Viper 1
Well-known member
Dear Checkmate Members First I want to Thank all of you Kind Members that took the time to Reply and Clicked Like on my Last two Action Marine Checkmate Story. It is Much Appreciated by Me.
Dear Checkmate Members I am going to Share with all of You My Third Action Marine-Checkmate Hi-performance Story. This Story took place in the summer of 1980 at Woodland lake in Brighton Michigan. There Lived one of my oldest friends from 1968 and long time Action Marine club member Jimmy. Jimmy had bought a 1979 black and sliver 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter with a mercury 200 hp outboard from me. We are still best friends even today 46 years latter. before I begin with this third Checkmate story I want to share a email I got from Jimmy in January 10, 2013 about the last Checkmate story I wrote for all you Checkmate Members here on this Great Checkmate Forum.
I Just got a email from a old friend that goes all the way back to 1968 when I first met Jim and sold him his first boat. I wanted to Share his email with all of you. Always Sammie from Action Marine
Jim did you like my Action Marine Story?
----- Original Message ----- From: vision89@com
To: Sammie
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2013 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: Fun Days
PS You will notice Jimmy's email address starts out vision89, that's because I sold Jimmy a 1989 22 ft Vision with a big block
Yes it sounded like something that you would do, I remember the weekend that you and Your mom spent at my house on the lake and you did the same thing with me, I never chined walked again after that weekend, you also spent some time running down Livingston Channel with me when we were out at Crystal Bay, the thing is that we can look back at all of the cool things that you did with love and friendship, and the distance might be far but the love and friendship is like next door.
Jim
This Checkmate Story took place in the summer of 1980 at Woodland lake in Brighton Michigan were my dear friend Jimmy lived. Jimmy's Checkmate Enchanter had one of my Hi-Performance Set-up's with one of my custom built Hi-Performance Racing props that I built for him. Jimmy's Checkmate Enchanter would run 72-73 mph on our Custom Built Keller Calibrated Racing Speedometer, which was Calibrated within Plus or Minus 1/2 MPH. Jimmy having a year of Driving his Hi-Performance Enchanter had become really good at setting his Enchanter up on the last few inches of its pad and getting the Maximum out of his boat. Jimmy had Won many races on his lake during this past year where he ran most of the time until he ran up against a new neighbor and his new 18 ft Tahiti jet boat. Jimmy was use to winning when he ran up against jet boats with his Enchanter but this Tahiti jet boat was Not the normal running jet boat. This Tahiti jet boat was a one of a kind custom built jet boat with a 800 plus hp, dual Turbo charged big block Chevy in it. This new Neighbor of Jimmy's was Gary, one of the owners of a boat store on Plymouth road called Wonderland marine. Gary had the Tahiti boat company build him this one of a kind custom Tahiti jet boat so he could be king of Woodland lake where he had also bought his new lakefront home. Monday mornings at my Action Marine was not like Monday morning at other boat stores where the store owners hated Mondays because that was the day after the weekend and there was a line up of broken boats out in front of there stores waiting to get repaired. At my Action Marine, my Action Marine Club members that did not run with us on the weekend would call me and tell me of all the races they got into and the fun they had winning most of them. Jimmy always called on Monday telling me of the races that he had won but this Monday he was not singing the same happy tune. He was up-set because this new neighbor of his, with his new Tahiti jet boat had blow Jimmy's doors off and Gary was giving Jimmy a hard time about his slow Checkmate outboard. At first I thought that Jimmy's Checkmate might not be running as fast as it was and something was wrong with it, until Jimmy told me that this Gary was one of the owners of Wonderland marine and that this Tahiti jet boat was a one of a kind custom built jet boat with a 800 plus hp, dual Turbo charged big block Chevy in it. I told Jimmy not to be up-set because he didn't win and Jimmy told me he was not up-set about not winning against a 800 plus hp jet boat, that he was up-set because this new neighbor Gary was saying bad things about his Checkmate. I then told Jimmy I have a plan and that I needed his help. I told Jimmy the next time you see your new neighbor Gary on the water to go over to him and act like nothing has happened and for you to invite Gary to come out to the Detroit river where there are lots of fast boats there that Gary can Race against. I will be there with my blue and sliver Checkmate Enchanter I/O and we will have some of our other Action Marine Club members there, where we will all have some fun with your new neighbor Gary and his Tahiti jet boat. The very next time Jimmy saw Gary running his Tahiti, Jimmy jumped into his Enchanter and went over and invited Gary to Join him on a Saturday run on the Detroit river. Gary was very excited to be invited by Jimmy to go out on this coming Saturday and run the Detroit River where he could Race some other boats and show them how fast his Tahiti could go. Little did Gary know that he was in for a big surprise and that he was about to learn a lesson that he would not forget in a long time. I told Jimmy to take his new friend Gary down to the Detroit River in Trenton Michigan, Between the two Bridges going over to Grosse Ile island and we will meet them there around 4 pm. I closed Action Marine at 3 pm on Saturdays so we at