Michigan City SBI Races

[Twin Whackas]

Is anyone planning on doing a Saturday fun run again this year? We have done it the last several years and it is nice to
see all the boats out running together. The last couple of years everyone met up on the west side of Burns Harbor and started
a run back towards MC around 11:30. This gets everyone back in time to hang out by the course and watch some of the
race boats practicing.

[redhotsommer]

If I am on the water, I will be there.

[teamsynergy]

Any word on the fountain? Is it alive or still dead?

[redhotsommer]

Waiting on cap and rotor. Also, my truck is absent (dent being pulled and paint retouched), so I'm really up a creek right now.

[teamsynergy]

Waiting on cap and rotor. Also, my truck is absent (dent being pulled and paint retouched), so I'm really up a creek right now.

If you would have bought that AT... the boat problem would have been solved!!! :beatdeadhorse5:

[OBNOXUS]

Waiting on cap and rotor. Also, my truck is absent (dent being pulled and paint retouched), so I'm really up a creek right now.

You can always used the dually if its not done in time

[teamsynergy]

You can always used the dually if its not done in time

Aren't you using it for Joe's boat? Besides, he can use his fat tire bike to tow his boat...

[redhotsommer]

Kev said the truck would only take a couple days...hope to have it today or tomorrow.

[OBNOXUS]

Aren't you using it for Joe's boat? Besides, he can use his fat tire bike to tow his boat...

LOL.....he used his own last time,,,,,,4 low and floored it actually moves it !!!!!!!

[OBNOXUS]

Kev said the truck would only take a couple days...hope to have it today or tomorrow.

Nice !!!!

[Magic Medicine]

LOL.....he used his own last time,,,,,,4 low and floored it actually moves it !!!!!!!

WOW, I thought he had a Dodge Dually?????

[OBNOXUS]

WOW, I thought he had a Dodge Dually?????

He does,,,,,thus the problem !!!!

well,,,,a V-10 Dodge !!!!

[Ratickle]

This morning he said the truck wasn't ready yet, so iffy!!

[OBNOXUS]

Truck done,,,,,boat done,,,,he left my shop grabbed his bride and headed to the lake !!!

[Ratickle]

Sweet,now just dodge the friggin big storms!!!!

80 MPH gusts!!!

[OBNOXUS]

Sweet,now just dodge the friggin big storms!!!!

80 MPH gusts!!!


Rode them out at the beach,,,,,it was pretty interesting !!!!!!!!

[Ratickle]

We got poured on before Wrink's wedding up here while tieing up the boats from the day out. But then for the wedding, perfect....

We were all watching the radar and seeing Chicago get pounded and it heading at Michigan City

[Ratickle]

The Race was cancelled. Had one water rescue of a swimmer, another one missing or it was a false alarm, don't know which yet.

Anyway, too rough, no race today......:(


I really feel badly for the organizers and those who trailer their boats so far to be there. I guess there were 17 total race participants. I'll fill everyone in more as I get more info.

[Ratickle]

Talking to some friends who were out yesterday in Lake Michigan out of Holland, said they had a blast. 5's to 6's biggest, kinda steep so an occasional hard hit.

I wonder why they didn't move the course out a bit farther and run? Has anyone talked with the organizers yet to see how the discussion went?

[redhotsommer]

I'm not sure what happened, but I was kind of shocked that they cancelled the race. Does that even happen in the ocean? We did a great job of going to the races without actually GOING to the races! Got into MC at like 6:30pm, enjoyed a couple cocktails on the lake, slipped in and had fun on the docks all night. Walked part of the pits Saturday morning, then went out to the beach all day...didn't even see the practice! Thankfully, we left when we did...I was on the trailer LITERALLY 2 minutes before that front came through. I couldn't even drive through it...had to pull over and put the flashers on. It was NUTS.

