NNRT Offshore Classics

[NNRT]

Another mystery so far.

Photo taken in Point Pleasant New Jersey - think 1980 -

 

[NNRT]

There is so much information on this Ajac Hawk boat out there , and I'm sure we'll have more pictures to chat about. Aronow changed the length of the 39' by blocking the mold at 37.6 and pulling Ajac Hawk out of it. This boat was introduced to the public in Argentina at the World Championship in 1978, with Jerry Jacoby driving and Bobby Saccenti throttling. This boat was the beginning of the line that was known as the famous 38 Top Gun series. Information Courtesy Banana Boat Company

This photo of Ajac Hawk had to be taken in California - big swells - mountains in the background - again around 1980 or so

 

[Pete B]

What a famous boat and driver!

BOAT SPECIFICATIONS: "The Benihana" (number 4) is 37.5 feet long with a 11.6 feet beam. A specially designed tunnel hull catamaran made of Gaboon plywood imported from Holland. Designed by James Beard of England and built by Clive Curtis for Cougar, Inc.
ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS: Twin Mercruiser Tornado engines each with a piston displacement of 482 cubic inches capable of 625 horsepower each. Manufactured by Mercury Marine.
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/1979/05/02/BGY511090078/

DRIVER: Rocky uniquely combined his love of adventure with his love for his restaurants. He gave Benihana the publicity it needed through his many successes and good natured personality. He loved power boat racing and won five US offshore races. He sponsored the “Benihana Grand Prix” in Point Pleasant, New Jersey from 1975-1982. In 1979, he won the race there in a 38foot cougar catamaran. Later that summer, Rocky was seriously injured in a boating accident in the San Francisco Bay when his boat lost its trim, dived into a wave and disintegrated. He suffered a ruptured aorta, a lacerated liver and left leg and right arm were each broken in four places. In 1982, he piloted a 35foot active marine racer in the Kiekhafer St. Augustine Classic in Florida and suffered more injuries to his leg when his boat hit a swell and shattered. Rocky knew he couldn’t continue racing with his injuries so he adventured into Ballooning.
http://rockyhaoki.com/biography.html

 

[Top Banana]

Again, not sure the year and race, but this 38' Bertram Competition was built for Sandy Satullo and delivered to him in January 1976. According to Sea Race by John Crouse, Sandy thought he was buying a super light Kevlar racing boat, but the factory was so afraid he'd break the prototype they actually added 1200 pounds to the boat. After Satullo sold it he is quoted as saying the boat would last a thousand years. (Page 250, Searace, by John Crouse)

This shot is actually of Arnold Glass racing the boat. Arnold was a big auto dealer in Australia and he would often buy American racing boats that were successful. Notice the Australian flag on the side of the boat. This boat later on was sold to Paul Clauser and he changed the name to Satisfaction. Racing in the boat with Arnold was Mel Riggs.

Arnold would leave some of his boats in the USA and he would fly back and forth from Australia to the race city and then fly back home after the race. I remember one race weekend, we were all sitting around the night before the race and Arnold starts telling us this story of his last trip home. He would fly through Hong Kong sometimes and take a day off there to enjoy the town. He was sitting in this very nice restaurant in Hong Kong when a French couple came in and sat down at a table next to him. The woman was carrying her little dog in her arms and was making a big fuss over it. In France it is quite accepted to bring your dog in to a restaurant and they will even make little meals for the dog from your order if you like. Anyway, the woman is trying to tell the waiter that she wants to have a special meal made for the dog.

Problem here the waiter doesn't really understand either French or the English that she is trying to communicate with. Then Arnold says, it is like a light bulb goes off in his head and he is all smiles and the woman thinks she has gotten her point across. The waiter reaches over and takes the little dog in his arms and with a big flourish and bow, he leaves with the dog.