Action Marine could meet up with the rest of our Action Marine club members and spend the rest of the weekend Running the Detroit river and spending the night's at white sands or crystal bay. Jimmy and Gary were Running side by side on the Detroit river right where I told Jimmy I would meet up with them and that's when the Fun began. I pulled up on Gary's right side of his Tahiti jet boat at about 40 mph and looked over at Gary with a Big grin on my face, like I was about to swallow a mouse and nodded to him to a race. You could see that Gary was excited because here he thought that he had another slow Checkmate that he could beat up on and add another notch to his belt. I had told the other Action Marine club members what was going to happen to Gary and for them to stay back with Jimmy once the race between this Tahiti and I started and enjoy the race. Gary Hit the throttle of his Tahiti jet boat with it's 800 plus Turbo Charged hp and pulled hard from the rest of the boats while I was just staying with him so I could clock his top speed. You should of seen The surprised look on Gary's face as I stayed right with him till he topped out at his max speed of 84 mph, then I waved by by with a Big Grin as I pulled really hard up to 120 mph on my Keller Speedometer going under the second bridge going over to Grosse Ile island. There had to be 1/2 mile between Gary and I in just a few seconds from his max speed of 84 mpg to my 120 mph. When I turned my Checkmate Enchanter around to go back to my Action Marine Club Members there was Gary Stopped in the water beating his fist on the dash of his new Tahiti jet boat. I never stopped to talk with Gary or anybody else I had raced because I did not want these guys to ask me a lot of questions that I was not going to answer. I always felt it better to keep them guessing and send them home with there tails between there legs. When I got back to my Action Marine Club Members they were all having a great time watching the race and being together on this beautiful Saturday. Jimmy was the Happiest of all the club members because Gary had made him feel bad. I told all my Action Marine Members that we were not done with Gary just yet. I had another surprise for him and that I was taking my Enchanter I/O back to my Action Marine right now and I was going to bring out my 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboard. My Action Marine club members stayed there Between the two Bridges going over to Grosse Ile island while I was gone and when I got back with my Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboard we all went looking for Gary and his Tahiti jet boat. Well it didn't take us long to find Gary trying to beat up on some other Hi-Performance boats over by White Sands in Canada. There was 10 of us with 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboards out of the 25 Action Marine Checkmates now over at White Sands watching Gary as he was Picking on some smaller outboard that he knew he could beat up on. I told the other 9 Action Marine members to follow me and do what I do when we get Gary to race us. I taught All my guys how to drive there 20 ft Enchanter's with the 300 hp on them really well and I knew they could all hold there own against Gary's Tahiti since the slowest Enchanter XS- 300 hp package out there that day was a good 87 mph boat or better. My Enchanter XS had no problem running 90 plus mph. So now it was time to show Gary that all the BS he gave Jimmy with his Checkmate and his little 200 hp on Woodland lake in Brighton was not nice and that there was a price to pay for his actions. We pulled up on Gary from both sides with My Checkmate Enchanter XS -300 hp outboard on his right side, again looking over at him with that Big Grin of Mine. Gary was Really Surprised this time to see me in a different Checkmate wanting to race him once again, only this time I had 9 more Enchanters outboards for him to run against too. Well Gary tried to get us to run from a slower speed so he could have the advantage over us but that was not going to happen lol. I keep pushing Gary till I got him at around 50 mph before I nodded my head for him to go and from that speed all my Action Marine club members started pulling out in front of Gary's Tahiti and over taking his Tahiti's 84 mph. Once we all were out in front of Gary's Tahiti we all turned around to go back where we left the other Action Marine members while Gary keep going straight in the other direction from us till he was out of sight. That was the last time we ever saw Gary on the Detroit River. Jimmy saw Gary on Woodland lake running his Tahiti, but now Gary was not trying to pick on every boat he saw. He seemed to have learned a good lesson and was trying not be such a Tuff guy in his Tahiti jet boat. I am Not a Writer But I have Given it My Best for All You Checkmate Members here on this Great Checkmate Forum. I Hope all of You have Enjoyed My Third Action Marine-Checkmate Story and the Time it Took for me to Put all this all Together for all of You here. Best Wishes Always to all of You Checkmate Members. Always Sammie from Action Marine
Dear Checkmate Members I am going to Share with all of You My Third Action Marine-Checkmate Hi-performance Story. This Story took place in the summer of 1980 at Woodland lake in Brighton Michigan. There Lived one of my oldest friends from 1968 and long time Action Marine club member Jimmy. Jimmy had bought a 1979 black and sliver 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter with a mercury 200 hp outboard from me. We are still best friends even today 46 years latter. before I begin with this third Checkmate story I want to share a email I got from Jimmy in January 10, 2013 about the last Checkmate story I wrote for all you Checkmate Members here on this Great Checkmate Forum.
