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So the last two years, I've told you about the freakin' awesome powerboat races we get down here in Key West this time of year. For the third straight year, I was on the catamaran that is not only at Turn Three, it physically IS Turn Three. Which is freakin' awesome.
But this year, my friend, I come armed with pictures.
First we have this, a picture of the catamaran I was on last year as we are smack dab in the middle of the start of a race....Turn Three is the pre-start milling area for the boats, and when they finally started, they went flying by us on both sides (the only time during the race they can do that).
I would show you this year's, but couldn't find any of this year's pictures that showed us at the start. (Actually, the local newspaper (keysnews.com) had a great shot on today's front page of this year's start, but I don't have the software to download it.) Yes, I am on that damn stationary boat in the middle. And yes, it really is awesome!
This year we had one of the boats crash right by us, flipping over in a rolling manner (rather than cartwheeling), and we got to watch the crew rescued and the boat almost sink. Here's a picture of the boat as it is almost completely under (after they got the crew out) as the rescue boats mill around trying to get ropes on the boat to tow it out and then (eventually) pump out the water.
Yes, that pointy thing in the middle of the picture is the bow (nose) of the boat. Yes, it is a long, large cigarette speed boat. Yes, that means most of it is underwater at this point. And yes, I was right up there near the front corner of the catamaran nearest the boat at the moment this photo was shot (though I was on the opposite side of the boat when the actual crash happened).
The boat would actually slowly sink further, until the numbers you see on the bow were halfway under. Between the time of the photo and that time, one of the two red boats you see to the left attached a tow line to the boat, but since they attached it to a point on the bottom of the bow, they couldn't pull the boat to tow it the right way, so they were trying to redo it, to attach the line to a topside location so they would not be pulling the boat upside down. Towards this end, one of the divers was leaning out from the red boat to try to redo the line. He got it detached from the bottomside of the boat, but then his boat and the raceboat started to drift too far apart....and then I saw one of the craziest things. The dude LEAPED through the air from his boat to the bow of the race boat, grabbing on like a monkey, and attaching the towline. It was just one of many awesome sights on the day.
For more awesome pictures, (none of which I am in, sadly), check out the powerboaters' official site's photo gallery.
Yes, I am still revved. And no, not even my (slight) sunburn can damp it! Because it freakin' rocked on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
But this year, my friend, I come armed with pictures.
First we have this, a picture of the catamaran I was on last year as we are smack dab in the middle of the start of a race....Turn Three is the pre-start milling area for the boats, and when they finally started, they went flying by us on both sides (the only time during the race they can do that).
I would show you this year's, but couldn't find any of this year's pictures that showed us at the start. (Actually, the local newspaper (keysnews.com) had a great shot on today's front page of this year's start, but I don't have the software to download it.) Yes, I am on that damn stationary boat in the middle. And yes, it really is awesome!
This year we had one of the boats crash right by us, flipping over in a rolling manner (rather than cartwheeling), and we got to watch the crew rescued and the boat almost sink. Here's a picture of the boat as it is almost completely under (after they got the crew out) as the rescue boats mill around trying to get ropes on the boat to tow it out and then (eventually) pump out the water.
Yes, that pointy thing in the middle of the picture is the bow (nose) of the boat. Yes, it is a long, large cigarette speed boat. Yes, that means most of it is underwater at this point. And yes, I was right up there near the front corner of the catamaran nearest the boat at the moment this photo was shot (though I was on the opposite side of the boat when the actual crash happened).
The boat would actually slowly sink further, until the numbers you see on the bow were halfway under. Between the time of the photo and that time, one of the two red boats you see to the left attached a tow line to the boat, but since they attached it to a point on the bottom of the bow, they couldn't pull the boat to tow it the right way, so they were trying to redo it, to attach the line to a topside location so they would not be pulling the boat upside down. Towards this end, one of the divers was leaning out from the red boat to try to redo the line. He got it detached from the bottomside of the boat, but then his boat and the raceboat started to drift too far apart....and then I saw one of the craziest things. The dude LEAPED through the air from his boat to the bow of the race boat, grabbing on like a monkey, and attaching the towline. It was just one of many awesome sights on the day.
For more awesome pictures, (none of which I am in, sadly), check out the powerboaters' official site's photo gallery.
Yes, I am still revved. And no, not even my (slight) sunburn can damp it! Because it freakin' rocked on Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
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