December 2004
We headed for Lake Havasu for the annual Parade of Lights. We did actually see the parade this year, however the camera batteries checked out shortly after we found our spot in the channel. So I've posted the pictures and video from our impromptu speed runs earlier that day south of the island. The videos are small and in .wmv format. We were on the wrong side of the lake, shooting into the sun as well as being a little too far away for a real good video. Right click on the button and select "Save Target As" to download to your harddrive.
A few of us were looking to up the top speed mark for our boats. Suffice to say only one of the group was successful. Without a myriad of excuses, most performance was hampered by improper prop selection. Oh well, there's always the next weekend!
Charlie Brown had just picked up his 28' Eliminator Daytona. The boat is equipped with twin fuel injected 454 Mag motors. He's still learning the specifics of the boat but still managed a couple of 85 mph passes.
Sean Verna had run 114 mph at Lake Pleasant in his 25' Eliminator Daytona, so we were expecting a few more mph in Havasu. Once he replaced the sea water pump sitting at the marina, he was ready to give it a shot. Come on Sean, I'm thinking a little preventative maintenance, yes? Just look at that impeller! Anyway, Sean made two 117 mph runs and later that day made a 118 mph pass.
Dave Gowan also has a 25' Eliminator Daytona. Dave had made a few 125 mph passes at Lake Pleasant recently. He was working on getting his NOS system to function with the 14-71 blower. Even though he never made any successful runs with the laughing gas, he still ran 125 mph again!
Chuck Foley was the lone vee hull to run for us! The basically stock 454 Mag DCB still runs in the mid 60's!
Donnie Henson's 25 Daytona had run almost 110 mph previously at Havasu, but this weekend only ran 106 mph. Not bad but could have use a little smaller prop to get the rpm's up where they belong!
Larry Laws 22' Eliminator Daytona was one we were curious to see run. We had run with Larry in Phoenix before, but never saw him wind it up. Larry didn't disappoint us with a couple of 107 mph runs.
Rick Kinslinger has been running his 25' Eliminator Daytona for a year or so. Prior to this weekend, he had not yet "officially" run in the 100-mph club. A nice 101 mph pass on GPS, took care of that.
I was hoping to run better than my previous 114 mph. That run was with a 32 Bravo. I was trying a 31 Hydromotive 5-blade. I couldn't get the boat to run up to the 6000 rpm area where it runs best. 5200 was it, and that was with extra trim which made the stern dancing around enough to get your attention right now! Mile per hour topped out at only 104. The video is on our way to Havasu Palms where we normally make our runs. Got to love the blower whine coming from Donnie's boat!
A couple of pictures while we were floating down the lake past Havasu Palms.
Come on, it wasn't that cold! Damn, I miss summer attire!