I Just got a email from a old friend that goes all the way back to 1968 when I first met Jim and sold him his first boat. I wanted to Share his email with all of you. Always Sammie from Action Marine
Jim did you like my Action Marine Story?
----- Original Message ----- From: vision89@com
To: Sammie
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2013 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: Fun Days
PS You will notice Jimmy's email address starts out vision89, that's because I sold Jimmy a 1989 22 ft Vision with a big block
Yes it sounded like something that you would do, I remember the weekend that you and Your mom spent at my house on the lake and you did the same thing with me, I never chined walked again after that weekend, you also spent some time running down Livingston Channel with me when we were out at Crystal Bay, the thing is that we can look back at all of the cool things that you did with love and friendship, and the distance might be far but the love and friendship is like next door.
Jim
This Checkmate Story took place in the summer of 1980 at Woodland lake in Brighton Michigan were my dear friend Jimmy lived. Jimmy's Checkmate Enchanter had one of my Hi-Performance Set-up's with one of my custom built Hi-Performance Racing props that I built for him. Jimmy's Checkmate Enchanter would run 72-73 mph on our Custom Built Keller Calibrated Racing Speedometer, which was Calibrated within Plus or Minus 1/2 MPH. Jimmy having a year of Driving his Hi-Performance Enchanter had become really good at setting his Enchanter up on the last few inches of its pad and getting the Maximum out of his boat. Jimmy had Won many races on his lake during this past year where he ran most of the time until he ran up against a new neighbor and his new 18 ft Tahiti jet boat. Jimmy was use to winning when he ran up against jet boats with his Enchanter but this Tahiti jet boat was Not the normal running jet boat. This Tahiti jet boat was a one of a kind custom built jet boat with a 800 plus hp, dual Turbo charged big block Chevy in it. This new Neighbor of Jimmy's was Gary, one of the owners of a boat store on Plymouth road called Wonderland marine. Gary had the Tahiti boat company build him this one of a kind custom Tahiti jet boat so he could be king of Woodland lake where he had also bought his new lakefront home. Monday mornings at my Action Marine was not like Monday morning at other boat stores where the store owners hated Mondays because that was the day after the weekend and there was a line up of broken boats out in front of there stores waiting to get repaired. At my Action Marine, my Action Marine Club members that did not run with us on the weekend would call me and tell me of all the races they got into and the fun they had winning most of them. Jimmy always called on Monday telling me of the races that he had won but this Monday he was not singing the same happy tune. He was up-set because this new neighbor of his, with his new Tahiti jet boat had blow Jimmy's doors off and Gary was giving Jimmy a hard time about his slow Checkmate outboard. At first I thought that Jimmy's Checkmate might not be running as fast as it was and something was wrong with it, until Jimmy told me that this Gary was one of the owners of Wonderland marine and that this Tahiti jet boat was a one of a kind custom built jet boat with a 800 plus hp, dual Turbo charged big block Chevy in it. I told Jimmy not to be up-set because he didn't win and Jimmy told me he was not up-set about not winning against a 800 plus hp jet boat, that he was up-set because this new neighbor Gary was saying bad things about his Checkmate. I then told Jimmy I have a plan and that I needed his help. I told Jimmy the next time you see your new neighbor Gary on the water to go over to him and act like nothing has happened and for you to invite Gary to come out to the Detroit river where there are lots of fast boats there that Gary can Race against. I will be there with my blue and sliver Checkmate Enchanter I/O and we will have some of our other Action Marine Club members there, where we will all have some fun with your new neighbor Gary and his Tahiti jet boat. The very next time Jimmy saw Gary running his Tahiti, Jimmy jumped into his Enchanter and went over and invited Gary to Join him on a Saturday run on the Detroit river. Gary was very excited to be invited by Jimmy to go out on this coming Saturday and run the Detroit River where he could Race some other boats and show them how fast his Tahiti could go. Little did Gary know that he was in for a big surprise and that he was about to learn a lesson that he would not forget in a long time. I told Jimmy to take his new friend Gary down to the Detroit River in Trenton Michigan, Between the two Bridges going over to Grosse Ile island and we will meet them there around 4 pm. I closed Action Marine at 3 pm on Saturdays so we at Action Marine could meet up with the rest of our Action Marine club members and spend the rest of the weekend Running