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Old 09-01-2015, 09:01 AM   #55
ApS
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy Gourmand View Post
I think 60 MPH on a boat is more than a little different that 60 MPH in a car.
Although the lake can take on the appearance of an Interstate, I find the comparisons unworthy of being "the science" some would exploit. On the highway, most of us are focused on the car directly ahead.

With excellent peripheral vision, it would be difficult to hit an animal on the road, yet it happens in the US at an estimated million times a day. Besides a bird, my only victim was a rabbit who hopped to the double-yellow, then committed suicide-by-hop.

I travel Interstate I-77 where a 20' Baja Outlaw landed on two southbound cars! (Southbound site pictured below). While the car drivers could "see for miles", the boat (coming from his peripheral vision) surprised them.



Quote:
Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin View Post
From the sounds of this paragraph, and what it implies, I think we should be ending sailing regattas on the lake, and also require that sail boats no long "stay on edge" when recreational sailing. If it take full mental capacity to operate a sail boat at top speed, leaving very little capacity to keep a proper lookout... then sailing at top speed should not be allowed if the lake is to remain safe.....
The captain of L'Hydroptère saw 61-MPH before a capsize ended his run, but even L'Hydroptère would have the privileged-boat status over every Winnipesaukee speedboat. The wind is the primary reason, as a slight change of wind affects a sailing craft, as L'Hydroptère was to find out.



Quote:
Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin View Post
I have never had an issue with my peripheral version diminishing in a boat or in a car, and have operated boats to the 70-80 Mph range and cars in excess of 100mph. If anything a I am more alert and aware of what is going on around me at high speed.
Yes, of course you are—we are all "above average".



One can expect a loss of peripheral vision with age.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin View Post
I will not disagree, in the boat the wind is in my face, and I don't have other vehicles within feet of me... In the boat, my vision is not encumbered by structural members reduce vision and create blind spots. So yes they are different... I am way more relaxed on the water at 50-60 MPH then I am in the car with traffic immediately around me at the same speed...With that said... speed at that rate, by itself doesn't cause tunnel vision... otherwise cars and motorcycles wouldn't be allowed to go that fast....
When speeding your car into the sun, how do you wear your baseball cap?



I have been 130-MPH on closed automobile racetracks, and instruct my students to "check your mirrors" because they are too focused on the next turn. (This from the passenger seat). "Tunnel Vision" is more common than you think.

In a boat, I was once becalmed between two Florida thunderstorms before the wind picked up. The following ride probably exceeded 40-MPH, which is rocketing, for an 18-foot (by 10') catamaran. The rudders couldn't turn the boat when it needed turning and eventually was stopped by contacting a large patch of cattails, where, underneath, I waited out the storm. Last winter, the buyer of that catamaran was cautioned.

My own car is capable of 149-MPH or more, but never saw a reason to reach those speeds on a public highway, nor could do so due to race tracks' many turns—even Road Atlanta's speedy downhill turn 11.

I once took a rented Porsche on the Autobahn to 130-MPH as well. There, you must see a mile ahead! A smooth ride at that speed, my passenger-wifey finally asked, "How fast are we going?" Oh yes, I was a passenger in a 1984 Porsche Turbo (a loaner to me), and hit 155 on a Kansas Interstate.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LIforrelaxin View Post
Don't provide false information that isn't based in fact... While speed can cause tunnel vision there are usually other factors.... If a boat at greater the 45mph cause tunnel visions then why do we allow highway speeds of 65 and 70 MPH....
Because disc brakes changed the highway dynamic?



Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodsy View Post
Gourmand... You are right..... at 60 MPH in a boat the distance you can see is measured in miles... not feet!
Woodsy
The critical distance to kayaks, inflatables, SUPs, sculls, canoes and swimmers is measured in feet. One scofflaw in particular regularly enters Winter Harbor's protected waters while accelerating!

It only takes one headline to change our view of ten years of relative safety.
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