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Article: Offshore Legends Series: Charlie McCarthy, "Top Banana" Part One
- Thread starter Serious Offshore
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Ratickle
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24' Banana Boat - Top Banana The birth of the Banana Boat Company.
This hull used to be the Cigarette 24. It was the first 24 foot boat made from the molds that Don Aronow took from the Cigarette production and sold to Charlie. The boat was rigged by Don for Charlie at Magnum Marine. Don owned both Cigarette and Magnum at the time.
The deck is a 24 Cigarette deck that has additions to make the race configuration. Engines were twin 350 TRS packages blueprinted by Stan Irwin of Miami.
Driver/owner Charlie McCarthy, Navigator Ron Morrison, and Mechanic, Dick Hart. Charlie drove and throttled the boat.
The top photo is from the 1976 Key West Race it took first place in the Modified class. The boat also took first place in Gloucester, Plymouth and Narragansett Bay that year.
The boat was sold in 1978 and raced for another year under the name Gone Bananas by Chuck Fogarty and Neil Cody.
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The two guys that raced Gone Bananas were Green Berets that had just come back from Viet Nam. They had a lot of stories and we all listened and smiled thinking...yeah, sure, nice story.
Then one day it became real. One of these guys went to lunch in Newport with another Banana Boat owner. They had a nice lunch and after walked back to the marina where they left the other guys boat. Their path led them through a warehouse area. One of the warehouses had a big fence around the yard and as they walked by, a Doberman Pinscher came running out and came right up to the fence really barking and jumping around.
The Gone Banana guy told the dog to ...Shut Up. The dog kept barking. Next thing this guy is over the fence and chases the dog back into the warehouse. My other customer told me that the look in the dogs eye was pure fear as he watched him climb the fence. A few minutes later he came back and jumped back over and they walked back to the boat. He was real and so were the stories. He loved offshore racing, he said it gave him the same rush as combat did.
Then one day it became real. One of these guys went to lunch in Newport with another Banana Boat owner. They had a nice lunch and after walked back to the marina where they left the other guys boat. Their path led them through a warehouse area. One of the warehouses had a big fence around the yard and as they walked by, a Doberman Pinscher came running out and came right up to the fence really barking and jumping around.
The Gone Banana guy told the dog to ...Shut Up. The dog kept barking. Next thing this guy is over the fence and chases the dog back into the warehouse. My other customer told me that the look in the dogs eye was pure fear as he watched him climb the fence. A few minutes later he came back and jumped back over and they walked back to the boat. He was real and so were the stories. He loved offshore racing, he said it gave him the same rush as combat did.
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Yes, I said there were two guys who raced this boat.
The other guy? Well, to say that he had a different way to deal with stress is putting it mildly.
He would sit at the bar and enjoy a nice stiff drink.......and then he would eat the glass. Yup, the glass would disappear.
The other guy? Well, to say that he had a different way to deal with stress is putting it mildly.
He would sit at the bar and enjoy a nice stiff drink.......and then he would eat the glass. Yup, the glass would disappear.
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The 66 was going to be my number of the 1978 season.
As you know the boat was not ready until the 79 season and by then number 60 had freed up, which had been my first choice.
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This picture (small above) is Charlie and JC Simons together as Charlie signs the last check for the boat design.
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All of the photos in post 12 are from the first water test in Fort Lauderdale in 1978.
Ratickle
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"Top Banana"
The phrase “top banana,” meaning the leader or boss, traces its roots back to vaudeville. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the term caught on after a leading vaudevillian, Frank Lebowitz, incorporated bananas into his act in the early 1900s; the term “second banana,” for supporting actor, also caught on around this time.
The phrase “top banana,” meaning the leader or boss, traces its roots back to vaudeville. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the term caught on after a leading vaudevillian, Frank Lebowitz, incorporated bananas into his act in the early 1900s; the term “second banana,” for supporting actor, also caught on around this time.
