Big Waves Bigger Balls

[BDARCHER]

http://speedsociety.com/donzi-powerb...jump/?var=1320

[Ratickle]

I'm with you on this one,

I guess it's just another kid trying to find stuff on the web to copy and make his own goofy site.

[Top Banana]

Brings back memories. One way to compare the offshore racing of today with the old days is to remember running in big water was very common back then. The speeds were much lower as we often only averaged in the 70's or 80's for average speeds. We all stood up in bolsters that were made to hold you in really snug. We used our legs to take up the shock of re entry and everyone in the boat had a very strong bar or wheel to hold on to......those kept us from getting thrown out.

I think the average high performance offshore boater, really has no idea how to drive a boat like that in those conditions. Many of the courses we had to follow were over various wave angles and you just had to learn how to drive them. People today think the old courses were like todays, up and down the beaches, with running sideways between the swells and short turns every now and then. Think about a course, that you had to run up the face of a wave.... but leap off the top of it at the 10 O'clock position to stay on your compass course to the next mark. That meant you landed with the boat crooked between the swells and if you didn't keep the outdrives straight, the boat would spin out. Some legs were 50 to 60 miles between checkpoint boats.

Most races lasted about 3 hours and covered close to or just over 200 miles of open ocean.

[Ratickle]

Jim chats about how the old Key West races were longer to the first turn pillow, on the first lap, than the entire race is now days.