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Channel incidents- just wondering

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Anybody hear of buzzing the bridge? Back in the day used to be a challenge wait till sundown and go through the channel on plane. I never did it but I know those who did.

But all the boaters in the channel this weekend were the true idiots.
 

rivermobster

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Is it true that the same guy that helped design Disneyland also designed Lake Havasu City? also, is that a ski jump to the left of the bridge? Used for ski show during the grand opening? Amazing looking at this picture, what a vision McCullagh and the financial backers had. Did Don Laughlin have any input here or did he mainly stay in the Bullhead area? All this just for boats;)

Seems to me there was zero design thought put into Lake Havasu City...

Otherwise, the porn shop wouldn't be way out on the outskirts of town, it would be in the middle where is belongs! 😁
 

hallett21

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Glad I'm not the only one!

I think you’re fine until the south side. Even skiing slow that’s a blind turn.

No doubt you could do it in November-February with a few buddies on walkie talkies throughout the channel


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PaPaG

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What amazes me is that people actually have fun in that channel when it is packed to the gills of drunks and idiots... In my entire life well over a few hundred trips to Havi I spent 2 total trips in that channel on a busy weekend because of friends requests and each time I could not wait to get the hell out of that exhaust smelling and pee filled puddle of water. Now the Sandbar that was another story.....:cool:
 

Bpracing1127

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What amazes me is that people actually have fun in that channel when it is packed to the gills of drunks and idiots... In my entire life well over a few hundred trips to Havi I spent 2 total trips in that channel on a busy weekend because of friends requests and each time I could not wait to get the hell out of that exhaust smelling and pee filled puddle of water. Now the Sandbar that was another story.....:cool:
At least the pee moves away from you lol
 

wallnutz

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Not even close to the Makitas with attachments going into holes at the sand bar circa 95-98
All in front of 300-500 people

Or the drunk guy that smashed his buddy’s head into the center of the outdrive (prop) during a fight
At sand bar: booked on manslaughter around early 2000’s

Only disposable cameras back then for evidence lol
There is a shoebox somewhere that has a bunch of photos in it. I just hope I find it first.
It was great having a friend that worked at Fotomat, he could get anything developed. Might cost you a few negatives though.
 

rivermobster

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There is a shoebox somewhere that has a bunch of photos in it. I just hope I find it first.
It was great having a friend that worked at Fotomat, he could get anything developed. Might cost you a few negatives though.

I have a nice high end Canon photo scanner that will scan any size negative...

Just sayin! :cool: :p
 

RiverDave

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Anybody hear of buzzing the bridge? Back in the day used to be a challenge wait till sundown and go through the channel on plane. I never did it but I know those who did.

I have heard about it.. really REALLY BAD IDEA..

I have idled through the channel many times at night at varying times from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am..

I can’t tell you how many times idling through I have seen kids (and I mean young kids) down there swimming and sometimes swimming through or across it..

WTF kids are doing out that late I have no idea, but I’ve seen it on two or three occasions.
 

Bobby V

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Anybody hear of buzzing the bridge? Back in the day used to be a challenge wait till sundown and go through the channel on plane. I never did it but I know those who did.
They used to have ski shows at night under the bridge with the bare footers jumping off pontoons. Back in the 80's and early 90's it wasn't cool to hang in the channel.
 

RiverDave

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They used to have ski shows at night under the bridge with the bare footers jumping off pontoons. Back in the 80's and early 90's it wasn't cool to hang in the channel.

I wish they would do that again!
 

WYRD

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I have heard about it.. really REALLY BAD IDEA..

I have idled through the channel many times at night at varying times from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am..

I can’t tell you how many times idling through I have seen kids (and I mean young kids) down there swimming and sometimes swimming through or across it..

WTF kids are doing out that late I have no idea, but I’ve seen it on two or three occasions.
Never said it was a good idea that's why it's in the bad idea thread.
 

