jonzis donzi
07-21-2010, 10:42 AM
Since I have not seen one iota of info on Boyne Thunder this year, which took place last weekend, I will tell a little about it. Remember the poseurs from last year? We took our 16 Donzi out again to run with the big guns. As the boats came through Charlevoix out through the pier heads, I saw more Donzis than I can remember being in this event. There was an orange one that looked identical to the one on Donzi Marine's site that is a factory race boat. A beautiful blue one that was somewhere around 40', a red one with ILMOR plastered on the side, an orange and blue one, and a few others. As the boats went out there were several hundred people lining the piers and a helicopter was hovering very low, less than a hundred feet, taking pictures. We, as four poseurs just like last year, went out in Lake MI around 1:30.
Many boats had already made the circuit and had come in. They weren't as tightly grouped as last year and very few people were on the pi ers. We spotted the red ILMOR powered boat, which looked like it might be having cooling problems or something as it took a loop back out into Lake MI and returned toward the channel and idled with the hatches open. We donned our helmets and life jackets, for poseur anonymity, and followed them into the channel in our 16 Donzi complete with fake orange number.
As we came out of Round Lake into Lake Charlevoix we received a standing ovation from people on a pontoon boat and several other boats clapped for us. As we cleared the no wake zone, the ILMOR boat started to get up on plane. I put the hammer down and passed them accelerating to our low 50's top end. After a half mile , or so, they caught up to us and ran neck and neck beside us. With all the chop, we were coming completely out of the water but kept the hammer down. I looked over at the ILMOR boat and they looked like they were out for a Sunday drive, barely wavering, which made me laugh! They then motioned for us to take the lead and backed off the throttle slightly and they followed us for about another mile until I turned off while we still had our canardleys if you know what I mean. Pretty COOL on their part. I guess I picked the ILMOR powered Donzi assuming that meant Viper engines as I have a Viper at home in the garage, anyway it was a fun time for all!
Many boats had already made the circuit and had come in. They weren't as tightly grouped as last year and very few people were on the pi ers. We spotted the red ILMOR powered boat, which looked like it might be having cooling problems or something as it took a loop back out into Lake MI and returned toward the channel and idled with the hatches open. We donned our helmets and life jackets, for poseur anonymity, and followed them into the channel in our 16 Donzi complete with fake orange number.
As we came out of Round Lake into Lake Charlevoix we received a standing ovation from people on a pontoon boat and several other boats clapped for us. As we cleared the no wake zone, the ILMOR boat started to get up on plane. I put the hammer down and passed them accelerating to our low 50's top end. After a half mile , or so, they caught up to us and ran neck and neck beside us. With all the chop, we were coming completely out of the water but kept the hammer down. I looked over at the ILMOR boat and they looked like they were out for a Sunday drive, barely wavering, which made me laugh! They then motioned for us to take the lead and backed off the throttle slightly and they followed us for about another mile until I turned off while we still had our canardleys if you know what I mean. Pretty COOL on their part. I guess I picked the ILMOR powered Donzi assuming that meant Viper engines as I have a Viper at home in the garage, anyway it was a fun time for all!