IDRPSTF

David, Yes and No, Only taildraggr pilots do groundloops and No Full right rudder will not save you. Full power to straighten the nose if you have time. when it comes to taildraggers there are those who have done it and those who havent done it yet. you can tell who is who by the amount of silence in the room when the subject comes up.

ActiveThunderTodd

Treadwell was dead on in regards to the one (and hopefully never again) experience i had in hooking my boat. I had just got a new set of lab finished props. So like a kid with a new toy I had to go out and see how much better the boat performed. I was boating in Ft. Myers 2 springs ago. I was heading out to the gulf form the Colooshatchee river. As you come out from under the bridge the leads to Sanibal you make a slight turn to the south. I put the sticks all the way forward and trimmed her up so she was really really loose. Now mind you Ive boated the waters for 15 yrs so I should have known better. As you change from the river to the gulf theres almost always some waves or swells. In this case nothing more than 2-3 feet. But stupid me was still flat out, in a slight turn, trimmed all the way, and watching the tach and gps....not the water. Next thing I knew I luched off a small wave and because the drives were slightly turned, while I was in the air I over corrected. Because the bow went straight up the stern caught and tripped whiched caused the bow to land first following the waves. In combination with me over steering the boat hooked immediatly hard right. This caused me to get thrown from my bolster to the port side of the boat. NOw to compound my stupidity I didn't have my kill switch attached. So here I am laying on the port side of the floor trying to get to my feet to puul the throttle back and slow that beast down. Well I did and immediatly realized that I had hurt my back pretty bad. Well the force of the hook caused me to slam into the side hard that I broke a bone in my back. I was laid up for about 8 weeks after that.

So the lessons learned,

Pay attention to the water and everything else involved in operationa high performance boat. And always, always , always wear your kill switch.

SHARKEY-IMAGES

In circle racing I almost perfected the hookin' to a science. Several times coming into the turns too hot and engine trimmed too far out the boat didn't set right as I made the turn. The boat pivoted on the bow, drive being high & out no longer in the water I would do a complete 180 degree spin out. One time when this happened, I was leading the race and just went with it knowing the boat was going to go the way it wanted. I turned the wheel hard to the direction it was going and went full throttle. It came around the other 180 degrees and now I was back in the race with 1/2 half lap to go. I made a pass on the last turn and still won the race. That was one of the best finishes I ever had.

EX20

Thanks to everybody that responded. This is what I think happened to a friend of mine two years ago that sent three people to the hospital.

He said he thought that the boat got airborn just after he turned slightly to the right to take a wave more squarely. The stern most likely kicked over to the left in the air and the boat landed cocked on an angle but still moving in the same dierection. It landed on the port chine and almost ejected him out of the boat. He said he landed on the windshield which kept him in the boat. He got bruised ribs out of the deal, but his passengers needed stitches and one broke his foot.

Scary!