Disqualification, legal helmet colors

[ryan_4z]

This is scary ... Ryan is right on all accounts

It's a good thing we don't hang out a lot Sam, you might find life very frightening.

[Dancingbear1961]

If you want to standardize something, start with the bouys! (Color, size and shape!) Although there may be a few out there, I have never met anyone with a 3'-4' triangular head! (Although I have seen a number of pointy heads) Whether you race on the Left or Right coast, you have the same course markers. Triangles on the inside, ski pylons on the outside? Just a thought.

[Al Peffley]

Color Does Matter

OK - I was warned about my custom-painted helmet because the flourescent orange flames on my lid were fading quickly after only 6 months of boat racing. I decided to have it painted a solid orange color to keep it clearly "orange". I have run at APBA & AOF races with that helmet for many years now with no additional complaints (in Stock, Mod, and Pro.) I have been out of my boat many times with no comments or complaints from the professional water rescue teams or race referees. The rules state that the surface area of the helmet must have a certain total external surface area percentage of approved color(s) on the top surfaces of the helmet. Take a chip of your selected color(s) to a certified APBA referee and ask if your selected colors are acceptable for the intent of the rules. Do***ent the response from the regional referee. I believe AOF will honor any APBA ref's approval in the venue of safety rules parity. Seems reasonable enough to me.

Flourescent red (and anodized red for that matter) and flourescent orange fade VERY quickly in direct sunlight - it's quite expensive to have them refurbished on a lid every season. So, if you have a big wallet of cash and a painter who is available on call to repaint the helmet (tell me when you find this person), go for it! Helmet colors are like haircut styles are to most folks I know, every racer would like to be seen with an individual-designed helmet just like the "Pros" in most motorsports racing. Someone who DQ's you for a helmet paint job without a warning to fix the color before the next race has more problems with you and your driving habits than the color of your helmet.

Don't buy a helmet with the correct color and ignore many other safety features that you need in boat racing to protect the racer's whole face and vulnerable neck insult (most probable injury) regions (since motorcyclists and boat racers seem to have similar head insult exposure risks, see the Hurt report on most common motorcycle helmet impact areas for full-face helmet regions)!

Wart says the UIM's safety gear doctor is now recommending use of the softer neck protection rings. Wear a full face helmet that fits tight against your cheeks (make sure your chin strap is tight also) and look into some helmet bucketing retraint safety straps (Security sells the strap systems), especially if you ride low (even if you kneel) and fast (well above 60 mph) in your race boat. Boat & motor surfaces and sharp edges and the lake bottom are your worst enemy's to your head in any crash. Safety first.

Al
R-25

[jeff55v]

Yes...I'm a cheapskate!

Call me redneck, cheapskate, whatever. But man! I can't believe all this debate! As for me, I bought a quality used white helmet from eBay for a discount price. Went out to Farm and Fleet and bought a can of Allis Chalmer orange spray paint. SHAZAM! The PERFECT color! And if someone (a race official) gripes about it, no big deal. I'll go buy a can of Kubota orange paint...SHAZAM!

I'm a cheap redneck. This leaves more money for beer...QUALITY beer. Hey there's some things even I won't skimp on.

[Brew56]

R-25,

I have a fluorescent Simpson helmet that was professionally painted about 5-6 years ago. It really hasn't dulled much at all. It can be seen at www.trora.com . I'm in the all wood boat.

I have learned a lot about helmets from 99-S. Believe me, he knows what he's talking about and is very passionate about safety WITHOUT going too far. Biggest thing you can do for the life of the color is to keep it out of the sun as much as possible. Many of us forget and leave them in the direct sun all day.

[RichardKCMo]

Beer, it's time we thought about important things!!!

Hey Jeff , thats as close as you get to4 in exlcamation..., but that is as good as i have seen.
RichardKCMo

Call me redneck, cheapskate, whatever. But man! I can't believe all this debate! As for me, I bought a quality used white helmet from eBay for a discount price. Went out to Farm and Fleet and bought a can of Allis Chalmer orange spray paint. SHAZAM! The PERFECT color! And if someone (a race official) gripes about it, no big deal. I'll go buy a can of Kubota orange paint...SHAZAM!

I'm a cheap redneck. This leaves more money for beer...QUALITY beer. Hey there's some things even I won't skimp on.

[Skoontz]

If anything this thread has revealed there needs to be modifications in the rules to eliminate the guessing game. I'm fairly new to the game, but it would seem to me that if a simple color chip was given to each race committee, it would be a very inexpensive and simple way to end some of the problems. As a driver one could then buy whatever helmet they chose, as long as it fit correctly, paint it the color in the chip (pick orange or yellow) and you are done.