[paulb32]

Well I heard the announcer say "We wanted Mike S to be the pase boat this year. But since his new boat isn't hear yet, we are cancelling all activities for today!". He went on to say ..." If the USCG could see that AT go through this sutff, they might release their Small Craft Warnings and allow racing again...".


Seriously, I'm pretty sure is was USCG made the call, not SBI. Heard the announcer say "it wasn't SBI's call". I think the SUCG needed to keep their Small Craft Warning in effect, thus couldn't allow racing to go on with "small" crafts by their standards. I don't know if all of this is true, nor do I speak for the USCG, jsut reporting what I heard and piecing things together.

[ICDEDPPL]

Has anyone talked with the organizers yet to see how the discussion went?

Yes I did.. they said 'who the F*** are you!??'

[Ratickle]

Yes I did.. they said 'who the F*** are you!??'

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Ratickle]

Had a friend down there on Saturday. Sent me a couple pics he took of the storm rolling in.


Not real crowded then.....


74121

74120

[redhotsommer]

We refer to that as "The Black Wall of Death." Man...I am soooooo glad I was on the trailer! Also...I'm kinda happy that I didn't have to run back in that water on Sunday. If it weren't for getting Michelle back to the party, we'd have spent Saturday night as well and had to run back to East Chicago with bad hangovers in 4-7s.

[SC288]

There were multiple reasons which may have led to the cancellation of the race. First of all I cannot believe that the City allowed people to be in the water. I know in New Buffalo they will not let anyone in the water when there are larger waves with strong undertows. Literally right before 1 PM when the race was supposed to start a Lifeguard saw someone in trouble and a search and rescue effort began. They had every available DNR, Coast Guard and other boats searching for the swimmer.....it still has not been confirmed whether or not anyone actually drown or not. They would of had to delay the race start for this alone. AKDAN went out on the lake and can give us a first hand report on how rough it was....all I know is that a 31 Cig Bullet went out and tried to get turned around and when he turned into the waves the boat stood up on the transom. My opinion is that the race needs to be planned for Saturday with Sunday as a backup day for both waves and weather.....practice would be on Friday.

[Ratickle]

Usually that doesn't work, because most people only come for the day. However, that doesn't mean it wouldn't work in the case of Michigan City because the vast majority of visitors are only a few hours drive.

But, anytime there is a race schedules where the course runs close to a shore with possible wave issues in event of a storm/high wind. There is also a planned storm course farther offshore just in case. The probalem for most of the boats isn't that the water is too rough, heck Orange Beach last year had to be 6's with the occasional 8, but that the water is too shallow for rescue time when the course is close to shore. With the canopied boats especially, drifting upside down into shore with no time for rescue can be a huge problem. In an open boat, not so much because it would be extremely rare to still be in the boat.

I don't know what the issue was for cancellation, maybe just because the Coast Guard said no with a possible lost person in the water. It's their permit that you get, they can do anything they want to the race if they deem it a done deal.

[Ratickle]

I'm with you on the people in the water. Red flag undertows means no one in the water up here in Holland or Grand Haven also.

[eightsecmopar]

I thought I had the only Bullet there......it wasn't me. Bullet would have handled it no problem

[redhotsommer]

Yes I did.. they said 'who the F*** are you!??'

You should have sent Austin. He's the real badass.

[teamsynergy]

There were multiple reasons which may have led to the cancellation of the race. First or all I cannot believe that the City allowed people to be in the water. I know in New Buffalo they will not let anyone in the water when there are larger waves with strong undertows. Literally right before 1 PM when the race was supposed to start a Lifeguard saw someone in trouble and a search and rescue effort began. They had every available DNR, Coast Guard and other boats searching for the swimmer.....it still has not been confirmed whether or not anyone actually drown or not. They would of had to delay the race start for this alone. AKDAN went out on the lake and can give us a first hand report on how rough it was....all I know is that a 31 Cig Bullet went out and tried to get turned around and when he turned into the waves the boat stood up on the transom. My opinion is that the race needs to be planned for Saturday with Sunday as a backup day for both waves and weather.....practice would be on Friday.

