NE SVX Meet #3

Jeff:
Thanks for posting your NE3 pix - they're great.
In that pic of Adam, Dave and me, the 'other' gent on
the far right is my pal, John Hanscom, who at
one time had a '92 Pearlie he got as soon as he
saw/drove mine. He sold it to help finance a
race boat and still misses his SVX.
He came to the meet with me to get a big SVX hit.
Dan

[jscorse]

Dan,

Ya..I have a hard time with names so I just said 'friend' or some such thing when I forget. Those pictures are 50% of the original resolution but I think they're a good balance between download time and clarity.

My father used to race boats back in the 60's and early 70's. I was but a wee child back then though I do have a few memories.

One of the most memorable was when I heard a starting cannon go off (a 12gauge shell in a little cannon mounted to a board) in the middle of a race.

I turned around to look and found myself staring down the barrel of the cannon about 100 feet away - and my dad screaming in pain with his pant leg all blown apart.

I had seated myself on the bank of the lake to get a better view during the race and inadvertantly put my head right in the sights of the cannon.

My father, unfortunately (and perhaps fortunately for my head) was standing right in front of the cannon (about 5-10 feet away) and received a large shot of gun powder to his calf. It looked pretty nasty, a bloody spot about 4 inches in diameter. No holes or anything, just a really bad burn. There was no shot or anything obviously, but the power burn still exists >30 years later on his calf.

Turns out somebody had loaded the cannon for the next race and somebody else accidently tripped and hit the firing button.

I'm glad my dad's leg was there to stop the powder from blasting my hair off. My ears are still ringing ...

Jeff:
Wow, that's some story...The racing's supposed to be
chancy, not the watching.
Anyway, friend John's boat is 38' Fountain offshore racer
with single 1100hp alloy big block motor good for 100+mph
on the ocean.
Dan

[jscorse]

My father was offered to race again later in life (actually in the mid-80's) through a friend. He hadn't raced since the very early 70's.

The kind of boat he used to race where little outboards that you would kneel in - perhaps 12 feet long. He had up to three boats at one time (a hydro and two vees) all on on single trailer, which he towed with our dearly missed '69 Buick Electra convertable. The boats typically raced at about 70mph.

Dad sounded interested and I was getting excited because I was then old enough to help in the fun. He bowed out when he learned that the driver was required to wear a parachute!

My father is a private pilot who owns a beautiful Piper Arrow. He doesn't need a parachute for that why would he get into a boat that would require one.

I realize what the chute if for and knowing that Dad decided that he was getting too old for such risks....

That said, I would LOVE to take a ride in a 'cigar' boat sometime in my life......'course my spinal disks wouldn't quite like it as much.

Yeah Jeff!! nice pics..

My favorite one is "Nice Cars." Can you guess why? it's gonna be my background when I get back to my computer at school

-Adam