Ride with Top Banana

[PARADOX]

Thank you to Charlie McCarthy for coming with us on the Avanti to the FPC/Ft. Myers Poker Run. (Sorry about the bumpy ride and loosing your hat Charlie)
Charlie's original Banana race hull design.. now it's the Avanti, (and I got the last one. :26: ) held her own in some "serious" washing machine chit and rough seas. A true rough water hull. It was great to hear old race stories, and it was a pleasure spending some time with one of the "great" boat designer and racer. It was the first time I ever site down in the back on my own boat, while Charlie took the helm for a while.
We all had a great time, awsome vids, and meeting great boat people.

Thanks again.

Peter








TY.. Naples Images for the pics.

 

[catmando]

I met Charlie several years ago at a race. He was set up at the AMF pits. He was there with another legend, Ken Warby.

 

[Wrinkleface]

That Bob guy will do anything 2 get his mug shown!!!!!!:26::sifone:

 

[Ratickle]

Finally Peter......Been waiting since Key West. (You still need to put on some pounds).


Did Charlie catch some serious air and make you wonder if it was such a good idea?????:sifone:

And nice shots by Jay, hope he posts more.

 

[Ratickle]

That Bob guy will do anything 2 get his mug shown!!!!!!:26::sifone:

At least this time he didn't have to go all the way to Cancun....

 

[PARADOX]

Finally Peter......Been waiting since Key West. (You still need to put on some pounds).

Did Charlie catch some serious air and make you wonder if it was such a good idea?????:sifone:
And nice shots by Jay, hope he posts more.

Thanks Rat... But yessss.. it was a good idea. Some of the "bumps" we could have done with out.. I need a hot jacuzzy sesion..

Charlie, Bob and I had lunch, great stories, and Charlie sais "Pete did a great job ..... but, he's running the 33' like if it was a 38'.... No sustitude for length. etc. etc. So I say.. there are stretch limo's,,, strech planes..
Let's stretch the Avanti.. :biggrinjester:


Gaining the weight is a slow process..

 

[phragle]

thats simple, first you need a roller bunk trailer, tie the stern cleats to a telephone pole, the bow eye to the back of the truck, lock it in 4 low and punch it, just have somebody watching so you know when the desired stretch has been reached... :26::26::26:

 

[Sunsation96]

thats simple, first you need a roller bunk trailer, tie the stern cleats to a telephone pole, the bow eye to the back of the truck, lock it in 4 low and punch it, just have somebody watching so you know when the desired stretch has been reached... :26::26::26:

Now that's funny:rofl::smilielol5:

 

[Top Banana]

Thank you to Peter for his kind invitation to come along for a ride in my old hull design.

For those who don't know, this design started out by me contracting JC Simon to design a new Open Class race boat for me in 1978. I wanted a newer version of Beep Beep, which won US1 for the previous two years. JC Simon started out by narrowing the entry of the boat so it wouldn't jump as high when racing into head seas.

Then he took a 38 foot length over the standard 24 degree bottom and put a 5 inch chine supported by a 4 inch center strake and finally a 3 inch bottom strake. Most important....for production sales, was the fact that the last 4 feet of the boat was perfectly straight....what this meant was I could build 34 foot boats out of the same mold just by blocking the last 4 feet.

The boat began as a Banana Boat 38 and I built some 34's also.....but I marketed them as 33 footers's as we were looking to race them in the Production classes and 34's seemed too big at that time. JCSimon had been copying the deck designs of Paolo Caliari with Beep Beep. It was kind of a slanted upward design. When I first began rigging out the boat, Don Aronow told me to cut that slant off and make it a flat deck....Don said the slant acted like a spoiler and pushed the boat deeper into the water, rather than lifting it out....so I cut it off and made it flat. Don gave me a pair of Cigarette engine hatches to use instae of the JC Simon type to get more air to the engines.

We went out and won the first race, leading from start to finish.......orders started coming in for the new boat design.

 

[Top Banana]

Naturally when things start to take off, everybody wants in......JC Simon wanted to start selling the boats as Coyotes too.

So we began selling both brands of boats from the same molds....sometimes they had both brands on them, adding to the confusion.

For those drivers who didn't mind, we left the raised deck. The Europeans liked the look so when Dry Martini was made, they got the full slant.

 

[Top Banana]

So that went on for awhile and then the molds were sold to Sonic and if you look close at the 42 foot Sonic boat, you can see my old 38 footer under their 42 with the swim platform.

Peter's boat ...the Avanti, came from the same molds as the shorter version. Once again, you can see the lines of the hull when you compare both boats.

Yes, that first race boat is, Power Play. Not the Power Play boat company...Confused yet??

 

[Top Banana]

This was my first ever Poker Run.

Didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised that the people I met, all shared a great love of high performance boats. Big or small, everyone all loved the same thing.

Stu Jones spotted me walking the docks in the morning and asked..."What are you doing here?" Told him it was my first poker run and I was trying to find out which size Banana Boat to bring next year. He laughed and said what have you got?

After spending the day with Peter, his son and Bob the builder and his crew and checking everyone out......I had a great time and I'll be back, with one of my 39's and a 42.....that was a lot of fun..BUT Size matters.

www.bananaboatco.com

 

[Ratickle]

Nice Charlie, Thanks for all the input.

 

[LEOPAJM]

Very cool !

Charlie ... any idea where " Jumpin Jack " is today ?

 

[Top Banana]

Very cool !

Charlie ... any idea where " Jumpin Jack " is today ?

There were two "Jumpin Jacks" one was a 36 foot Cigarette and the other was a 35 Cigarette....both owned and driven by Jack Tushinsky.

I have no idea where they are today........somebody ought to find them and rescue them.

 

[MarylandMark]

This was my first ever Poker Run.

:driving: