Top Banana
Icon/Founding Member
30 years ago next month, I was sitting on the docks in Miami with Betty Cook trying to explain to her why I thought it was a bad idea for her to start bringing two boats to every race.....a Cat and a vee. She and Joel Halpern both showed up at Miami with two boats.
The race we were at was the Bacardi race..... and she had just won the race in her deep Vee and I came in third in my deep Vee. The results were just the opposite of the first race of the season and that left us tied for points in the drivers championship.
I said that if everyone started bringing two boats to every race..... and then waiting on the conditions of the water to make their selection on which boat to use..cat or vee....first of all the expense of racing would double, but mainly the courses would start to become more sheltered....... as the owners would not want to damage the very expensive boats that went very fast.
The boats would be made lighter .....and lighter would make them weaker and some day we would have race courses much like the Unlimited Hydors ran, on lakes and inner harbors. I remember very clearly telling her that day, that if I wanted to race an Unlimited or any hydro for that matter, I would not have built an offshore boat.
Here we are 30 years later. There has been great progress made over the last 30 years, but where are the boats that can still race in the ocean and not have to be rebuilt after the race?
The race we were at was the Bacardi race..... and she had just won the race in her deep Vee and I came in third in my deep Vee. The results were just the opposite of the first race of the season and that left us tied for points in the drivers championship.
I said that if everyone started bringing two boats to every race..... and then waiting on the conditions of the water to make their selection on which boat to use..cat or vee....first of all the expense of racing would double, but mainly the courses would start to become more sheltered....... as the owners would not want to damage the very expensive boats that went very fast.
The boats would be made lighter .....and lighter would make them weaker and some day we would have race courses much like the Unlimited Hydors ran, on lakes and inner harbors. I remember very clearly telling her that day, that if I wanted to race an Unlimited or any hydro for that matter, I would not have built an offshore boat.
Here we are 30 years later. There has been great progress made over the last 30 years, but where are the boats that can still race in the ocean and not have to be rebuilt after the race?
