NNRT Offshore Classics

[Pete B]

I believe the winningest offshore boat of all time. The boat won 27 of the 40 races it entered. But after Peter Aitkin sold it to Nick Cutro, it caught fire and sank 20 miles from the end of the 1987 Port Huron Michigan race. Peter won World titles in the boat in 1983 and 1984. He also won the US Championships in 1982 and 1983. Cutro won the 1986 World Championship and the 1987 US Championship in the boat. Searace

 

[ciao]

Hey John, How's things on that side of the pond?

Any chance you're coming over for the Miami boat show, or already here for the APBA meetings this week and weekend?

Paul

Hi Paul

No trips planned to the US this year and my Spanish isn't up to Miami

 

[h2oMag]

The crew on this boat were really good guys. Bruce Merriman was really busting me before the race because I had moved up to the Open class and already won the first race of the year in California. I was busting him back and told him he had no idea how much power these Open boats really had and they were like driving a hurricane. He just laughed and said hey all these boats are the same, just the length is different.

So on the return run back from Bimini (The Open boats had to go down to Fowey light and then back to Government Cut and then we went over to Bimini). (Production boats went right straight over to Bimini). So, on the return run back ....lo and behold there is Seminole Spirit ahead of us and I tried to remember which side of the boat Bruce was on.

Closer and closer we got to them and when we were just about to pass them, I cut the wheel over to jump their wake and land on Bruces side at about 90 MPH. We landed about 5 feet away from Bruce. Now you have to remember they could not hear us coming as they were concentrating on their own race.

Bruce came up after the race and said he stopped breathing for about 5 minutes after we passed them. He then actually agreed that the Open boats were indeed a different animal. Great race and great memories.

Here is a pic of the Spirit race team, Dick, Bruce, & Danny..

 

[Pete B]

Tim Sheehan's 30' Sutphen. Won the 1980 Bacardi Trophy race off Miami and the first World Production Championships in Key West the same year.Also the 1981 Benihana Modified Class and the 1981 Coral Gables Challenge.

 

[h2oMag]

Black Duck was fast with two OB's had all of us beat with twin IO's, when APBA let them put 3 Merc OB's on, SEE YA!!!!

 

[Pete B]

John D'Elia Jr.'s 24' Skater that won the 1985 APBA World Stock A Championship in Key West, plus others.

 

[h2oMag]

Little Black Duck history after the fire

I believe the winningest offshore boat of all time. The boat won 27 of the 40 races it entered. But after Peter Aitkin sold it to Nick Cutro, it caught fire and sank 20 miles from the end of the 1987 Port Huron Michigan race. Peter won World titles in the boat in 1983 and 1984. He also won the US Championships in 1982 and 1983. Cutro won the 1986 World Championship and the 1987 US Championship in the boat. Searace

After the fire @ the Port Huron race our owner of the Magic race team was Bob Kehrig. Bob was friends with Nick & the one who supplied the crains for this race. Bob K & our race team stood by making sure Nicks damage cat was pulled out of the water carefully. This where one of my biggest mistakes took place I introduced Nick to Jim Klem. [Klems Gems,, Aero, Lancer, Awesome] Klem told Nick he would rebuild this cat for him if he could make a new deck cat mold off it. Klem screwed Nick & his boat & it took Nick forever to get it back from Klem. Nick would eventually fix the deck himself paint it yellow & race again with the Pennzoil name. After that I dissolve a 15 year friendship with Klem as I knew he would stop at nothing & Lie, lie, lie. All the bad finally caught up with Klem a few years ago & did us & the boat building world a favor . More can be seen here.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/awesome/283850-jim-k-ex-awesome-owner-final-ride-hell.html

 

[Pete B]

 

[h2oMag]

The KAAMA team like most racers would cut the drive skegs off for speed, a practice APBA would later ban. The clarity & color of these pic's are GREAT.

 

[Top Banana]

OK here is my favorite photo of Betty Cook. Great shot as the boat leaps out of the water, but if you look closer you will notice off to her left is a wake of a boat that is in front of her. Yes, that was my boat out front. This photo was used on a boating magazine cover. I autographed the cover and gave it to her and asked her to hang it in her shop to give both she and John Conner more motivation. John told me later, she never hung it up!

 

[Top Banana]

The KAAMA team like most racers would cut the drive skegs off for speed, a practice APBA would later ban. The clarity & color of these pic's are GREAT.

And it only added two miles per hour on the top end. But for a while it was Monkey see, monkey do!

 

[NNRT]

The KAAMA team like most racers would cut the drive skegs off for speed, a practice APBA would later ban. The clarity & color of these pic's are GREAT.

Thank you ! - brother Peter Thanks you as well !

 

[Ratickle]

Hi Paul

No trips planned to the US this year and my Spanish isn't up to Miami

We'll have translators available......

 

[Pete B]

Okay, in Searace, pages 263, 266, and 270 there is conflicting information on Natural Light. A 38' Signature, 38' Bertram, 38' Scarab, or a 36' Cigarette? This looks like, and says, Bertram to me. Were there four different Natural Light's?

