Miami Herald

July 31, 1985

MORALES WINS A SURVIVAL TEST

ERIC SHARP- Herald Boating Writer

George Morales of Fort Lauderdale was so confident that he would win the inaugural Miami to New York Chapman Invitational Championship powerboat race that he began the event Monday wearing a patch that read "Miami-New York Challange (sic) '85 Winner."Tuesday, Morales drove Maggie's MerCruiser Special, a 46- foot Cougar catamaran with four 635-horsepower engines, under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York Harbor and claimed the $500,000 winner's check and the Chapman Trophy for the fastest speedboat run between Miami and New York.

Morales and his crew -- navigator Dennis Martin, and throttlemen Angelo Meli, Gus Falcon and Steve Curtis -- covered the official distance of 1,257 miles in 19 hours 33 minutes 47 seconds and broke the record of 22:41:15 set by Bob Magoon of Miami 11 years ago. Morales' average speed was 64.35 miles per hour.

The only other finisher of five boats entered was Popeye's, a 46-foot Cougar deep-vee that Al Copeland of Metairie, La., brought across the line 58 minutes behind Morales. Copeland, who bought his boat from Morales a few months ago for this race, also beat Magoon's record, finishing in 20:28:29.

The three boats that dropped out -- and lost their $112,000 entry fees -- were Team Apache, driven by Ben Kramer of Hollywood; Copper Kettle, driven by Sandy Satullo of Hillsboro Beach, and the Gentry Eagle, driven by Tom Gentry of Honolulu. All broke down either before the start at Government Cut or in waters off Florida.

Because conventional wisdom had said it was unlikely that a catamaran could get the smooth waters it needed to win such a long race, Morales, a 36-year-old aircraft leasing executive, had planned to run a new 46-foot Cougar deep-vee. But when that boat couldn't be delivered in time, Morales opted for Maggie's MerCruiser Special.

Only a handful of spectator boats were on hand as Morales, a native of Colombia, roared past a scaffold-shrouded Statue of Liberty. Asked how he felt after the race, Morales grinned and said, "Dead and excited. I knew I was going to do it, but it feels real good."

Morales, who is under federal indictment on 23 charges of drug trafficking and income tax evasion, said he wasn't worried about running a catamaran "because I proved in the Sarasota race (three weeks ago) that I could make a cat run 80 to 90 miles per hour in seven- to eight-foot seas." He finished second in that race, but damaged the boat so badly that it took days to repair it.

But the big catamaran ran almost flawlessly to New York, hitting fuel stops at Daytona Beach, Wilmington, N.C., and Oregon Inlet, N.C., within minutes of the scheduled times. Morales said the four engines only used a quart of oil between them.

Morales had talked about refueling offshore from a barge and a helicopter, but he decided to play it safe with "Game Plan 2" and refuel at stations on the shore.

Morales started three minutes behind Copeland because the MerCruiser's crew was trying to fix a faulty fuel switching valve when the starting flare fired. Morales said the only other problems he had were a malfunctioning engine gauge and computerized fuel valve, which forced his crew to switch tanks manually.

Curtis, Morales' throttleman on the run from Wilmington to Oregon Inlet, said seas were so flat it was hard to get the big boat airborne and moving at maximum speed.

"Our biggest trouble was some rain. When you run into it at 75 to 85 miles per hour, it hurts," said Curtis, whose father designed Morales' boat.

Copeland said Morales was unbeatable. "There was nothing we could do to beat him," Copeland said. "It was his weather. We broke down three or four times (when water hoses gave way) -- twice for 20 minutes, once for 15 and once for 10. But I don't think it would have made any difference if we hadn't. He could outrun us in that flat stuff any time he wanted."

Copeland said he was five minutes late for the start because "we lost all our radio communications just as we left the dock. We didn't have a horn and with the radio out, we couldn't get the Venetian Causeway bridge to open for us."

Copeland's course took him to Daytona Beach, then to refueling stops at Oregon Inlet and Ocean City, Md. Popeye's sometimes ran 50 miles offshore. Morales never went more than five miles offshore and did one stretch of 100 miles in the Intracoastal Waterway off North Carolina.

For three of the teams, disaster came early. The Apache boat, a 47-foot deep-vee, was headed for the starting line just before 9 p.m. Monday when a turbocharger fire in an engine compartment destroyed one of three diesel engines. The crew began putting a new engine in, but by morning it was obvious they had no chance of catching the leaders.

Co-skipper Bob Saccenti said Team Apache would attempt to break Magoon's former record beginning tonight.

Satullo's 44-foot, three-engined Tempest missed the start when an oil cooler blew as Tempset president Dick Simon took the boat for a test ride an hour before the start. The boat was repaired, and Satullo started nearly three hours behind the leaders but got only as far as Fort Lauderdale before another engine failed and the boat was towed to shore.

Gentry was running well in his 46-foot Scarab, and had a three-minute lead on Copeland at the start. But his boat suffered a breakdown off Ormond Beach, Fla., 250 miles north of the starting line and 1,000 miles from the finish.