What happen to the rounded off pickle fork rule

[14-H]

Broken zippers

Ryan: fix the danm zipper. The Referee does have the power to prevent racers from racing with it broken.

[sponsonhead]

There's some options here....

Ryan, we can certainly do a little zipper replacement therapy on your gear if needed.....would you rather have that instead of your new crew shirts?

R-19

[22W]

Somehow I think this thread can be summed up with three words. "Don't be stupid!" I know some of you don't remember this, but we used to race in short sleeve shirts. I am all of 27 years old and that is what I started with. My mom was (understandably) worried that I might get hurt doing this. You know what? She was right! (And I have) This is not a pastime that is without danger. You do have a better chance of getting hurt doing this than if you sat on the couch and watched TV. However, if all I did was sat my butt on the couch and watched TV, I would die of coronary disease!

The people I race against are not only my competitors, they are my family. I have grown up around these people and the "J" kids I used to race against now have J kids of their own. I have people whom I may only see once or twice a year that I care very dearly about. I hope that I never see any of my brethren get hurt. However, it is the harsh reality of our sport. I for one recognize this and drive with my "family" members in mind. We can beat these rules and safety recommendations until we are blue in the face, but we still have to respect the danger.

I have experienced a lot in my life and I could not possibly think of a better family environment than this. We have come a long way since I started and I think that we can continue to try to do better. I do think that we have to recognize that we are not perfect, nor can we be. We need to strive to be as safe as possible while still keeping with the lower cost nature of our sport. This should include letting our "family" members know when their safety equipment has gone beyond being "ducttapeable" and gotten into the realm of "freakingreplaceitalready."

Much is being said about making our boats safer and that is definitely with merit. Personally I think that we should try to make sure we are as drivers look out for our friends and do everything we can to avoid the situation in the first place. As much as I hate fixing plywood, I know I am not good at fixing up broken bodies.

With no offense to the PRO category, we don't all want to race it. (I hope you understand that.) I do not want stock/mod to suddenly start requiring capsules and so forth. We have to understand that there are certain risks that we take by participating in this sport. I for one think those risks are best addressed by wearing appropriate safety gear ON YOUR BODY. You, as the driver, have to be the one to ultimately address your level of exposure.

Just wanting my "family" to be safe,

Ryan Burdick

[Big Don]

Ryan Great Post!!!!

Thomas got hurt in baseball a few years back and I thought about trying to ban hard balls...

[ryan_4z]

Ryan: fix the danm zipper. The Referee does have the power to prevent racers from racing with it broken.

My zippers are fine!! I just think that if you have to put a piece of tape around your ankle to close up your kevlars, it's not that big of a deal. You still have full coverage from the kevlar. I think you guys are all just getting a little bored in the off-season.

[Blackhawkguy]

Common sense

What I was trying to say in general was be carefull of regulating people out of racing, seems to me rounded pickles and bows are just common sense if that has been a problem, how many people have been speered buy a bow or pickle, if none then maybe people are jumping the gun on mandating them (what is the saying about being cut by a knife, better a sharp one than a dull one). As far as kevlar and tape I was as guilty as anybody, my zippers on my brand new kevlar pants would not stay closed, so a little tape to prevent them from opening, but you do see some that the elbows and knees are worn right down. On the sun thing I believe the first layer of your pants and sleeves are nylon, the kevlar is under so as long as you do not turn them inside out you are not exposing the kevlar to the sun. If you mandated rounded pickles and bows on all new boats but not the older boats are you saying that no old boats are going to hit any body, seems you are playing the lottery. Any way this thread is getting beaten to death, safety is one of those things it's always easy to look back and say this was good, but very hard to look foreward and see what might happen the next race.

Kerry

[Gootz 142M]

Right On Point

Somehow I think this thread can be summed up with three words. "Don't be stupid!" I know some of you don't remember this, but we used to race in short sleeve shirts. I am all of 27 years old and that is what I started with. My mom was (understandably) worried that I might get hurt doing this. You know what? She was right! (And I have) This is not a pastime that is without danger. You do have a better chance of getting hurt doing this than if you sat on the couch and watched TV. However, if all I did was sat my butt on the couch and watched TV, I would die of coronary disease!

The people I race against are not only my competitors, they are my family. I have grown up around these people and the "J" kids I used to race against now have J kids of their own. I have people whom I may only see once or twice a year that I care very dearly about. I hope that I never see any of my brethren get hurt. However, it is the harsh reality of our sport. I for one recognize this and drive with my "family" members in mind. We can beat these rules and safety recommendations until we are blue in the face, but we still have to respect the danger.

I have experienced a lot in my life and I could not possibly think of a better family environment than this. We have come a long way since I started and I think that we can continue to try to do better. I do think that we have to recognize that we are not perfect, nor can we be. We need to strive to be as safe as possible while still keeping with the lower cost nature of our sport. This should include letting our "family" members know when their safety equipment has gone beyond being "ducttapeable" and gotten into the realm of "freakingreplaceitalready."

Much is being said about making our boats safer and that is definitely with merit. Personally I think that we should try to make sure we are as drivers look out for our friends and do everything we can to avoid the situation in the first place. As much as I hate fixing plywood, I know I am not good at fixing up broken bodies.

With no offense to the PRO category, we don't all want to race it. (I hope you understand that.) I do not want stock/mod to suddenly start requiring capsules and so forth. We have to understand that there are certain risks that we take by participating in this sport. I for one think those risks are best addressed by wearing appropriate safety gear ON YOUR BODY. You, as the driver, have to be the one to ultimately address your level of exposure.

Just wanting my "family" to be safe,

Ryan Burdick

Excellent points Ryan. As with any motor sport we all understand the risks involved and must take advantage of the Safety equipment available to us and use it accordingly.

[hagerl8m]

All three should be mandatory:

1- Reinforced cockpit sides
2- Round tips for both hydro and runanouts
3- Nothing less then two or three layer kevlars ** If you are wearing one layer you might as well not be wearing any at all.


I had a quick question to this. I understand the idea behind all three. But, My runabout, along with many other runabouts, doesn't have cockpit sides. How do you suggest me making them reinforced?

[mrlou40]

The very first and maybe the only Craig Craft pickle fork hydro