 

[Pete B]

Robert Weinstein's 30' Chris Cat. Won the 1984, 160 mile, New Jersey Offshore Grand Prix's Pro Stock class. The 1984, 160 Mile, Grand Traverse Bay, Northport 200 Michigan Pro Stock class. the Northport 200 again in 1985, and the 1985 Key West World's. Searace

 

[Pete B]

 

[Top Banana]

Okay, in Searace, pages 263, 266, and 270 there is conflicting information on Natural Light. A 38' Signature, 38' Bertram, 38' Scarab, or a 36' Cigarette? This looks like, and says, Bertram to me. Were there four different Natural Light's?

Bernie had been running the hydroplane Miss Budweiser in the Unlimited class for a few years and then in the mid 70's hr decided to take a shot at offshore too. The first boat he sponsored was Tommy Adams in one of his 38 Signatures. Then he was quick to pick up Preston Henn in his 38 foot Bertram who stayed the primary Natural Light boat until 1980. If you also look on P 281 under the top photo, you will see where John states that Bernie would sometimes have two Michelob Lights in the same race. Both Betty Cook amd Tom Gentry were also sponsored by Bernie later in their careers. Joel Halpern who was owner and driver of Beep Beep for many years also accepted Michelob Light sponsorship for his 38 foot Cougar cat that he was killed in.
When I walked up the ramp from my boat after winning the Bushmills race in California, Bernie was at the top of the ramp waiting for me. He told me that Preston was talking about retiring and he would like me to become the next Natural Light sponsored boat. I thanked him but declined. I had spent two long years finishing that boat and now to just repaint it was not the right thing to do. In hindsight, it would have saved me a lot of money of my own. The following year I did not pass up the opportunity and was sponsored by the Economic Development Department of Puerto Rico. The name on the boat was Rums of Puerto Rico.

 

[Top Banana]

I think one of the guys in this boat was Gino's (Lube Jobs) dad. I sent him a PM to have him check it out.

 

[Pete B]

This would be the 35' Conquest Cat that was modified with the canopies seen in this photo after the tragic loss of Mark Lavin in 1986. This boat actually crashed again in 1988 and both Chris Lavin, Mark's brother, and his throttle-man (?) were fine. Searace

 

[Pete B]

Probably the most famous boat designed by Fabio Buzzi is CESA 1882. Completely restored in 2006, this glorious monohull is again racing with the dress of Red FPT.
Red FPT won the Cowes - Torquay - Cowes 2008 and 2010 race in 2h 18' 5' at an average speed of 91 mph.

This incredible mono hull was born from a project that went wrong: Nitro, of 1985, was a losing boat for the old same reason: it was too heavy!
With four diesel engines by Iveco and with the first two speed gearboxes of the offshore history, Nitro raced in class 1 of the European Championship with very little success, and was later converted into a comfortable pleasure boat.

For the 1986 racing season the boat was totally rebuilt, and painted red: a much quicker color than the white of project Nitro, and was given four new Iveco engines of 600 Hp (which lasted for few minutes!), without any gearbox. The new boat was very fast, but not very reliable, winning only the Cowes-Torquay with the name Rolly-Go.

The next year (1987) the boat raced with some more luck and the name Groupe Luchiare, powered by the first four Seatek engines: it won the last race of the season and it conquered the third place at the Key West World Championship.

In 1988 the boat got its most celebrated name: CESA 1882, after the sponsor, who was a silver jeweler. During that season it won more than every other boat in the world: 17 consecutive podiums, with 3 second places and 14 first places. It's not only Italian, European and World Champion for the U.I.M., but also, in November, World Champion for the A.P.B.A. in Key West and winner of the Miami-Nassau-Miami.

During 1989 the boat is named Gancia dei Gancia and, driven by Stefano Casiraghi and Romeo Ferraris, in Atlantic City it wins again the World Championship, being the only boat to take it two times in a row.

But in 1990 the U.I.M. decides to penalise diesel engines, and for Gancia dei Gancia is the end. It's sold to the japanese Yoshiro Kitami and compete with the name Tecno in the first Venezia-Montecarlo, winning al the legs but the first one, where it pile up an overwhelming gap of more than six hours.

Then it races in the Superboat class in USA, with the name Super Hawaii.

Then it's the beginning of the dark ages: the boat is lost in some american shipyard, where the english pilot Drew Langdon re-discovers it and decides to bring it back home.

This incredible and winning boat is also on the 31st place of the ranking of the most beautiful boats of every time ("Motor Boat & Yachting" - August 2004) and is still considered the icon of modern offshore.

It's was restored by FB Design in 2006 with the utmost care, exactly as it was, and is now racing again with the name of Red FPT.

With Red FPT Fabio Buzzi won for the third time in UK, the most prestigious world offshore race, the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes 2008 of 182 miles.

Red FPT completed the race in 2h 18' 5' at an average speed of 91 mph.

Thanks to: http://www.fbdesign.it/history-racing/cesa1882