From the Daily News today:
Boater boasted of speed, privilege
By Amy Raisin
Staff Writer
CASTAIC -- The thrill of hitting 149 mph in a
customized speed boat and the tragic crash
two days later while four boaters tried to
top that speed is eerily immortalized in an
online chat room for boat lovers.
One of the four men killed
when the craft crashed Jan. 11
on Castaic Lake boasts of the
149 mph accomplishment -- as
well as the boaters' "in" at
Castaic Lake, where the speed
limit is 35 mph.
On the www.***boat.net (http://www.***boat.net) web site, where users
must register to post messages, member
"mrpumpsHTM" -- the screen name used by Chuck
Wiseman, 46, owner of Mr. Pump Concrete in
Castaic -- informed other users of the speed
record.
It was 9:15 p.m. Jan. 9, less than 48 hours
before Wiseman and three friends died in
Steve Coloumbe's speed boat, that he posted
the following:
"Today at Castaic Lake Steve from HTM tested
his new 30-footer twin HTM ... an awesome
speed of 149.999 ... and we ran out of props.
We might do more testing later in the week.
Not bad for a 30-foot boat."
Acton-based HTM -- High Torque Marine -- was
owned by Coloumbe, who designed and
manufactured high-performance boats. Wiseman,
Coloumbe and two HTM employees were testing a
30-foot, twin-hulled catamaran prototype when
the boat flipped and sank just before 2 p.m.
that windy Friday.
In the days leading up to the crash,
Wiseman's near-150 mph claim quickly had
become a hot topic on the message board.
Posted by "warlock25" at 10:26 p.m., Jan. 9:
"Wish we could have seen it run. Hopefully he
will bring it to Havasu this spring or
summer. I can't imagine what it must look
like to see a 30-foot boat going 150 mph.
What next?"
"150 mph is some serious, serious speed. I've
been 135 mph in a car a couple of times ...
150 mph on the water would feel so much
faster. Where were the cops?" a poster
identifying himself as "rivercrazy" noted at
5:09 p.m., Jan. 10:
And then Wiseman -- his words still visible
two months later -- posted a response that
leaves questions about special treatment
afforded to the high-profile boaters who
tested their crafts at Castaic.
Posted by mrpumpsHTM -- Wiseman -- at 5:28
p.m., Jan. 10:
"Castaic we kind of have an in ... but you
didn't get that from me."
Lifeguards at the popular recreation area,
who asked not to be named, said supervisors
had urged lifeguards to "look the other way"
when certain boat manufacturers tested their
latest designs on the water.
County Parks and Recreation officials
acknowledge that one local boat manufacturer
is allowed to use a launch ramp at Castaic
that usually is closed to the public. And a
1990 internal memo from parks officials to
lifeguards directs them to ease off and
ticket boaters only after the third
infraction, a move parks officials said at
the time was aimed at over-zealous lifeguards
and one that the lifeguards said never was
rescinded.
Based on witness accounts and inspection of
the broken boat at Castaic, a Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department investigation
concluded that the boat was traveling 90 to
120 mph when it flipped and sank in about 250
feet of water.
Wiseman's last entry on the message board,
logged at 8:20 a.m. the day he died, was
hauntingly prophetic:
"It was the first shot, the first boat we got
wet. Next time I think we will see a lot
more!!!"