https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2F63K8rMzA
The first few moments of this video look like lost footage from a recent Star Wars film. A sleek silver craft seems to hover above the water. Accompanied by sounds that are some kind of combination of a jet plane taxiing and a chatty orca, it takes a moment before you realize this video was shot here on planet Earth.
In fact, this is the Skater 46 twin-turbine powerboat known as Hellfire. Owned by a speed and power enthusiast known as "Speedy_Jeff" on Instagram, it's easy to see that this is going to be a very cool ride, just watching Hellfire cruise by.
The setting is Lake Havasu, known as "Arizona's Playground." This is the home of London Bridge, the Havasu 95 Speedway, and some serious off-roading. Essentially, if it's fun, you can do it here.
Which is why Lake Havasu is the ideal location for a craft like Hellfire.
The jet sound is actually twin Lycoming turbines. Given Lycoming's contributions to aircraft, the sound suddenly makes sense. Hellfire features two 1,500-horsepower engines, one starboard and one port, for a total of 3,000 horsepower. That's not a typo -- three thousand horsepower. With a top speed over 170 miles per hour, this thing has got to just rip through any body of water.
It takes a full crew to get Hellfire up and moving off the dock, including a helpful nudge from what appears to be a passerby. This definitely isn't the boat for first timers, or even first-dozen timers, from the looks of it. And the orca noises start up again as Hellfire heads out to the open lake.
Of course, there are going to be haters who won't understand why you need a 3000-HP twin-turbine boat in Arizona. Some folks just don't appreciate amazing watercraft, and that's fine. Perhaps they'd be better suited to Hellfire's matching helicopter, which also has a cameo in this video. Looks like Speedy_Jeff has a little bit of everything!