Record Trial, Flint MI, May 3 & 4th.

[Terry Keeley]

The D2 opener is less than 4 weeks away!

All IMPBA classes for SAW and 1/3rd Oval, 8am-dark. Come and go any time, flat $25 to register, run as often as time permits.

Map of Thread Lake, we're at the north end of Orville St., north of McKinley Park:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0...,0.019205&z=16

M6 where we stay, under $40/nt:
http://www.motel6.com/reservations/m...=&dDa=&CP=&TA=

Here's some pix from past events:
http://gallery.intlwaters.com/index.php?cat=10068

Come run the big water!

Amp Heads Keith Kirchen and Joel Mertz:

[Rocstar]

Looking forward to it Terry.

[Terry Keeley]

Looking forward to it Terry.

See ya then, less than 2 weeks to go!

[Terry Keeley]

The FAST crew got the site all set up today and we're ready for a good weekend. Weather won't be shorts and t-shirts but there should be plenty of good conditions though out the weekend. Wind is forecast to pick up tomorrow afternoon but coming from the west which is well sheltered at T. Lake.

See y'all soon!

[Doug Smock]

Good luck fellas!!

[Terry Keeley]

Faced a bunch of challenges this event and as always Mike Nowicki, Mark Stein and Mikey Ross - aka the F.A.S.T crew - came through again, thanks guys!

Saturday gave us a small window early then the wind came up strong from the west behind us and though the course was still runnable it wasn't great. We forgot to stake our canopies and a big gust came and sent them into the lake. All this going on while we were searching for Mike Ball's P Sport Hydro that blew off and sunk just short of buoy 4. Mike had to swim in icy water but we got it! :)

Sunday was decent early then the wind came again and blew all day laying down a bit just before dark.

Bob Nauss, Dale Brobst, FAST member Mikey Ross, IMPBA past President & VP Kevin Sheren, IMPBA President Chris (Juice) Rupley.

Juice & Dale came up from Toledo and cooked lunch for us, thanks a bunch guys!



Keith Kirchen and his record setting FE Catamaran. Keith had the fastest one way pass ever recorded at Thread Lake of 1.883 sec or 119.490 mph!



First timer Shawn Swain and his Q Catamaran:



Joel Mertz and his Q Catamaran:



David & Doug Murany and Blair Warren making a comeback with his good running 67 hydro:




Got some video to follow.

Records submitted:

Keith Kirchen: Q Catamaran SAW 2.307 sec. 97.529 mph

T Catamaran SAW 2.065 sec. 108.959 mph

Mike Ball: Q Sport Hydro Oval 23.826 sec. 50.365 mph

[Terry Keeley]

Mike Ball and his P Sport Hydro. Mike set the Q SP Hydro Oval at 23.826 sec.



Mike after a cool dunk in Thread Lake!

[Terry Keeley]

[Terry Keeley]

[Terry Keeley]

[ezhitz]

Thanks Terry for the update and videos.

[keithbradley]

What an odd weekend...

Mike Ball earned his man card by jumping into the ice cold water to retrieve his boat...only to have it almost immediately revoked when those in attendance noticed his spongebob underpants! Mike is such a friendly guy and has that hydro completely dialed in...I was happy to see he at least got his equipment back.

3 EZ-up style canopies were lost in one day. Two took flight and ended up in the water, another was staked down but buckled under the force of the wind.

I brought 5 boats and came with the intention of taking all 5 of the FE cat records, but only got enough time to run a couple. I was able to post the lake record with a boat I maidened at the event, but I couldn't keep it on the water for the backup. I thought the wind was to blame on that run, but upon further inspection I found an issue with the boat that was easily corrected. Unfortunately, by the time I got back out on the water, it was too rough to post a high speed again. While I did post a couple records, they were well below what I wanted to run. Hopefully the fall will bring better weather and an opportunity to better represent what I bring to the event, as it will likely be my last one for a while.

Thanks to Terry and the FAAST guys for their hard work.

[keithbradley]

Some more vids:

[keithbradley]

[keithbradley]

[keithbradley]

[Apophis]

Terry, I wanted to say Thanks again to you and the F.A.S.T. guys for doing this, you guys made it easy for a new (and nervous) guy to get into this and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully the fall will bring some better weather and some flat water!

Thanks again!
Shawn

[Rocstar]

Some more vids:

I knew I was way off course, but that was bad.

[Terry Keeley]

Terry, I wanted to say Thanks again to you and the F.A.S.T. guys for doing this, you guys made it easy for a new (and nervous) guy to get into this and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully the fall will bring some better weather and some flat water!

Thanks again!
Shawn

Thanks for coming, see ya in the Fall!

[longballlumber]

I know I am a little late on this, but I too want to thank the FAST club for all of their efforts putting on this event. I REALLY appreciate Terry and the guys working with me to recover my sunken boat. We actually located the boat relatively quickly since was only 5'6" deep in that area. We spent the next hour and a half trying to get it actually out of the water. Since we weren't able to get it up with the basket, I had to take a dip!

While I am the first to condone swimming for a boat, I will tell you this was a little different situation. First I was able to touch bottom with-out going under. Secondly, the retrieve boat was directly at my side and I was able to keep one hand on the boat at all times (only removing to get my boat). Third, we had safety cushions ready just in case they were needed.

I also want to thank Keith Bradly and Joel Mertz, they boat help me out with a couple of items I didn't come prepared with. Heck, even Joel let me use his RX battery out of his own boat. Problem is, that battery took a drink with my boat. However, I think Keith had an extra pack so Joel could make more runs.

I am really going to try and have more ready for next year and make a day/weekend out of it.

Thanks again everyone!
Mike

Oh, I am also happy to report that all of the electronics in the boat bench tested fine yesterday (Futaba RX, Castle Controller, Futaba servo, and my Lipos).

[Doug Smock]

New IMPBA records out of Flint

Keith Kirchen, Q Catamaran SAW 97.529 mph.

Keith Kirchen, T Catamaran SAW 108.958 mph.

Mike Ball, Q Sport Hydro 1/3 Oval 23.826 sec.

Congratulations fellas!!

You certainly earned that one Mike. I'm glad you were able to save the piece parts.

Terry, thanks to you and the gang for putting on the show.

Doug

[RaceMechaniX]

Congrats guys.

TG

[BILL OXIDEAN]

Guess what? I'm JEALOUS..
You guys had a lotta' great water between a few guys and gotcher scores up tall.
Sounds like an IMPBA SAW event to me..
More than anything I'm jealous of… the fun : )

[keithbradley]

You guys had a lotta' great water between a few guys

Thanks for the info Bill. If you ask me, we caught an unlucky weekend and some of the windiest weather I've ever been on the water for. Aside from a few back to back runs early Sunday morning, our boats stayed dry, with the exception of two "basher" monos that Joel and I brought to play around with. Fortunately the slower stuff can be run in just about any conditions... I'm sure you already know that though!

Luckily all the guys at this event are good to be around. I felt bad for the guys who put all the work in to make the event happen, but at least we were able to make a few passes to say we were there!