Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
I was looking at this first pic with the blue boat, yes I can say Duh....:leaving:
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And all the boats from far and wide, came to Miami one day in May !!!!!
- Thread starter Top Banana
- Start date
Top Banana
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I must be looking at the wrong first pic. Which post number first pic? This very first post first pic?
What other picture than this one has a 28 Cigarette in it?
Yes, it is this picture it has the P number on the deck. That designated the Production class boats.
Top Banana
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That blue boat is Harry O the winner of the Modified class.......simply because one of my customer's in a new 34 Banana, Gone Banana's broke down.
Gone Bananas is the black boat in the first picture, at the very top of the photo in front of Betty Cook's two boats, the cat and the deep vee, and right behind that sportsfisherman.
lucky strike
Charter Member
I took that photo from my room.
That race was a boat buster.
My 28 Cig P-5 was brand new and after that race my floor was split in two.
That race was a boat buster.
My 28 Cig P-5 was brand new and after that race my floor was split in two.
lucky strike
Charter Member
Ratickle
Founding Member / Super Moderator
And which were your favorite and least favorite?
Top Banana
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There were actually three. The first one was a 24 foot Banana production boat with full cabin and sit down seats. The owner was new to high performance boating but loved the adrenaline rush. He entered the boat in a local race and was forever hooked. He next wanted to buy my old twin engine 24 footer, so we changed the colors from yellow accents to orange and renamed the boat.
After a year racing that boat, mainly in the northeast, he started attending the Miami winter races for production boats. He made it out of New England towing the boat through a famous blizzard that shut down the northeast for days. After a few days of driving he finally made it to Miami and checked into a hotel near the race site. Next morning, feeling rested and ready to race, he went down to head over to register........the truck was still there, BUT the boat and trailer were never seen again.
He took the insurance money and ordered a new 34 footer. The boat was very fast, but had never ending mechanical problems from the engine builder he was using. An ever changing crew on board didn't do much to help and finally on the way out to the start of a race in Mass. the new throttle man pushed when he should have pulled and the boat shot up the face of a big wave and stood on it's transom, then tripped forward and buried the bow in the next wave which was very big. That is how it ended it's very short career with the deck ripped back about 10 feet and nearly sinking.
The owner, still enjoying the adrenaline rush, moved on to a new gig in south Florida...... importing some kind of medicinal smoking stuff that ended badly. I saw him a few years after his government provided vacation, older and wiser, but not looking to go racing again.
Top Banana
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Perhaps the answer to that question should come from ......Meta!
Top Banana
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Ahhh, if I could but tell all the stories I remember, that would crack you up for sure.
This particular customer was a returning vet from Nam. He was a Green Beret on the death teams that were dropped behind the lines. He had some wild stories, that I honestly half believed until one day, another customer met the first customer in a New England harbor. They both had their boats and decided to have lunch together. They docked the boats and had a nice leisurely lunch and then walked back toward the docks.
On the way they passed a warehouse with abig chain link fence round it, as they passed by a big Doberman Pinscher came running out of the warehouse and came right up to the fence and started barking and barking. Customer number one, the Nam vet looks at the dog and says....Shut up!!! The dog continues barking. Customer number two says, come on just keep walking were almost at the docks anyway. Customer number one says......I told this dog to shut up and he better shut up!
Customer number two finishes the story by saying......Before I knew it, he had climbed the fence and was in the yard with the dog. He said, that dog took a good look into his eyes and turned around and ran back into the warehouse with him chasing it. A few minutes later he was back, looking none the worse for the wear and tear of the last few minutes. I have no idea what happened in the warehouse and I didn't ask him, we just got in our boats and left.
We had some colorful characters in our sport back in the day..........
lucky strike
Charter Member
Point Plesant NJ was always my favorite
Home town race. Knew the coarse like the back of my hand. No GPS back then.
During the summer we use to go out and run the coarse with a few boats for fun
Won our class more than a few times.
Never remember it not being very rough.
Great lakes were my least favorite.
They have what they call square waves.
Newport beach was a great race.
Always rough with huge rollers.
Always was the first race of the season.
If u were running for a championship that race was a must.
Home town race. Knew the coarse like the back of my hand. No GPS back then.
During the summer we use to go out and run the coarse with a few boats for fun
Won our class more than a few times.
Never remember it not being very rough.
Great lakes were my least favorite.
They have what they call square waves.
Newport beach was a great race.
Always rough with huge rollers.
Always was the first race of the season.
If u were running for a championship that race was a must.
lucky strike
Charter Member
My wife went to every race with me.
She also said Jersey.
We would rent a chopper and put her in it with her camera.
She said she had to go to them all because she use to see a lot of racers with their girlfriends not their wives
One of her favorites was New Orleans.
She also said Jersey.
We would rent a chopper and put her in it with her camera.
She said she had to go to them all because she use to see a lot of racers with their girlfriends not their wives
One of her favorites was New Orleans.
lucky strike
Charter Member
see above post
lucky strike
Charter Member
lucky strike
Charter Member
lucky strike
Charter Member
Top Banana
Icon/Founding Member
The bottom two photos of the last post bring back some good memories. On the right is the twin step Top Gun that Steve allowed me to drive one day in South Florida. That boat had some crazy moves with all those bubbles under the back of the boat. That was a good day on the water with my son and old friends, the Berk family.
Second photo, that guy was looking to commander some boat at Point Pleasant during one race event......and he found a very happy to oblige... Cigarette owner. For Steve and me and others of that era, that is the Don we remember when we think of him. He was at the top of his game and his brand of boats were winning all over the world.
Second photo, that guy was looking to commander some boat at Point Pleasant during one race event......and he found a very happy to oblige... Cigarette owner. For Steve and me and others of that era, that is the Don we remember when we think of him. He was at the top of his game and his brand of boats were winning all over the world.
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