A 16 year old volunteer on a jet ski zipping through the race course at 50 mph would be in compliance with the new regulations, but a boston whaler with a 4’ dive door and a pilot with 1000 hours of swimmer escort experience would not....I had hoped to someday participate in one of your swims. But if your only two options for safety watercraft are some guy in a Boston Whaler who refuses to show he is insured or a teenager going 50 on a jet ski; then I’ll take a pass. And stick with my swims in secluded puddles with trained water-front lifeguards in kayaks and Fire & Rescue on jet skis with rescue boards.
I have run my boat both with and without a prop-guard. Top speed without is 34 mph, top speed with is 30% less.... an unacceptable loss of performance.In my 30+ years of being an open water swimmer and race director, I’ve never seen an instance where a one of my safety or escort boats needed to be traveling anywhere near 34 MPH. In my opinion, anyone going that fast on an active race course is reckless and dangerous. That’s input from a race director.
A 16 year old volunteer on a jet ski zipping through the race course at 50 mph would be in compliance with the new regulations, but a boston whaler with a 4’ dive door and a pilot with 1000 hours of swimmer escort experience would not....I had hoped to someday participate in one of your swims. But if your only two options for safety watercraft are some guy in a Boston Whaler who refuses to show he is insured or a teenager going 50 on a jet ski; then I’ll take a pass. And stick with my swims in secluded puddles with trained water-front lifeguards in kayaks and Fire & Rescue on jet skis with rescue boards.
I have run my boat both with and without a prop-guard. Top speed without is 34 mph, top speed with is 30% less.... an unacceptable loss of performance.In my 30+ years of being an open water swimmer and race director, I’ve never seen an instance where a one of my safety or escort boats needed to be traveling anywhere near 34 MPH. In my opinion, anyone going that fast on an active race course is reckless and dangerous. That’s input from a race director.
