Dramatic Video Shows a Speedboat Flipping Through the Air at 200 M.P.H.

U.S.|Dramatic Video Shows a Speedboat Flipping Through the Air at 200 M.P.H.

The high-powered speedboat skimmed across Lake Havasu in Arizona, its throttle pressed harder and harder by its operator until the boat reached more than 200 miles per hour. Then the boat was sucked into the air by its own aerodynamic design and flipped repeatedly before slamming back into the water.

Spectators at the Desert Storm race on Saturday were stunned into silence, aside from some gasps and expletives, according to video that was widely shared online and picked up by national media organizations. Shortly after the boat came to rest upright in the water, its driver and throttle man, who were not named but are known by their race aliases as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, emerged from the cockpit.

“Safe and in good condition,” the boat’s team, Freedom One Racing, posted online after the race.

Fans of speedboat racing in the United States have seen such acrobatics before, although perhaps not as dramatic as this one, said Ray Lee, the publisher of Speedboat Magazine, who was at the starting line while his videographer recorded nearby. Videos of the event, held on a windy day on the lake, racked up millions of views.

“The boat was suspended in the air for much longer than we are accustomed to seeing,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “Others go up and flip and come down.”

“Because of the force of the winds,” he added, “the boat was higher and spun around, which you don’t usually see.”

So what do you call that? Did it spin? Did it corkscrew? Was it a 360? Was it a somersault?

“It is hard to say,” Mr. Lee said. “Any adjective would work.”