Unless you are a mile or more offshore on a Great Lake. Also, PWC are not allowed to operate until 8am. I did not know these things until my kids told me because I had them take an online class to get their MI Boater’s Safety Certificates.

Learn something new everyday and we’re all going jet skiing tomorrow a little later than I had planned.

I've hit 50 in a 26ft Cobalt on the rare day Lake Conroe withnt choppy. Very early morning & that felt plenty quick enough.

Hit a bit over 60 on a 3 seater SeaDoo on the same lake, full tuck & low fuel. More fun but knew coming off it would hurt.

Was a passenger on a 3 seater SeaDoo doing about 65 when my buddy driving decided to cut it fully to the left.
Hot Damn did that hurt. If I would have made it back to the SeaDoo before him his ass would have been swimming back.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Was a passenger on a 3 seater SeaDoo doing about 65 when my buddy driving decided to cut it fully to the left.
Hot Damn did that hurt. If I would have made it back to the SeaDoo before him his ass would have been swimming back.

I've ejected myself before, but it was on a mid 90s SeaDoo SPi, so 40ish at best. Didn't hurt, but all I could think of was the boat spinning toward me. Luckily no engine & water drag stopped it about 10 feet away

Well, I rarely drive my automobile on any lakes, so...

Up until a couple weeks ago, I had yet to be ejected from a PWC. Then twice in one day at idle speed. I bought a Yamaha Jet Blaster. It’s light, narrow, has a high seat, and it’s tippy. Both times, I turned to the left, it started tipping to the right, and off I went. I can’t wait to finish the break in on it cause it’s gonna be a fun one.

Our SeaDoo will go over 70, but I wouldn’t think of turning at that speed. The Yamaha GP1800R SVHO will probably do the same, but it doesn’t handle chop nearly as well as the SeaDoo, so I’ve only had it up to 67.

Black, I was thinking of starting a thread in your honor the other day when I had both supercharged PWC on the trailer hooked up to our minivan, “Easy 500+HP bolt on mod for minivan!”.

Years ago my father was a Reserve Deputy. The Marine Division of the Sheriff Dept. was mostly Reserves. Often while out on a local lake they would put in, spot us and motor over to tie up for a conversation.

One time a boat with blown 454 put in. A real low profile racing boat. Of course while were sitting there tied up talking he comes blasting down the lake at full speed. Only the plate off the back, the rudder, and prop were in the water.

Being young I looked at Bob and expecting the excitement of a chase said "aren't you going after him?" Bob said... Nope, he isn't getting off the lake. We went our separate ways, took a lap around and headed for the launch.

Sure enough... there was Bob, sitting on the race boat trailer waiting for him to dock so they could have a 'conversation'. I always liked Bob

Bob’s method worked because he probably knew the guy.

Where I’m at in Florida, there’s a half dozen boat ramps and that’s assuming they put in at a ramp. There’s several thousand private docks as well. Even with binoculars, you can’t see those tiny little registration numbers, so once out of sight, it’s over. Forget the you can’t out run the radio, there might be three patrol boats out at one time covering an area 40 miles long. That would only be on the big holiday weekends, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and New Years.

Where we’re at at Lake Huron, enforcement is a DNR officer at the boat ramp checking your fish and license. They only presence I’ve ever seen on the water was a Coast Guard Cutter that anchored in our bay over night once. I could see the neighbors calling you out for breaking the 8:00am rule. A deputy sheriff could probably get here in 20 minutes by road or come another day hoping to catch you.

Of course we won’t break the 8am rule. Sun’s been up since 5:45am, the lake is smooth and tempting though:

My PWC tops out about 50 mph, but seems pretty slow compared to most of the others I see on my lake. Fastest I've been on a PWC was 79 per the speedo. I was not comfortable at that speed. I've been 80+ on a bass boat and that's just downright scary.

My boss’s 28 Intrepid will do about 58 wide open. Plenty fast enough for me.
Sea trialing his buddy’s 74 Viking several years back and wide open was 43 knots. 12 people inside the flybridge. 260 gallons per hour.
My boss’s 61 Viking cruises at 30 knots. Shit happens fast at 30 kts!

