# Pipe Dream....don't stop.



## LastOutlaw (Jun 1, 2013)

Robbie Maddison's Pipe Dream.


----------



## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

The Mythbusters did this on their show, but it was just a motorcycle without the hydroplanes attached. They went right across a lake from shore to shore.


----------



## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I did that on a snowmobile but I never had the nerve, or the reason, to try long distance. Just going across sections of open water on a frozen river was thrilling enough.


----------



## forluvofsmoke (Jan 27, 2012)

Caribou said:


> I did that on a snowmobile but I never had the nerve, or the reason, to try long distance. Just going across sections of open water on a frozen river was thrilling enough.


Yeah, been there myself. First time on the river that season with a screaming fast Arctic Cat sled (135-140MPH, flat-out on light powder covered ice...that beast had long legs)...don't ask how I know how fast...I was young and dumb...way beyond scary-fast for being on snow or ice with an open machine. It was not my idea of fun to come around a bend in the river at the water treatment plant to find slush/open water while running on bare ice with a steel-cleated track and no spikes (zero traction on ice). No way was I going to attempt to stop, dodge left/right...not gonna happen...I knew better, 'cuz I rode that sled for several years by then and we did enough crazy **** together for one lifetime, almost every week.

Did I make it? Sure. Did I make a splash? Not until I nearly went under, but I made one helluva wake and rooster-tail by the time that sled dropped from 60+ MPH to less than 15 at the other edge of the ice. I throttled it to get some acceleration without much slippage until I hit the water, then it was WOT all the way to the other side. I got soaked feet and legs before hitting thick enough ice to hold the weight...way too slow for any level of comfort. I thought I'd never stop breaking the edge off and ever get back on top...that was enough...I climbed the river bank on a deep, steep snow drift, turned around and went past the open water on the bank, back to the ice and straight home...almost needed fresh drawers from that one. Close enough for me...never went that far up the river again, and moved away a couple years later. I was dare-devil with that machine and took plenty of high-speed dumps and spills...a few were air-borne @ 20-30ft, getting spit off inverted. Snow landings? Sure, I'll live...cold moving open water next to marginal ice? No friggin way am I gonna do that again!!! Key words: cold...+...moving...+...water...+...ice...= drowned...period.

As you said: thrilling enough...not quite how I'd put it in my situation, but, well, I do recall something like seeing my life flash before my eyes when I was hoping for the best while I crossed that open water. I took it as a wake-up call...maybe I wasn't so dumb prior to that day...just a bit too daring. This particular accidental water crossing was a bit of a life-changer for me...probably enough so that, although it could have killed me, it may have saved me.

With warm open water, yeah, I can see that as some good, clean, possibly wet, fun to ride the water on a machine that's not designed to be on, let alone, in, water...dare-devil of sorts, but...yeah, what some of our species won't deliberately do for 'fun', huh?


----------

