Ratso
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- Sep 20, 2007
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I suppose most lakes have them, the King of The Lake... or at least they used to be. First time I ever met "ours", it was mid 70s I was just a kid, fascinated with boats. "Larry" had just upgraded to a HydroStream Viking from his Check Mate. Evinrude had their 235 HP V-6 then and the dealership I was working Summers for then had just rigged this bad boy up. He left for the lake and we got a call about an hour later that he had just blown over. I hung around the shop with the boss until they brought the boat back in... the windshield had been ripped off and the only thing holding the motor on was the tilt ram and steering cables. Lawsuits never crossed anybody's mind back then, even though it was a 235 on a boat rated for 175. We got him going again after a couple of weeks. This was back then I was learning about blueprinting hulls, fiber reeds, low water pickups, dual steering, solid mounts, milled heads, NOS, props, and beautiful freakin' women that he always had on his boat. As I got a little older and was able to go out and test drive boats, I would always look him up because he always had some babe out on the boat during the week sunbathing topless... and they were by no means shy. Larry was the guy to "try" to beat. His hot prop was a 28 chopper, all modified and shined up because he never ran it, unless somebody "came looking"...
Finally about ten years later, he sold his boat to another up and comer, and he ordered another HydroStream... same boat but different color... and he decided to special order this one WITHOUT the windshield and weighted the bow down with an 80 pound bag of sand since he was jumping up to a 2.6 now, which was a hopped up 235. He was still the guy to beat, claiming a hundred when he was on the bottle... people would come looking and he would always put them down, but they were getting faster... A few pretty radical boats started hitting the lake, only now, Larry never had his fast prop with him anymore... and of course he wasn't going to run anybody with his lake prop... yet he was still the self proclaimed guy to beat. I'll give it to him... he was fast, but now a few of us others were getting into the game.
His next and current boat was a Stoker tunnel with a modified 225 Vindicator on it... A few years ago I was running beside him with a slightly underpowered boat compared to him, and he had me by a couple mph. Since those days, I've jumped another 20 mph with some different power, but I never "put it on him" because I just wouldn't feel right about it... and his fast prop is still the 28 outdated chopper that he was running 30 years ago. Trust me, over that span of time the man has stories, lots of stories... Nowdays he's a little pickier about who he runs, and he has the excuses to go along with it. We have some Mirages and a twin Merc setup that is knocking on 130 mph... but he won't run em because they are "race boats"... He came into the marina the other day looking for a friend of mine that was running his mouth that he was gonna put it on Larry... and Larry had his "fast prop" on... of course needing the right water conditions and going from maybe a 30 mph start because his "fast prop" slips too much out of the hole. Still Larry was pissed... and my friend wasn't out that day... He was out yesterday, but Larry didn't have his fast prop then... oh well, maybe another day.
Yeah, they go down fighting... I remember the day, when he was the fastest and could back it up... the beautiful chicks that were always on his boat, and he was the talk of the town, at least on the lake. People will come visit the lake sometime and ask if that old man is still around with the fast boats and the faster women... Yeah... I guess he is. Still fast but not the fastest... We probably have a half dozen or so faster now... and what used to be hot chicks are now 250 to 300 pound cows... Going down fighting, but the man has stories... After that many years, I don't have the heart to take him out. We'll all run around the lake and let him have the lead if he wants it... After that many years, if he still wants to be the self proclaimed top dog, then I guess he's earned it...
Finally about ten years later, he sold his boat to another up and comer, and he ordered another HydroStream... same boat but different color... and he decided to special order this one WITHOUT the windshield and weighted the bow down with an 80 pound bag of sand since he was jumping up to a 2.6 now, which was a hopped up 235. He was still the guy to beat, claiming a hundred when he was on the bottle... people would come looking and he would always put them down, but they were getting faster... A few pretty radical boats started hitting the lake, only now, Larry never had his fast prop with him anymore... and of course he wasn't going to run anybody with his lake prop... yet he was still the self proclaimed guy to beat. I'll give it to him... he was fast, but now a few of us others were getting into the game.
His next and current boat was a Stoker tunnel with a modified 225 Vindicator on it... A few years ago I was running beside him with a slightly underpowered boat compared to him, and he had me by a couple mph. Since those days, I've jumped another 20 mph with some different power, but I never "put it on him" because I just wouldn't feel right about it... and his fast prop is still the 28 outdated chopper that he was running 30 years ago. Trust me, over that span of time the man has stories, lots of stories... Nowdays he's a little pickier about who he runs, and he has the excuses to go along with it. We have some Mirages and a twin Merc setup that is knocking on 130 mph... but he won't run em because they are "race boats"... He came into the marina the other day looking for a friend of mine that was running his mouth that he was gonna put it on Larry... and Larry had his "fast prop" on... of course needing the right water conditions and going from maybe a 30 mph start because his "fast prop" slips too much out of the hole. Still Larry was pissed... and my friend wasn't out that day... He was out yesterday, but Larry didn't have his fast prop then... oh well, maybe another day.
Yeah, they go down fighting... I remember the day, when he was the fastest and could back it up... the beautiful chicks that were always on his boat, and he was the talk of the town, at least on the lake. People will come visit the lake sometime and ask if that old man is still around with the fast boats and the faster women... Yeah... I guess he is. Still fast but not the fastest... We probably have a half dozen or so faster now... and what used to be hot chicks are now 250 to 300 pound cows... Going down fighting, but the man has stories... After that many years, I don't have the heart to take him out. We'll all run around the lake and let him have the lead if he wants it... After that many years, if he still wants to be the self proclaimed top dog, then I guess he's earned it...