Many/most 20/21' fiberglass bass boats will easily do 70-75mph. Many 20-22' multispecies (deep V walleye boats) fiberglass boats will do 65mph. They're putting 350hp outboards on 20' boats now and 400s on 21/22' boats. My 18' ranger multispecies (1880MS) with a 200 on it will do 52.x mph. It isn't just PWCs and 'speed boats' that exceed 55mph now.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Up until a couple weeks ago, I had yet to be ejected from a PWC. Then twice in one day at idle speed. I bought a Yamaha Jet Blaster. It’s light, narrow, has a high seat, and it’s tippy. Both times, I turned to the left, it started tipping to the right, and off I went. I can’t wait to finish the break in on it cause it’s gonna be a fun one.

Our SeaDoo will go over 70, but I wouldn’t think of turning at that speed. The Yamaha GP1800R SVHO will probably do the same, but it doesn’t handle chop nearly as well as the SeaDoo, so I’ve only had it up to 67.

Black, I was thinking of starting a thread in your honor the other day when I had both supercharged PWC on the trailer hooked up to our minivan, “Easy 500+HP bolt on mod for minivan!”.

It was interesting the vast handling difference between the SeaDoo SPi & Yamaha Waverunner we had in the 90s. The SeaDoo had a muc deeper V hull & the Waverunner was a shallow wide-V hull shape.
The SeaDoo was more fun to play on, but was more 'tippy'
The Waverunner, you could 'drift' at speed & get the hull to glide sideways over the surface, but would grip as hard as you could lean it up until you got the jet out of the water.

I preferred the more playful SeaDoo at the time.

We lived on the shore of a lake in Wisconsin. Those rules would have been nice back then. Drunks at 800 blasting music and going top speed on a PWC.

Michigan has stupid rules. Both about guns and boats. Glad I don't go there.

I just had a little outboard powered Checkmate. It was just a 155 horse Mercury. The best part was the power trim and lift. I always doubt others guess about their top end speeds. They tend to guess too high. OK, way too high. Their boats just don't go that fast, even the jet boats. Yeah, they do accelerate really quick, but run out of oomph.

So no propeller boat with an aluminum prop will go over 60. The prop is too thick. Also no 3 blade prop will go that fast. It takes a 2 blade stainless with a bunch of pitch and a whole bunch of cup. Other truths, long shaft lower units stick down too far and have too much drag. Yeah, I know, its nice to imagine higher speeds.

Been there and done that.

I wonder how long the statute of limitations is for admitting to how fast I've driven a boat in Michigan in my younger days? Michigan was only 100 miles from Purdue. My friend's Dad had a lot of money and we always had access to very fast boats. My friend also was a professional jet ski racer in the summer and I've driven some of his highly modified jet skis.

I brought my jet ski up to 70 once when I saw another boat that was on fire.

It felt like that scene in 'star wars' when they go into hyperspace.

I carried a couple people to shore, the boat was a loss.

I normally set the cruise control for 26-30, and that is plenty fast.

I've never driven a boat on our big lake that can go over 45 mph, but I've seen speed boats on the open water that were going way over that.

I'm 81 and before selling my Yamaha PWC a couple of years ago, I would routinely run it on the creek and the river in the high 50's. I loved it because it was like running a motorcycle on the water and one reason I made it to 81 was by staying the hell off of motorcycles. I always wanted a go fast boat but I read something once by an off shore racer, that stayed with me. He said that the fastest practical speed on the water was about 75mph. After that, he said, things are happening so fast and you're spending so much time looking for logs and other debris in the water, that it's really no fun.

The fastest I have ever been on the water was crossing the English Channel on a hovercraft. Top speed for that vessel was 83 kts (95 mph). I'm not sure what our speed was on that trip, but it was the most uncomfortable rough ride I have ever had on the water. Strapped into seats like in an airliner. Closest I have ever come to being seasick and harming.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
Michigan has stupid rules. Both about guns and boats. Glad I don't go there.

I just had a little outboard powered Checkmate. It was just a 155 horse Mercury. The best part was the power trim and lift. I always doubt others guess about their top end speeds. They tend to guess too high. OK, way too high. Their boats just don't go that fast, even the jet boats. Yeah, they do accelerate really quick, but run out of oomph.

So no propeller boat with an aluminum prop will go over 60. The prop is too thick. Also no 3 blade prop will go that fast. It takes a 2 blade stainless with a bunch of pitch and a whole bunch of cup. Other truths, long shaft lower units stick down too far and have too much drag. Yeah, I know, its nice to imagine higher speeds.

Been there and done that.

68.9 on the GPS this morning with a slight headwind, on freshwater, full tank of gas, and my 130lb son on the back. Imagine that.