Breathless boat out of service for unforseen maintenance

MythBuster

Active Member
Breathless II is out of commission forever, such a beautiful boat but not so pretty photos. I saw some photos of the damage and the front end was wrecked and apparently the driver lost control, luckily there were no guests aboard. I don't know exactly what happened, but one of the drivers took it out for a spin before opening and lost control and hit a seawall.

Now, we will just have to wait for Breathless III
 

cdunbar

Active Member
Breathless II is out of commission forever, such a beautiful boat but not so pretty photos. I saw some photos of the damage and the front end was wrecked and apparently the driver lost control, luckily there were no guests aboard. I don't know exactly what happened, but one of the drivers took it out for a spin before opening and lost control and hit a seawall.

Now, we will just have to wait for Breathless III
Wow, hit a seawall! Was the driver ok?:wave:
 
Ouch!

I know this is selfish but I'm real glad I ended up booking a pontoon for the illuminations cruise rather than Breathless (it was available and there are only 3 of us).
 

JWG

Well-Known Member
Ouch!

I know this is selfish but I'm real glad I ended up booking a pontoon for the illuminations cruise rather than Breathless (it was available and there are only 3 of us).

I imagine those booked on the Breathless will get bumped to a Pontoon and have the $50 or so refunded...

We did the cruise (Pontoon) a couple of weeks ago - awesome! Illuminations is my favorite night time spectacular and I always like finding ways to avoid getting a viewing spot 75 minutes ahead. Did the Magical Gathering 3 years ago, which was GREAT - but you have to have 8+ people.
 

wild01ride

Well-Known Member
I don't know anything about the expectations of the Breathless...and let me just clarify before continuing: I like to have fun behind the wheel of anything that moves; on occassion, my job finds me shredding a set of ridiculously high-performance tires, turning and burning, etc.;...that said, whenever I see the Breathless driving through Crescent Lake, en route to DHS, etc., I just shake my head. Like I said, I don't know what the rental is supposed to be all about, but a boat with, what a 300HP Mercruiser in a tiny 4 acre(?) lagoon doing hot laps, and THEN blowing down the canal at 40+mph - there's a reason that there are "No Wake" zones, and it's not so the 13mph max speed "Water Mice" don't hurt their drivers, it's for ecological preservation of the habit, safety of other boats, etc. I am no tree hugger, for the most part (I recycle my fair share, I'll 'fess up to that!), but for crying out loud, when my family's walking down the serene path from Boardwalk to DHS in the morning, no one around, listening to the Bullfrogs croaking, birds chirping, and watching the Ibis trying to catch a minnow, and then next thing you know, a powerboat wails past at 40mph in a 50yd wide part of the canal (in my neck of the woods, 50yds is the minimum distance for watercraft to stay away from shore, buoys, other watercraft, etc., meaning that if a waterway is narrower than that, it solicits a "no wake" passage). The two-foot plume coming ashore on both sides of the canal doesn't do any favors to the poor Ibis (which stands about 30in. tall), nor the serenity that we were enjoying.
It's like a powerboat in a bathtub.
Like I said, I'm the first one to kick the back-end of a car out, but I don't do it when pedestrians are around, when other cars are around, when animals are around, or when the environment that I'm in isn't safe or conducive to it.

It's funny that for anything that goes on at WDW, all of the fanboys jump on saying how reckless the driver, or whoever was being, but in this case everyone's drinking the kool-aid with, "oh yeah, the driver 'lost control'!" The fact of the matter is, the entire waterway that the boat navigates is too small for the potential of the watercraft. Any operation of that watercraft at its potential is outside of the margin of safety for the waterway, hence, it is no surprise that the driver "lost control". (Just curious from those on-board with the story, how does one "lose control" of a powerboat?)

In case any of my candor is unclear, the guy obviously was burning around and f'ed the thing up! Thank the Lord he didn't hurt anyone else in the process!
(If you're still unsure of your position on the matter, imagine that this driver had "lost control" into the center of the marina at the Yacht Club on a busy day...)