Not to mention the wakeboard boat that had only the dad and 3 small kids onboard... they really thought they were going back to portage in that chit?!?! I saw two waves go over the front and the bilge PUMPS running as they limped back into the marina... dad of the year! You have my vote!

[teamsynergy]

I thought I had the only Bullet there......it wasn't me. Bullet would have handled it no problem
Did i see you leave saturday?

[eightsecmopar]

Yes, I left after the storm. My son had a baskeball tournament on Sunday and I didn't feel like loading the boat by myself on Sunday so I packed it in Saturday night. With the lake water level being down it was hard to even unload the boat over at Trail Creek.

[SC288]

Usually that doesn't work, because most people only come for the day. However, that doesn't mean it wouldn't work in the case of Michigan City because the vast majority of visitors are only a few hours drive.

But, anytime there is a race schedules where the course runs close to a shore with possible wave issues in event of a storm/high wind. There is also a planned storm course farther offshore just in case. The probalem for most of the boats isn't that the water is too rough, heck Orange Beach last year had to be 6's with the occasional 8, but that the water is too shallow for rescue time when the course is close to shore. With the canopied boats especially, drifting upside down into shore with no time for rescue can be a huge problem. In an open boat, not so much because it would be extremely rare to still be in the boat.

I don't know what the issue was for cancellation, maybe just because the Coast Guard said no with a possible lost person in the water. It's their permit that you get, they can do anything they want to the race if they deem it a done deal.

They could do this however they would like but what I do know is that we knew a week ahead of time that there was a potential for very rough water on Sunday.....a cold front coming through Saturday night and highs in the mid 70's mean rough water for us down south. It would not be easy to plan but at the end of the day if they would have raced Saturday it would have been perfect. I would think that they could come up with some sort of plan that would allow them to tweak the schedule the week of etc. Worst case would again be practice Friday, race Saturday and if Saturday does not work push it back for Sunday. They would still get alot of people in attendance and the key would be that the racers could run and accrue points etc and not have their trips wasted.

[eightsecmopar]

A few pics I took

[MILD THUNDER]

BYxgYc_Sddc&feature

[teamsynergy]

BYxgYc_Sddc&feature

Did you come to Michigan City Joe?

[redhotsommer]

Joe can't go past Pastrick to the east and 31st St. to the west....its an unwritten T-dock rule or something. Lol.

[MILD THUNDER]

Hey I was in the play pen Saturday!!

[B.Z.]

Joe can't go past Pastrick to the east and 31st St. to the west....its an unwritten T-dock rule or something. Lol.

now that's some funny stuff right there...very TRUE

[MILD THUNDER]

now that's some funny stuff right there...very TRUE



From the sound of it, our 31st dock party with DJ, venetian festivities , empty handles of vodka , urine soaked shorts(BZ you can relate), 4 800hp dry pipe engines doing 6000rpm revs side by side with flames shooting out the pipes(yes, fire) at 1030pm with entire harbor cheering and loving it , Dancing, and all kinds of fun antics, waking up on my couch at home and peddle biking in flip flops to get bfast fo my company, I have no regrets, other than missin some of my other boatin homies

Maybe next year I'll make the races.

[Ratickle]

Had a chat with a couple of the racers that were at Michigan City. Basically there was one drowning and at least one more possibly missing right at noon on Sunday. All safety and rescue personel were working on those issues, and there was no way there would have been any quick response at all if they had started the race and an issue would have occured. Safety first has to be the plan. It wasn't that the water was unraceable, there were missing people they were searching for and almost all safety assets were being used for other purposes.

I'll do some more chatting and see if they have any possibility of a backup plan for future events. I do not have any idea how you would prepare for a drowning and another missing though...

[ICDEDPPL]

BYxgYc_Sddc&feature

Hello, welcome to the club. You should meet us up sometime and introduce yourself.