My fishing buddy tells a story of his childhood in Biloxi/Gulfport Miss. He said he and his buddies would build their own 8' wooden john boats out of cheap 1/2" plywood, mount a 10-15 HP on the back, and rig a heavy spring from the motor mid section to the transom while leaving out the trim pin. And according to him they would race each other up and down the estuarys in the back bay bunny hopping the short berms and sand bars. The motors would flip up and down as required with this the setup.<br /><br />Too bad you cant hear him tell the story, but he said at 13, he was the fastest time record holder until some hotshot beat his time one day. <br />So, of course he had to defend his title and everyone gathered to watch him take back his title. He said he treaked the engine something scary and took off!<br /><br />There were no seats in these boats, for proper trim and arodynamics of course. Mike, said you just lay down feet forward with your left hand on the tiller/throddle and head up against the transom. <br /><br />So there he goes....says his motor was screamin crazy wot as he headed down the the away leg of the run hopping the 10 or so berms before the turn around. On the way back he said he was sure he was gonna get his title back as every adjustment was going along as planned.<br />On the third to the last berm to the finish he lost one of the runners under the hull while hopping the berm. Then the ride started to shimmey a bit but he was determined to finish and he was almost there. When he hit the second to last berm and was airborn, the boat broke apart and flew away. Now it was just him, feet first, holding the motor and transom behind his head, airborn! <br />Lucky for him the back bay is only 1-3 feet deep and a soft mud bottom. He pushed himself away from the motor before it was buried in the muck upon impact. He says because everything slowed down while he was holding just the motor and flying without the boat, he had time to think about detaching himself at the last second.