Naturally, I understand the attraction of a beautiful ChrisCraft for watching fireworks or what have you, but honestly speaking, that thing should have a Jungle Cruise engine in it for WDW waterways. :lol:
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I don't know anything about the expectations of the Breathless...and let me just clarify before continuing: I like to have fun behind the wheel of anything that moves; on occassion, my job finds me shredding a set of ridiculously high-performance tires, turning and burning, etc.;...that said, whenever I see the Breathless driving through Crescent Lake, en route to DHS, etc., I just shake my head. Like I said, I don't know what the rental is supposed to be all about, but a boat with, what a 300HP Mercruiser in a tiny 4 acre(?) lagoon doing hot laps, and THEN blowing down the canal at 40+mph - there's a reason that there are "No Wake" zones, and it's not so the 13mph max speed "Water Mice" don't hurt their drivers, it's for ecological preservation of the habit, safety of other boats, etc. I am no tree hugger, for the most part (I recycle my fair share, I'll 'fess up to that!), but for crying out loud, when my family's walking down the serene path from Boardwalk to DHS in the morning, no one around, listening to the Bullfrogs croaking, birds chirping, and watching the Ibis trying to catch a minnow, and then next thing you know, a powerboat wails past at 40mph in a 50yd wide part of the canal (in my neck of the woods, 50yds is the minimum distance for watercraft to stay away from shore, buoys, other watercraft, etc., meaning that if a waterway is narrower than that, it solicits a "no wake" passage). The two-foot plume coming ashore on both sides of the canal doesn't do any favors to the poor Ibis (which stands about 30in. tall), nor the serenity that we were enjoying.
It's like a powerboat in a bathtub.
Like I said, I'm the first one to kick the back-end of a car out, but I don't do it when pedestrians are around, when other cars are around, when animals are around, or when the environment that I'm in isn't safe or conducive to it.

It's funny that for anything that goes on at WDW, all of the fanboys jump on saying how reckless the driver, or whoever was being, but in this case everyone's drinking the kool-aid with, "oh yeah, the driver 'lost control'!" The fact of the matter is, the entire waterway that the boat navigates is too small for the potential of the watercraft. Any operation of that watercraft at its potential is outside of the margin of safety for the waterway, hence, it is no surprise that the driver "lost control". (Just curious from those on-board with the story, how does one "lose control" of a powerboat?)

In case any of my candor is unclear, the guy obviously was burning around and f'ed the thing up! Thank the Lord he didn't hurt anyone else in the process!
(If you're still unsure of your position on the matter, imagine that this driver had "lost control" into the center of the marina at the Yacht Club on a busy day...)

Naturally, I understand the attraction of a beautiful ChrisCraft for watching fireworks or what have you, but honestly speaking, that thing should have a Jungle Cruise engine in it for WDW waterways. :lol:

I didn't think you could rent it. I thought they were only available to use as passengers.

Just like the boats used by the staff have the ability to go a lot faster than what they let the "public" use, I assumed the Breathless was build to certain specs that were not meant to be used in general, but only on special occasions. Maybe something like a show or along those lines.

-dave
 

wild01ride

Well-Known Member
I didn't think you could rent it. I thought they were only available to use as passengers.

Just like the boats used by the staff have the ability to go a lot faster than what they let the "public" use, I assumed the Breathless was build to certain specs that were not meant to be used in general, but only on special occasions. Maybe something like a show or along those lines.

-dave

I did mean rent it as in driving it, I meant renting it as a ride. I definitely realize that it's capabilities are far beyond what should be used for being driven by the public-my point is that the CM's driving it are driving it outside of the appropriate conditions.
 

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
If it was busted up at 12:35p.m. today, my guess is that it was still busted up at 9:36p.m. today! :lol:

Sorry (there's your sign... :ROFLOL:)
That was far from a here's your sign moment. We have one poster claiming to have seen pictures of it wrecked while another is claiming that it is fine and in dry dock. I would simply like to know which one is correct.
 

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I did mean rent it as in driving it, I meant renting it as a ride. I definitely realize that it's capabilities are far beyond what should be used for being driven by the public-my point is that the CM's driving it are driving it outside of the appropriate conditions.


See, I am of the opinion that Watercraft personnel should be professionals. I would think they are licensed in some way. Do they need captain’s licences if they are not carrying paying passengers?

Anyway, if a craft is not available to the general public to operate, then I saw no problem in putting any sort of power plant on it, be it a 300 HP I/O or a 2 HP trolling motor. My assumption is that if only a CM is to operate it, then it will be operated correctly. No wake zones will be obeyed, proper channel protocol will be followed, etc.

Now, in retrospect of this last crash, maybe I am being a bit of a Pollyanna here. I have never seen a CM violating no wake areas except when it looked like they were going somewhere in a hurry for (what I assumed) was an emergency. If they are just blasting around for the heck of it, that is inexcusable.

-dave
 

87 GN

Active Member
That was far from a here's your sign moment. We have one poster claiming to have seen pictures of it wrecked while another is claiming that it is fine and in dry dock. I would simply like to know which one is correct.


Maybe one saw the good side, and the other saw the damaged side :shrug:
 

MythBuster

Active Member
That was far from a here's your sign moment. We have one poster claiming to have seen pictures of it wrecked while another is claiming that it is fine and in dry dock. I would simply like to know which one is correct.

I think Raven is just mistaken, he doesn't know what the Breathless really looks like. He saw a boat in for maintenance at the Marina and probably assumed it was the Breathless, but they don't look anything alike. The boat in for maintenance was the Fan-ta-sea, it is the Swan and Dolphin private boat that they use for firework cruises and private and VIP functions. It is a covered boat and probably seaats about 30 people and about half the size of a Friendship. There is quite a difference.
 

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