WYRD

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I actually still have the photos from that weekend lol. The look in the girls face when he turned it on is priceless.
Send them to me I'll put them up in the 18+ thread
 

Havasu Surfer

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Not even close to the Makitas with attachments going into holes at the sand bar circa 95-98
All in front of 300-500 people

Or the drunk guy that smashed his buddy’s head into the center of the outdrive (prop) during a fight
At sand bar: booked on manslaughter around early 2000’s

Only disposable cameras back then for evidence lol

True. Witnessed all of the above. Watched our divorced dads pick up young women from up top of the bridge while cruising under the LB for boat rides to Copper Canyon back in the early 80’s


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boatnam2

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Almost seen a dude on a rental pontoon chop up about 3 people this weekend at echo, though for sure it was going to happen. Classic deal, prop not even in water when he is backing out and he can't figure why boat isn't moving, on lookers or friends jump into water behind boat as said captain is panicking with everyone yelling to turn off motor which he never did. now shit is all tangled up with ropes, buoys, people, miracle no one hurt except captains ego.
 

Bobby V

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Is it true that the same guy that helped design Disneyland also designed Lake Havasu City?

Yes. CV Wood had a large role in the design of Disneyland. From what I read he had a falling out with Walt and Roy after the opening. As your going over the London Bridge to the island side there is a statue of him and McCullough looking at plans.
 

GRADS

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I have heard about it.. really REALLY BAD IDEA..

I have idled through the channel many times at night at varying times from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am..

I can’t tell you how many times idling through I have seen kids (and I mean young kids) down there swimming and sometimes swimming through or across it..

WTF kids are doing out that late I have no idea, but I’ve seen it on two or three occasions.
What if they closed down the channel, how much speed do you think you get by the time you go under the bridge? Might be a cool idea for an event. We had something like that here in Sac (Bridge to Bridge) and was pretty cool.
 

boatdoc55

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They used to have ski shows at night under the bridge with the bare footers jumping off pontoons. Back in the 80's and early 90's it wasn't cool to hang in the channel.
Used to love watching the ski shows in there, Most of the time the shores were lined with boats to watch. Those fricken crawdads used to pinch the Holy shit out of us standing in the water leaning on the boat.
 

02HoWaRd26

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Yes. CV Wood had a large role in the design of Disneyland. From what I read he had a falling out with Walt and Roy after the opening. As your going over the London Bridge to the island side there is a statue of him and McCullough looking at plans.
That is awesome never heard of it, will have to look next time. However found this on the google.
CE33C89D-7403-473E-AED7-43AA8F5E6323.jpeg
 

stephenkatsea

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Seen many happenings and transitions through the years. Used to be if you went to “The River” it was the Parker Strip, Branson’s, Kinder’s etc etc. 60s & 70s. Jet skis were yet to arrive. Early morning flat bottoms were your wake up call. Havasu? - that’s where they were flying in old people to buy property. Later Havasu slowly became the place to go. Sand Bar? No one knew of it. Copper Canyon was the place to go. It became a Major Spring Break destination. Sand Bar came later. Girls Gone Wild got its start there. Makitas and anything else you could imagine. An automatic weapon drive-by was the demise of the Sandbar. LEOs were on scene that day. They had a good description of the boat. Authorities closed every launch ramp on the lake. The boat was never found. Then came the dot com era. Lots of very nice boats the owners couldn’t afford. But, wanted to display them at the channel for the entire day. About then 3 Dunes/Steam Boat became popular. Water cannons and physical fights became more the norm in the channel. Such has been the “maturing” of Havasu ?? But we live here and love it. I can still take you into coves where big horn sheep come down to drink. Occasionally see River Otters in one cove.
 
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Water Romper

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"I can still take you into coves where big horn sheep come down to drink. Occasionally see River Otters in one cove."