I've told KT to get the thought of matching helmets from her system, it's going to be refinished in Orange, I might airbrush her name across the front, and boat number on the back small enough to where it does not mess with the legality, blow some clear over it and call it a day.

We are redoing some stuff in the trailer to make loading easier anyway, and finally going to take the old business name off the sides and color match it to the boat. Along with that, I have to correct the unreadable numbers on the boat, and I'm going with black numbers, white back ground, as Dave M said long ago, white through with water spray, don't work.

Anyhow, I would ask, the safety committee to add a color chip or two in the stock rules to simplify the controversy and call it a day.

Thanks all who have replied, this is how great ideas get formed.

[John Howe]

I was just checking out this thread and it brought back a hard memory to me. Back in the 1980`s, there was a annual Kilo run event here in Florida in a small town called Moore Haven. Moore Haven is located just west of Lake Okeechobee, and the event was run on the Caloosahatchee river which runs from the lake out to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Kilo event was hosted by the now long defunct Florida Inboard Racing Club and I was active in the club as a voluteer worker. I would run the start clock, do flags, help set up and take down bouys, assist in the pits, and on tow boats.

During the kilos I was pretty much free to spectate and take pictures. I can`t remember the exact year but I well remember the day. There were a lot of entries for the event and one of the entries was a boat owned by Dick O' Dea. It was a big 3 point Ed Karleson built hull powered by a highly modified big Merc, built by Dick O` Dea, and driven by George Andrews.The class was called OZ which I understand was pretty much a unlimited outboard class. George went out and the boat was screaming and set a record north of 140 mph. After his first run, in both directions, George idled by the pits and the crew signaled to him that he had the record. George acknowledged the crew and then headed back towards the speed traps to see if he could add a bit more to the new record.

It was on that run when disaster sruck. The pass was looking good when suddenly the boat exploded into splinters. I could tell by how frantic the rescue crew was working on George that it was real bad. George was rushed to a hospital, by ambulance, about 20 miles away. All activities in the pits pretty much stopped. Awhile later the word came from the hospital the that George was gone. A deep sadness swept the pits.

Awhile later I saw the ambulance return to the pits. About 20 minutes after the ambulance returned the event director came up to me and said that I was needed in the rescue/ambulance boat until the regular crew rested! I was stunned! The director said the rescue crew were physicallly worn out from the CPR they had given George all the way to the hospital. He said they still had a lot of runs to get in, and it would just be for a few runs, and besides....it would only the small ouboard kneeler guys running. I reluctantly agreed.

I went over to the rescue boat, a 16 ft. Boston Whaler with a hand operated derrick to lift the driver in the boat. Behind the wheel now was Pete Beals, also another race club volunteer. Neither of us really wanted to be in the rescue boat. Well, Pete and I idled out to our given position on the course and the word went out on the radio that it was time to get running again. Wouldn`t ya know, the first boat out was a inboard 7 litre hydro! So much for "just small outboard kneeler guys". The 7 litre record at that time was also north of 140 mph. The 7 litre on the course was driven by Eddie Heddon whom I`d known for several years. The boat was around 18~20 ft. and it was painted orange with yellow trim. Eddie was wearing a matching helmet and driving suit. As the boat went by on the way to the far end of the course to begin it`s official timing run I overheard "137mph" over the radio. Listening to the engine, I knew that there was more left under Eddies foot.

Eddie went way, way, down course and circled around a few times. Then he pointed the boat towards the timing zone and put his foot down. As the boat was coming, the right sponson lifted. Eddie backed off for a moment, which brougt the sponson down, and put his foot back in it.

Just as he entered the timing zone, the right sponson suddenly lifted, and this time it took the boat up and over with it! I thought to myself, "Oh...bad word!", as Pete hit the throttle. When we got to the crash site the water was filled with a lot of orange and yellow trimmed debris! It took Pete and I several long moments to figure out which orange and yellow trimmed debris was Eddie! Pete shouted "There!". Eddie was floating face down, spread eagle, and not moving. Just before I dove in Pete shouted to me to get his face up and be careful with his neck. When I got to Eddie, I grabbed his jacket with one hand and supported his neck as best I could with my other hand and rolled him over. Eddie was wearing a open faced helmet and the visor was gone. His eyes were closed and I didn`t know if he was dead or not. A second or two later his eyes suddenly sprung open and he began to cough up water and some blood. After a few coughs he began to moan. By that time Pete was approaching and readying the pick up basket. The rescue boat was now at idle speed and Pete lowered the basket. As I was trying to position Eddie to put in the basket, the rescue boat kept moving forward and Eddie and I were in real danger of being run over! I shouted to Pete and he quickly put it in neutral. The basket was made from galvanized chicken wire with galvanized steel tubing for frame work....and no floatation at all. I was trying to keep the basket from sinking and at the same time get Eddie into it. Well, I got Eddie into the basket and Pete began to hoist him in. As Pete was lifting, suddenly my left leg went up and my head went down under water! What the .....? I realized that there was something tangled around my leg. Pete obviousley was still trying trying to lift. It was common back in those days for inboard jackets to be equipped with a small parachute mounted on the back of he collar. The idea was that the chute would deploy during a flip and would turn the driver around so they would impact the water feet first, rather than head first. My leg was tangled up in the lines of Eddie`s chute. I was about to run out of air when suddenly the lines went slack. I popped my head up and gasped. Pete had realized that my leg was snagged and lowered Edie back down so I could free my leg. About that time I looked around and there were 3 other patrol boats nearby. There was no help in the water with me. Everybody was just gawking. Pete pulled Eddie in and I shouted to him to ""GO!" as I swam over to another boat. When I got into the other boat I asked "Why in the..... weren`t you helping?". They had been told via radio to stay out of the way of the "rescue crew". As Pete, with Eddie, approached the awaiting ambulance, I could see Eddie trying to sit up in the basket. Well, it turns out that the basket had a fixed leg divider partition in it and I had Eddie laying in the basket backwards!

