Boater does a doughnut around Coast Guard

Against the 43-foot Nor-Tech Hi-Performance cigarette boat, the U.S. Coast Guard didn't stand a chance.

But they weren't after a drug smuggler or international terrorist. They were just trying to pull over a Canadian whose driving on the Niagara River was too excessive for their liking.

That's when things got really interesting.

Niagara police say a Cambridge man hauled his $600,000 go-fast boat to Hamilton on July 5, where he launched it for a day of cruising on the Niagara River.

When he got too far down the river at too high a speed and then entered the famed Whirlpool, a U.S. Coast Guard boat out of Youngstown, N.Y., decided to pull the pleasure boat over and board it.

The Nor-Tech captain had other ideas, though. He took off for the Canadian side of the river, Niagara police said yesterday.

It was like an SUV trying to catch a Lamborghini.

The cigarette boat hit 135 km/h and the U.S. Coast Guard could only watch it fly into Canadian waters.