Because we (wife and I) were not locals nor did we have a 2nd home at the river, unfortunately, we were one of the thousands that would head out Friday after work and roll into Havi or Laughlin about midnight. We knew it was crazy but our love for the river out weighed the traffic, crowds etc. We would get out early Saturday, do the Channel thing, visit the sandbar, float a bit in Copper Canyon and then find our quiet spot and float and relax until 8or 9pm or so. We watched the "Floating Follies" from a distance, kept to our selves. Did meet really nice folks over the years, the Channel is no place if your a "Crowd-a-phobic" we found if we didn't like our surrounds, we just left. Quiet coves, seeing nature at its best is still obtainable even on the crazy weekends, as mentioned above.
All these stories, some tragic, seem to be far and few considering the amount of people make their way to the Havi-Hot Spot. I bet Boat Cop has stories that make us all cringe.
It would be an interesting statistic- What % of people, over 16, at the "river" have consumed more that 5 beers (or hard liquor/drugs) within a unreasonable amount of time, betcha there are a lot of buzzed boaters out there, provides good story telling for this thread.
 

OkHallett270

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I’ll never forget my first trip to Havasu. Memorial weekend 2008. I went with a friend who’s mom actually lives in town there. He is no stranger to all the cool places to go on the lake and he showed me the ropes Havasu style. We went to a sand bar one morning and the bud light party barge showed up mid day. By mid afternoon the place was packed. This bayliner looking boat pulls in and ties off to a raft up that formed behind where we were all tied together. There is a huge roided out guy driving the boat and some plastic porn star looking chick in the passenger seat. I remember they barely got the boat tied up before she was reverse cowgirl on this dude on the sun deck pad in front of God and everyone. All these fat dudes with 100lbs of beads around their necks were filming the show with oldschool (even for the time) handy cam style camcorders wrapped in plastic to protect them from the water. The whole thing was crazy. And seemed like it was staged almost. It was total random chance that they tied up right behind where were all hanging out. I’m a lake party dude from way back. Been going to the lake my whole life and partying at the lake since I was in my late teens and somehow seeing that happen right in front of me kinda turned my stomach. I almost felt kinda sick for humanity that day... lol I remember that whole trip I was on eye candy overload. I mean back home in Oklahoma you’d see the occasional thong and sometimes there would be a drunk naked chick dancing on a houseboat roof in the distance or something. However, when I got back to Oklahoma I remember going to the lake thinking man this place is tame compared to what I just experienced. Where are all the pasties and tiny bikini bottoms?! Of course now Oklahoma lakes are just as debaucherous in the right areas. Plenty of tiny bikinis and even some pasties these days.

Oh yeah one more thing I learned that day, not many folks in Havasu that afternoon knew how to pull start a Johnson with a rope! I had to demonstrate Okie style when the starter went out on my buddy’s old shitty pontoon boat. We dubbed that boat “the deadliest catch” it had a really wet ride going back to town into a south wind and that water was cold as hell! Good times! I’ve been back a handful of times since that trip. Mostly for Desert Storm and once for the Hallett regatta. I have learned to avoid holiday weekends in Havasu! Still one of my all time favorite places to go. One of these days I’m gonna plan a longer trip so I can do some more in depth exploring. I’d like to see some of those coves where the mountain goats come down for a drink. The scenery there is my favorite part. That place is beautiful.
 

Tank

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Yes. CV Wood had a large role in the design of Disneyland. From what I read he had a falling out with Walt and Roy after the opening. As your going over the London Bridge to the island side there is a statue of him and McCullough looking at plans.
So we have him to blame for the FUUUUUUCKED up twisty streets, no thoroughfares and no straight shots to anywhere in the city?! City layout drives me nuts!
 

Bobby V

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So we have him to blame for the FUUUUUUCKED up twisty streets, no thoroughfares and no straight shots to anywhere in the city?! City layout drives me nuts!
Yep. I suppose they could have graded the entire city so it was flat with no hills instead of working with the natural slopes ..lol :eek: 😂
 

Tank

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Yep. I suppose they could have graded the entire city so it was flat with no hills instead of working with the natural slopes ..lol :eek: 😂
LOL, the slopes are great and afford good views from the vast majority of homes. It's the lack of any thoroughfares. Every decent size city needs thoroughfares to connect north/south/east/west. Instead what they build was half the neighborhood streets are used as boulevards and you get people doing 45 plus mph in front of houses all over the city because the whole city is all houses and neighborhoods and no regular roadways to navigate the city. (like 2 lanes each direction, raised center median retainer walls to block traffic noise to homes backing up to it, speed limit of 45 etc.) Unfortunately Havasu has outgrown its small town design and lay out. The way they laid out the city was to get maximum view but it sacrificed ease of travel through-out the town.
 

