I could go on with a few more details, but my hands are starting to shake a bit much as I realize how lucky I am.<br /><br />I have to stop and appreciate the fact that God really does love old Marines.......<br /><br /><br />,,,Lots of guys have done what I did, not even going as fast as I did,,,,, but they didn't survive the experiance. <br /><br />S/F,<br />SSGT Ed.<br /><br /><br />But, then again,,,,,,,<br /><br />WOW!!<br />What a Rush,!!!!,,,,,,<br /><br />If it wasn't so hard on the boat,,,,, I'd sort of like to do that a couple more times..........
<br /><br />Aldo
