The record could have been crushed

[Dirk Pitt]

Im not buying what your sellin. You obviously haven't seen what I have many times. For example,a full face helmet and lifeline jacket most likely would have saved Dave Hunters life who I watched die at 80 mph at River Ranch in 2009. He wasn't recovered from the water for over 17 hours. Watched many scream and fly brothers dive for hours that day trying to find him. Respectfully im done with this discussion. Carry on with your anti safety campaign.

One more thing. Am I the only one who thinks chart plotters are for yachts and not 150 ++++ mph race boats? I mean,who in their right mind is going to drive a race boat by looking at a screen on the dash because its too foggy to see ahead of you? Im speechless!!

dont tell me all us dont go out on any given day and run the snot out of our boats with barly a bathing suit on! and a cooler full of beers, stop already with your safety raint, we all know what the right thing is, but really I see it everyday, Im not saying anyone should do that, its happens, everytime I fly IFR I really on instruments, can I be certain that someone wasnt assigned the wrong altitude? can I be certain during climb out I wont have a bird strike? driving on a country road can I be certain a deer wont jump out? sh#t happens,there called caculated risks
yes in hindsight they should have done more, but dont tell me your not guilty of doing the same thing, we all are..........Im not going to be a hipocrite...

[Greg G]

Safety gear or not... you would think they would also have a GPS based Nav screen with alerts to buoys and their locations. I know when I use mine it gives me a flashing warning if I come too close. Navigating any waterway at those speeds, its crazy not to have somewhat of a course plotted.

100% agree Tango. At those speeds I'm baffled as to why the boat was not equipped in that fashion and all buoys plotted accurately.

[Hot Shot Merc]

dont tell me all us dont go out on any given day and run the snot out of our boats with barly a bathing suit on! and a cooler full of beers, stop already with your safety raint, we all know what the right thing is, but really I see it everyday, Im not saying anyone should do that, its happens, everytime I fly IFR I really on instruments, can I be certain that someone wasnt assigned the wrong altitude? can I be certain during climb out I wont have a bird strike? driving on a country road can I be certain a deer wont jump out? sh#t happens,there called caculated risks
yes in hindsight they should have done more, but dont tell me your not guilty of doing the same thing, we all are..........Im not going to be a hipocrite...

You cant read yet you fly airplanes? OMG!!!!!! Yes i have driven without saftey gear at very high speeds and I said that in my earlier post. Never denied it. My point sinse you cant read is that ive seen the worse possible outcome many times and ive learned the importance of the gear. Good God the internet is frustrating!!!!

Razor, great point about the third passenger not even sitting in a seat. Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sure Dirk will have a great explanation why its not dangerous

[Dirk Pitt]

You cant read yet you fly airplanes? OMG!!!!!! Yes i have driven without saftey gear at very high speeds and I said that in my earlier post. Never denied it. My point sinse you cant read is that ive seen the worse possible outcome many times and ive learned the importance of the gear. Good God the internet is frustrating!!!!

Razor, great point about the third passenger not even sitting in a seat. Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sure Dirk will have a great explanation why its not dangerous

i never disagred with anything you said, and im certainly not making this personal, why do people make things personal ? you tell me my explaination is wrong, yet none of us were there, none of us know why and how that could have been avoided, now go check your spelling..........3rd passanger sitting sideways was not a very smart idea, when I strap a lear on, it takes a good 40 min to finish our check lists dont even tell me about saftey, these guys put their lives in jepopardy to give money to cancer reshearch, something that maybe all of us hopefully will never have to benifit from, get off your high horse and praise these guys, instead of trying to make them look like assholes......

[JPEROG]

Good news is that nobody was killed, he most likely won't do it again, and we can all learn from it as well-

Fog is nothing to mess with (I have been in it to the point of not being able to see the bow in my dads 39 sea-ray). We were in the channel and I was on the pulpit listening for other people and or boats at idle while he was watching the lowrance screen.


Joe

[RobF]

they had a plane and a helicopter- what more do you want? The fog came out of nowhere it wasnt like they were driving the whole time in the fog.I have been working at the dock on boats and literally looked up from my work after a couple minutes and the fog was right there imagine at 140+mph how fast that comes up on you.

if this isnt the very definition of an accident I dont know what is?
The armchair quarterbacks and negative people always come out after the fact.

[Fast Shafts]

Is it arm chair quaterbacking or is it negligence? There are good arguments for both on this thread. Since the title of the thread included "could have", don't get mad a the people for questioning what else "could have happened" ie; people fishing, kids on a waverunner etc. Luckily we aren't reading about a tragedy where INNOCENT people got hurt/killed!

[JPEROG]

they had a plane and a helicopter- what more do you want? The fog came out of nowhere it wasnt like they were driving the whole time in the fog.I have been working at the dock on boats and literally looked up from my work after a couple minutes and the fog was right there imagine at 140+mph how fast that comes up on you.

if this isnt the very definition of an accident I dont know what is?
The armchair quarterbacks and negative people always come out after the fact.