Yup, different part of the world, so do not start to expect that you know what is going on. Fifteen minutes later out comes the waiter carrying a big silver tray and sitting up on the tray with an apple in his mouth is the little Fifi. The woman went ballistic, screaming and shoving tables and chairs. The waiter thought the woman had just purchased the dog from one of the street vendors and wanted it prepared for her to eat......no problem Ma'm and we even put an apple in his mouth to make it look special.

 

[Top Banana]

Well, this was a tough one to find out about. We believe, after research, this was built in 1974, hull #7, of the game changing Cigarette 35 raceboats. It was originally owned by the same people who owned RIO, and later sold to Art Swift and renamed Daddy Cool. I believe it was owned by BYRDMAN on here at one time and was for sale back in 2008.

A picture from the Miami Press way back. Information on the back also.
View attachment 79479View attachment 79480

Roger Munn set up this boat and was throttle man on it. Roger for many years was Billy Martims riding mechanic on the many Bounty Hunters. Roger was also a great driver in his own area of Production boats. The 27 foot Magnum, Jolly Roger was the fastest thing on Barneget Bay for many years.

 

[Top Banana]

Don't know the year and race, the 38 foot Bertram Flap Jack owned and driven by Howard Quam possibly. I think there were three Flap Jack Bertram's total, and have no idea which one this is. Anyone? The first one named Flap Jack was formerly owned by Preston Henn and named Bertram 49er. The second was always Flap Jack? The third Flap Jack was the old Copper Kettle? Help!!

Howard Quam with Keith Hazell throttling. Year was 1979 and the race was either Bushmills in California or Guy Lombardo in NY. Nice shot of this boat running on the video from Needle Nose..... that a short is posted on You tube....Bushmills 1979.

 

[Top Banana]

Unless we are mistaken, that would be Howard Arneson, Chip Saale, and Lorry Azavedo in the first 38' Larry Smith Kaama with Arneson Surface Drives. It would have to be before 1983, because Walter Ragazzi bought it in 1983 and renamed it Hublot. The Sea Sweep boat (boats) were named that after Howard's Pool Sweep he invented and built. He then sold the company and invented the surface drive. I believe he bought this boat in 1978 when his other boat delaminated. Anyone?

The driver was Tony Garcia. Howard had been injured in some of the previous races and reached an agreement with Tony to drive.

Tony had raced a 30 foot Sutphen called Caliente the year before and had done very well with it.

The year here was 1980 and the race was the Benihana Grand Prix off Pt Pleasant NJ.

Although later on, Wellcraft marketed a line of these 38 foot Larry Smith Scarabs as KAAMA models, the race boats were just known as 38 foot Larry Smith Scarabs, not KAAMAs.

 

[Top Banana]

Ahhhh, an interesting boat, a Cigarette named Apache. I'll have to get ahold of Bobby for more first hand information. This should be Bobby Saccenti and Jerry Kilpatrick and ? in the Aronow designed 39' Cigarette Squadron XII.

Actually when Don Aronow sold Cigarette, he was restricted to building no more than 12 deep vee boats as part of his non compete agreement.

So he chose for the name of his new company Squadron XII. This was the first race boat out of it. The owner was Jerry Kilpatrick and Bobby Saccenti was the throttleman.

Later when Hal Halter, who had purchased Cigarette from Don was having trouble selling as many boats as he thought he might, he asked Don to come back as a partner and that was when the two names were merged and some boats were known as Squadron XII Cigarettes.

 

[Top Banana]

This photo of Ajac Hawk had to be taken in California - big swells - mountains in the background - again around 1980 or so

Phil, your memory is still good. It was the Bushmills race in 1979. I think that your brother Peter ordered some of those swells, just so he could get shots like this.

As you remember the boat was unveiled in Mar del Plata Argentina, just four month before. That wonderful little vacation town 250 miles south of Buenos Aires. To get in to the pits there, we had to get by armed guards as Chile and Argentina were on war alert with each other. No safety boats were allowed on the course, so when Billy Elswick sank, he and his crew had to wait until a passing freighter spotted them and picked them up and gave them a ride back to Buenos Aires.