Bobby V

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LOL, the slopes are great and afford good views from the vast majority of homes. It's the lack of any thoroughfares. Every decent size city needs thoroughfares to connect north/south/east/west. Instead what they build was half the neighborhood streets are used as boulevards and you get people doing 45 plus mph in front of houses all over the city because the whole city is all houses and neighborhoods and no regular roadways to navigate the city. (like 2 lanes each direction, raised center median retainer walls to block traffic noise to homes backing up to it, speed limit of 45 etc.) Unfortunately Havasu has outgrown its small town design and lay out. The way they laid out the city was to get maximum view but it sacrificed ease of travel through-out the town.
My house is above the high school. The locals know the short cuts on how to get thru the city from North to South and East to West. Empress St. by my house is one of them. If you get lost. Just go down hill and you will find the 95 at some point. 😊
 

rivermobster

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My house is above the high school. The locals know the short cuts on how to get thru the city from North to South and East to West. Empress St. by my house is one of them. If you get lost. Just go down hill and you will find the 95 at some point. 😊

Short cuts. That's funny...

You may know how to avoid the 95, but your not getting Anywhere in a hurry in that city! The traffic sucks azz, and it's getting worse by the minute.

You can fool some of the people some of the time...

😉
 

Bobby V

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Short cuts. That's funny...

You may know how to avoid the 95, but your not getting Anywhere in a hurry in that city! The traffic sucks azz, and it's getting worse by the minute.

You can fool some of the people some of the time...

😉
Other then going shooting in the morning have you ever spent any time above YoPengos old house. Not so bad once you get away from the 95 and the downtown area.
 

rivermobster

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Other then going shooting in the morning have you ever spent any time above YoPengos old house. Not so bad once you get away from the 95 and the downtown area.

Yep. The streets are like a bowl of spaghetti up there...

It's why god invented Google maps. So you can find your way around Havasu City! 😁
 

Tank

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Short cuts. That's funny...

You may know how to avoid the 95, but your not getting Anywhere in a hurry in that city! The traffic sucks azz, and it's getting worse by the minute.

You can fool some of the people some of the time...

😉

I agree. And how stoked are the people living on the "short cut" streets?
Other then going shooting in the morning have you ever spent any time above YoPengos old house. Not so bad once you get away from the 95 and the downtown area.

I do agree you guy up near the foothills or the south end of town for that matter and it's a lot more quite and less busy
 

Tank

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Yep. The streets are like a bowl of spaghetti up there...

It's why god invented Google maps. So you can find your way around Havasu City! 😁
Only town I've ever been in where to get to the water you most likely are going to have to drive north, south, east and west! LOL Oh, and if you take the "short cuts" its even worse!! Less traffic, more twisty turns.
 

boatdoc55

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LOL, the slopes are great and afford good views from the vast majority of homes. It's the lack of any thoroughfares. Every decent size city needs thoroughfares to connect north/south/east/west. Instead what they build was half the neighborhood streets are used as boulevards and you get people doing 45 plus mph in front of houses all over the city because the whole city is all houses and neighborhoods and no regular roadways to navigate the city. (like 2 lanes each direction, raised center median retainer walls to block traffic noise to homes backing up to it, speed limit of 45 etc.) Unfortunately Havasu has outgrown its small town design and lay out. The way they laid out the city was to get maximum view but it sacrificed ease of travel through-out the town.
I've been here almost 6 years now full time and coming here since '70 and I STILL carry the laminated map of this spaghetti town streets in the back seat of the truck. Frick do I get lost trying to do a "shortcut"!!!!
 

DRYHEAT

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Now y’all know why construction takes so long, they’re all waiting for materials to be delivered.😂

I drove a cement mixer here in town in the late 80s early 90s and it was not fun. At least back then the traffic wasn’t bad.😊

How the heck did this thread turn into a discussion of Havasu traffic patterns? Apparently I haven’t been paying attention.
 
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