the Detroit river and spending the night's at white sands or crystal bay. Jimmy and Gary were Running side by side on the Detroit river right where I told Jimmy I would meet up with them and that's when the Fun began. I pulled up on Gary's right side of his Tahiti jet boat at about 40 mph and looked over at Gary with a Big grin on my face, like I was about to swallow a mouse and nodded to him to a race. You could see that Gary was excited because here he thought that he had another slow Checkmate that he could beat up on and add another notch to his belt. I had told the other Action Marine club members what was going to happen to Gary and for them to stay back with Jimmy once the race between this Tahiti and I started and enjoy the race. Gary Hit the throttle of his Tahiti jet boat with it's 800 plus Turbo Charged hp and pulled hard from the rest of the boats while I was just staying with him so I could clock his top speed. You should of seen The surprised look on Gary's face as I stayed right with him till he topped out at his max speed of 84 mph, then I waved by by with a Big Grin as I pulled really hard up to 120 mph on my Keller Speedometer going under the second bridge going over to Grosse Ile island. There had to be 1/2 mile between Gary and I in just a few seconds from his max speed of 84 mpg to my 120 mph. When I turned my Checkmate Enchanter around to go back to my Action Marine Club Members there was Gary Stopped in the water beating his fist on the dash of his new Tahiti jet boat. I never stopped to talk with Gary or anybody else I had raced because I did not want these guys to ask me a lot of questions that I was not going to answer. I always felt it better to keep them guessing and send them home with there tails between there legs. When I got back to my Action Marine Club Members they were all having a great time watching the race and being together on this beautiful Saturday. Jimmy was the Happiest of all the club members because Gary had made him feel bad. I told all my Action Marine Members that we were not done with Gary just yet. I had another surprise for him and that I was taking my Enchanter I/O back to my Action Marine right now and I was going to bring out my 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboard. My Action Marine club members stayed there Between the two Bridges going over to Grosse Ile island while I was gone and when I got back with my Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboard we all went looking for Gary and his Tahiti jet boat. Well it didn't take us long to find Gary trying to beat up on some other Hi-Performance boats over by White Sands in Canada. There was 10 of us with 20 ft Checkmate Enchanter XS with its Experimental Mercury 300 HP Outboards out of the 25 Action Marine Checkmates now over at White Sands watching Gary as he was Picking on some smaller outboard that he knew he could beat up on. I told the other 9 Action Marine members to follow me and do what I do when we get Gary to race us. I taught All my guys how to drive there 20 ft Enchanter's with the 300 hp on them really well and I knew they could all hold there own against Gary's Tahiti since the slowest Enchanter XS- 300 hp package out there that day was a good 87 mph boat or better. My Enchanter XS had no problem running 90 plus mph. So now it was time to show Gary that all the BS he gave Jimmy with his Checkmate and his little 200 hp on Woodland lake in Brighton was not nice and that there was a price to pay for his actions. We pulled up on Gary from both sides with My Checkmate Enchanter XS -300 hp outboard on his right side, again looking over at him with that Big Grin of Mine. Gary was Really Surprised this time to see me in a different Checkmate wanting to race him once again, only this time I had 9 more Enchanters outboards for him to run against too. Well Gary tried to get us to run from a slower speed so he could have the advantage over us but that was not going to happen lol. I keep pushing Gary till I got him at around 50 mph before I nodded my head for him to go and from that speed all my Action Marine club members started pulling out in front of Gary's Tahiti and over taking his Tahiti's 84 mph. Once we all were out in front of Gary's Tahiti we all turned around to go back where we left the other Action Marine members while Gary keep going straight in the other direction from us till he was out of sight. That was the last time we ever saw Gary on the Detroit River. Jimmy saw Gary on Woodland lake running his Tahiti, but now Gary was not trying to pick on every boat he saw. He seemed to have learned a good lesson and was trying not be such a Tuff guy in his Tahiti jet boat. I am Not a Writer But I have Given it My Best for All You Checkmate Members here on this Great Checkmate Forum. I Hope all of You have Enjoyed My Third Action Marine-Checkmate Story and the Time it Took for me to Put all this all Together for all of You here. Best Wishes Always to all of You Checkmate Members. Always Sammie from Action Marine
