I was not in the boat when my father ran Kerbeck, it was my Uncle Barry and my father in the boat that day, the Hairy Canary did get around him that day when my Uncle was in the boat. According to my Uncle, that was the day Kerbeck said to my father, "I didn't think you went that fast." To which my father replied, "I didn't you you went that fast either." - all in fun. They were running 85/84 mph that day. (I will talk to my Uncle about this more tomorrow) I thought Kerbeck had beaten him by a 1/2 boat length, but that is not historically accurate.
I do not know Mr. Kerbeck, but I will give him his due, he liked to race. Even when he had that red 32' hot-rod Excalibur he would race anybody, I was in high school then and would be at the Washington Ave. beach in Margate (Lucy the elephant's beach) watching him turn around to race everyone.
When my father had the Hairy Canary, that is what we used to do, sit out in the ocean off that beach and wait for a hot-rodder to pass us by, then roll up along side and wave let's go. You knew was the fastest before you got to the Steel Pier. 42' Cigarette Smokin,40' Fountain Fanny Doctor, 33' Fountain Scrap It, 28' Cigarette Razz Ma Tazz were just a small sample of the boats I can rember from back in the day that we raced that had names; we raced anyone that would give us a go, I miss those days.
I was in the boat the day we ran Stella (SC Hot), it was two separate race off of Margate/Ventnor, we beat him both times, maybe he (Stella) was not running right, I don't know, it wasn't that close. He is a good guy, and I like his boat (SC Hot).
Mancini (forget his first name), had a 38' Cigarette that would just kick the sh*t out most of those bigger boats, he dusted the Hairy Canary as did some other boats. Win or lose (didn't like losing but didn't cry over it either), didn't matter at least you got in a few races, and that made it fun.