Planes and helicopters are useless when you can't see in the fog. The only thing you can do is chop the throttles and continue at a speed that your visibility allows. This was not a closed course like we race on (there could have been a boat there just as there was a marker). I understand the preparation and build up for an event but egos need to be put aside when you can't see. Like I said, we can all learn from it and nobody was hurt. I have been in boats at speed and come into fog and come into rain-my first instinct is to pull back.

Joe

[waterpilot]

When you are publicly raising money like this there are a lot of eyes on you. Safety gear is a no brainer. If anything, to set a good example and put Keep hi performace boating in a good light.

It's no surprise that fog happens during this time of the year. On a headliner like this being prepared for everything(chart plotter, waypoints,etc) including fog was a must. Its not about Monday morning quarterbacking. It's about the approach to the attempt for the record. Common sense.

Yes we all get in our boats and run without gear but not in front of TV cameras and media for a public cause.

Tony

[powerabout]

I cant believe they let any video out, a fluke nobody was killed. ( and that might have scored a Darwin award had the worst happened)
Hitting something unknown in the water is a risk and you get sympathy for that.
as for hitting an object you knew was there...

[RobF]

"We were doing great, way ahead of the record and out of nowhere we ran into fog,” Hayim said. "I looked up at the seaplane, which had the medics in it, and it disappeared into the fog. I looked back down, heard Joey yell ‘Buoy!’ and I saw it right in front of us. If I hadn’t been able to turn the wheel, that buoy would have come right down the center of the tunnel. We could have been killed.”


"I am grateful that no one got hurt, but frustrated that we didn't do what we set out to do,” said Hayim. "We were on pace to break our record. We’re just two boat racers from Long Island, trying to break a record and raise money and hopes for cancer victims.




"I accept full responsibility for what happened,” he continued. "You live by the sword, you die by the sword and we were living by the sword. I am guilty—I was the captain of the ship. I would have received all the glory if it worked, but I have to take the shame and responsibility that it didn’t. Our goal was the same as it’s always been with my racing, to give hope and inspiration to those who are sick. I pledged a certain amount of money to charities and said I would double that if I broke the record. I may double it anyway."




Hayim said he plans to attempt to break his record again in 2016.




"We intended this to be a last dance and raise a lot of money, and it almost ended in tragedy,” Hayim continued. "I will—as I tell my children—count the donuts not the holes, and be grateful for what we have, our lives, and try not to focus on the record. But we were so far ahead—26 minutes from Great Neck to the crash at Plum Gut, averaging 145 to 150 mph.”

[Hot Shot Merc]

Dirk I find it hilarious that you tell me to check my spelling. Pot calling the kettle black my friend. You should go through your posts and check yourself buddy

I live in an area where there is fog often. It doesn't just magically appear in a nano second. You can see a fog ahead of you.

[Dirk Pitt]

Dirk I find it hilarious that you tell me to check my spelling. Pot calling the kettle black my friend. You should go through your posts and check yourself buddy

I live in an area where there is fog often. It doesn't just magically appear in a nano second. You can see a fog ahead of you.

They were raising money for cancer reasearch, he gives more many to that cause than 100 of you make in a lifetime, instead of praising them for there efforts to help doctors fight and treat the hidious disease all you "_______"want to is make them look like assholes, because of people like him it may give you :"________" a chance to live longer and continue to be"_________". You can fill in the blanks with what ever superiative you like.....
Theres a hospital on Long Island called Northshore University Hospital, theres a Building there called THe Monti Building I dont know Im guessing its 10 stories high, filled with state of the art equipment, some of the most highly reguarded cancer doctors, and rooms filled with people that have cancer and have been given hope that just maybe they wont end up being a statistic, and you know who was responsible for this? Yes the person that didnt have a helmet on, or the wrong lifevest,that drives in the fog!!!! Give me a Fukin break!!!!!!How dare any of you criticize him! you should all be asshamed of yourselfs,

[Fast Shafts]

Dirk,
Its honorable that he was raising money for a good cause.
By the opinion of many on this thread, it was questionable about their negligence,....simple as that.

[Rayzor]

Anyone defending Stuart and Joey's decision to not slow down is out of their mind. Not only can you see fog ahead of you letting you know to slow down, but their airplane that certainly had radio contact with them would have warned them MILES before they even got near the fog! They had plenty of time to slow down and obviously chose not to - and it was the wrong decision. Come on, we've all made wrong decisions while boating, just as they did this time - so quit trying to defend them. And I don't care how many millions Stuart donates to the local hospitals, this thread is about how he screwed up while driving a boat at high speeds (which is what this website is about last time I checked - fast boats, not charities).