The other boat that was unveiled there was the American Eagle of Tom Gentry. Super clean rigging job done by Richie Powers and Bob Beich. The wives were talking during the time we had to wait around, until the Italians finally showed up and Tom's wife mentioned that they came through India to get to Argentina from Hawaii. They stopped in India and took a break and went shopping .......and she saw a really nice pair of ruby earrings for only $300,00, but Tom said no.

On behalf of all the other husbands, Thank You Tom!!!!

 

[Pete B]

So, the boat discussed in Post #13 which became Flap Jack #3. This picture was somewhere around 1977 most likely? Preston Henn won the 1976 San Francisco race in this boat. The boat also won the 1977 Swift Hurricane Classic with Errol Lanier on throttles. They also won the 1977 Bacardi Trophy Race, while spinning the boat out 10 times?

It was built in 1974 and Preston Henn was its first owner as Bertram 49er. It was named Bertram 49er because it was (supposedly) the very first Kevlar race boat ever made and it was made with K49 Grade Kevlar. Preston then sold it to Howard Quam who renamed it Flapjack in 1978. Ted Toleman bought it and named it Toleman Group-Peter Stuyvesant-Carlsberg. Under this last name it raced in 1986 and came 3rd in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes. Toleman also used it to set a cross channel record with "Smitty" throttling, that crossing was on a tv program hosted by Noel Edmunds. Alan Clark then bought it from Toleman. Credits to Searace and many others, and once again the guys will review and correct if there are errors.

 

[Top Banana]

The official race boat of Bertram Yacht Co. The 49er refers to Kevlar 49. Kevlar was a product from DuPont Chemical corp and they had great hopes that it would really take over from fiberglass in the boating industry. One of the problems with working with Kevlar back then, was the layup people could not tell when the Kevlar was saturated with the resin. It always looked dry and no one knew how much more to add or not.

Whittaker was the parent corporation that owned Bertram. Sammy James was the director of racing and was the driver of the race boats campaigned by the factory. Sammy and Jack Stuteville as throttleman, were very successful racing against the other brands of that era.

There was a joke back then if Sammy broke any of the factory boats, he would call up Preston Henn and tell him he had a race boat available for a really reduced rate and Preston would often buy them and fix them up and race them to many wins of his own. Rocky Aoki and the Benihana had the best deal with Bertram though.....a 38 foot hull and deck ready to be rigged $1.00. Bertram knew that Rocky would get them more publicity than they could buy on their own.

 

[NNRT]

The driver was Tony Garcia. Howard had been injured in some of the previous races and reached an agreement with Tony to drive.

Tony had raced a 30 foot Sutphen called Caliente the year before and had done very well with it.

The year here was 1980 and the race was the Benihana Grand Prix off Pt Pleasant NJ.

Although later on, Wellcraft marketed a line of these 38 foot Larry Smith Scarabs as KAAMA models, the race boats were just known as 38 foot Larry Smith Scarabs, not KAAMAs.

The NUMBER 6, was Sammy James Number, that he used often on various boats

 

[Top Banana]

Photo taken in Point Pleasant New Jersey - think 1980 -

Danny Patrona and Seminole Spirit. Back then offshore racing was split up between five different classes. At the top of the pile was Open Class 1 and Open Class 2. These were the big boys who raced the big boats. Class 1 was twin engine boats and class 2 was single engine boats. Maximum cu in for Class 1 was 1,000 and for class 2 was 500 cu in.

Under this Open class was the Production class boats broken in three classes. A letter of P in fromt of the number meant the boat was a stock engine Production class boat. The letter M meant the boat was a Modified boat. You were allowed to modifiy some engine parts and balance and blueprint the engines. A letter of S meant the boat was in the Sportsmen class. This S class was as expensive as the Open boats with smaller engines. All three classes had a limit of 750 cu in. You could run Speedmaster style drives in S class and many things were allowed to the engines as long as the cu inches were kept within the rule.

