Happened at the Desert Storm Shootout in Lake Havasu this weekend. A 38' Skater with approx. 10,000 horsepower had just eclipsed 200 mph when it lifted off and took flight. Video captured one of the most astonishing aerobatic acts in powerboat racing...
Jeez, did the crew break their necks? These jumps seems to be quite predictable, why don’t they change the design or the limits, speed, power, whatever? If a Formula 1 car had lost control and gone airborne at their normal competition speed they would have been outlawed. (Never done boat racing but came along on a mx run on a Cigarette 38, with 800 hp going down the FL East Coast at 60 knots, more than enough for this sailboater, not pleasant or fun, irresponsible maybe? )
I was just about to ask about that. Naw, No wings or areo trim, only lift from the hull. Ya think a bit much??
As far as I know this is not completely accurate. There were no boats with active aero competing, but I don't believe there is a ban. Even the Lake of the Ozark Shootout which is a larger event and somewhat part of the same series does not list active aero as banned. The safety requirements are legitimately very minimal. I do agree that active aero could have possibly prevented this. Luckily both driver and throttleman survived with relatively minor injuries.
The guys were in space longer than Bezos' "astronauts". Kidding aside, these guys are incredibly lucky. I used to race F2-07 Wild Child, an Outerlimits. In 2014, the builder, Mike Fiore was killed in an identical blow over crash at the Lake of the Ozarks shootout. A 50' cat hull, same speeds, same distance and height flown. Even with state of the art safety equipment, it all depends on how the boat lands. There's a lot of protection from forward facing impacts but landing upside down/backwards or sideways is really bad. Mike Fiore Crash at the 2014 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout
The upside to pseudonyms is not having your name attached to something like too much trim at 200 mph.