Eddie did suffer a broken rib and had a lot of soreness for awhile, but went on to race again, as well as build some winning race boats for others.

After that incident the entire rescue program for the Florida Inboard Racing Club was completely revamped!!!

[ryan_4z]

Skoontz, What guessing game? I don't see what is so difficult about orange, yellow, or florescent red. It's a pretty simple rule to me. Now can we talk about something interesting, like the overlap rule.

[Skoontz]

Ryan:

Either it was not communicated correctly, or you missed something here.

The rule books says what it says regarding helmet colors. With one discretionary rule leaving it down to a judge who determines what color is legal, and what is not. And as a result of that, we see allot of new helmet colors that end up getting yellow and orange 200 mile per hour tape pasted on them to make the helmet legal.

Paint companies, label their paints as they label them. So, rule stating what it does, paint company calling some colors what the rule book says, but those colors can be called illegal by a judge....So, simply put, you supply a color chip to the judge and there is no question, unless you like repainting things just for the sake of having something to do. Simple as that.

[BP125V]

paint

Skoontz,

paint it a BRIGHT orange or yellow and be done with it. you have been to races already and have seen what others have on their helmets, if they have not been DQ'd you won't be either.

I use House of Kolor neons and keep my helmet covered up when not racing, the orange still looks new.

Bill

[T Chance]

If a huge wreck happens in front of me and suddenly there is a kaleidescope of color floating in the water I don't want to have to do multiple choice as to what are pieces of boat, what are pieces of buoy, and what are drivers.

Therefore I think only ORANGE should be allowed as a helmet or driving gear color. And orange should not be allowed anywhere else.

What color is orange? Print a color swatch in the rule book.

[ryan_4z]

Skoontz, I didn't miss anything, I understand the rule in it's entirety. But I have never heard of this being an issue before now.

[HRTV]

Ryan:

Either it was not communicated correctly, or you missed something here.

The rule books says what it says regarding helmet colors. With one discretionary rule leaving it down to a judge who determines what color is legal, and what is not. And as a result of that, we see allot of new helmet colors that end up getting yellow and orange 200 mile per hour tape pasted on them to make the helmet legal.

Paint companies, label their paints as they label them. So, rule stating what it does, paint company calling some colors what the rule book says, but those colors can be called illegal by a judge....So, simply put, you supply a color chip to the judge and there is no question, unless you like repainting things just for the sake of having something to do. Simple as that.

Enough! as mention in a post today you have already been to races and this should not be a big deal paint the helmet and be done with it! enough already please.

[HRTV]

If anything this thread has revealed there needs to be modifications in the rules to eliminate the guessing game. I'm fairly new to the game, but it would seem to me that if a simple color chip was given to each race committee, it would be a very inexpensive and simple way to end some of the problems. As a driver one could then buy whatever helmet they chose, as long as it fit correctly, paint it the color in the chip (pick orange or yellow) and you are done.

I've told KT to get the thought of matching helmets from her system, it's going to be refinished in Orange, I might airbrush her name across the front, and boat number on the back small enough to where it does not mess with the legality, blow some clear over it and call it a day.

We are redoing some stuff in the trailer to make loading easier anyway, and finally going to take the old business name off the sides and color match it to the boat. Along with that, I have to correct the unreadable numbers on the boat, and I'm going with black numbers, white back ground, as Dave M said long ago, white through with water spray, don't work.

Anyhow, I would ask, the safety committee to add a color chip or two in the stock rules to simplify the controversy and call it a day.

Thanks all who have replied, this is how great ideas get formed.

There is no controversy you started this crap no one else had a problem with it.