These guys were very serious. Ken Black who campaigned a S class boat called Little Rhino, had engines made for him by a guy in Michigan who still had not developed a reputation....his name was Jack Roush!

This class system allowed newcomers to try the sport and see if they could handle the ocean at speed. The Open boats ran courses of at least 185 miles and Production class boats ran courses of at least 80 miles. In addition to the National APBA circuit, there were many regional races for Production boats only. This gave a newcomer to try the sport without having to travel far from home or his business.

SORRY, I MEANT TO INCLUDE THE PHOTO OF SEMINOLE SPIRIT WITH MY REPLY!

 

[Ratickle]

So American Spirit was Seminole Spirit?

According to Searace, Seminole Spirit was a 27' Magnum driven by Dan Patroni and powered by twin 400 HP Chevy's that was the overall Production Class winner in the 1978 Cedar Point Grand National race on Lake Erie. Averaged 75.4 MPH for the 80 mile race.

 

[Underdog88]

This is a great history lesson. Thanks to you guys for taking the time to post.
Top Banana has an amazing memory. I raced motorcycles for about 20yrs starting in the late 80s and no way I can remember anything like this about my fellow racers. Amazing...
Thanks Guyz

 

[Serious News]

Here is an email I got the other day from Dick Carlson, he ran throttles for my dad, Danny Patrona, in the Seminole Spirit for years. Bruce Merriman was also in the boat as navigator. I thought this was a great story to share about old school offshore racing, and how crazy they were back in the day. And I know if given the chance, most of us would do it today..... the photo attached goes with the story.

Phill,
This picture of the "Spirit" was taken at the "1979 Bacardi Rum Race" in Miami, it is priceless. The "Spirit" was in the lead when the picture was taken, there were (60) boats behind us and (19) Helicopters in the air. We were heading east out of Government Cut just past the shore line and the high breakers were to our port. The splash in the picture is the "Spirit" coming out of a offshore wave.

We flew the boat and came down on the backside of a wave with the nose of the boat at 45 degrees downward and then proceeded to go through the next wave. We went through the next wave underwater but the boat displaced enough water to keep the boat from taking on water. The water actually had a umbrella effect over the top of us. The deck of the boat had cracked 4 Ft down each side from the water impact. I have never experienced this again or heard from anyone who did.

After coming out the wave and getting our heads straight, we headed to the Bimini turn. The race took over 3 hrs to complete 125 miles, only half of the boats made it to Bimini (30 mi) and only (18) boats finished the race. We ran out of gas just past the finish line inside Government Cut but managed to finish 1st. This race was more survival than speed.

Jimmy (Patrona) and Larry (Arnone) were at this race, Ask Jimmy if he remembers doing shots with José Bacardi and his body guard (Bacardi shots).

Enjoy,
Dick

http://www.seriousoffshore.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6752

 

[Pete B]

This has to be the 46' Scarab that was Gentry Turbo Eagle? I only remember it this way.



Help?

 

[Top Banana]

Another mystery so far.

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.

 

[ciao]

Yellowdrama III -

What a famous boat and driver!

A very famous boat indeed.

Built in 1977, it started life as Yellowdrama III and was the first catamaran to win the Cowes Torquay Cowes race.

The 1977 race was run over 229 nm and the wooden Cougar Cat averaged 75.10 mph.

The cat also took the UIM Class One speed record that year at 92.167 mph.

In November 1977, the boat powered by twin V8 fuel injected Mercruiser's made its racing début in the US. Loaned to Mike Doxford and Tim Powell and branded Limit Up, the Cougar Cat raced at Key West in the UIM World Championship.

It was the boat that was to herald the future dominance of the cats in Offshore Racing.

All information on this boat and many others can be found on Graham Stevens Powerboat Archive.

LINK

 

[Ratickle]

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