Yachting Magazine / January
1966
Cruiser
competition of the early 1900s has been revived as Offshore Powerboat Racing
By MEL CROOK
OFFSHORE RACING has
been widely touted as the most fascinating of the new categories of powerboat
competition. At the outset, let’s make clear that it is far from new. Marine application of the internal combustion engine in the
early years of this century was soon followed by “cruiser” racing in open
water and over considerable distances. By 1916 “cruisers” and “express
cruisers” accounted for more than half of the races sanctioned by the
American Power Boat Assn. And these were no sissified events. The
100-nautical-mile race from New York to Block Island was won at a speed of 23.78
nautical m.p.h.
Races of this type continued to play a dominant part
in powerboat competition through the mid-twenties. In 1921 Gar Wood turned in
four historic performances offshore in a boat named Gar Jr. II. He captured the race from Miami to Palm Beach and return at
32.8 statute m.p.h., topped the field from Miami to Key West at 37.3 m.p.h.,
turned in a solo run from Miami to New York at 26.6 m.p.h. and, again against
time, ran from Miami to Detroit at 25.4 m.p.h.
But the first half of the 1920s witnessed a
burgeoning interest in handicap races for cruisers. This mode of competition
slowly took over from boat-to-boat races in open water events and, in turn, gave
way to the more equitable predicted log contest. And thus offshore racing
vanished so completely that its revival in 1956 was generally considered to
herald the arrival of something “new.”
What is offshore racing~
Offshore racing, of the current vintage, might more
accurately be termed rough water racing. The courses and the dates of events are
selected to provide rugged weather and sea conditions. Total distance involved
varies from 140 to 280 statute miles. Participation, according to current APBA
rules, is limited to “high performance, seagoing pleasure boats suitable for
operation offshore under normal weather conditions.” Races are run at the
scheduled hour unless small craft warnings are being displayed.
Technical restrictions vary among the several races
now being run. Hulls are limited to a minimum of 18’ and a maximum of 40’
(or 50’) with little or no restriction on hull form. Some rules segregate
hulls into “production” and “prototype” categories~ Engines arc
classified according to piston displacement, with a general requirement (except
for the Miami-Nassau Race) that they be of a type advertised and sold to the
public as marine or automotive power plants. Inboard gasoline engines are
limited to a total of 1,000 cu. in. of piston displacement per boat and inboard
diesels, usually, to 2,000 Cu. in. Outboards—eligible for offshore competition
where the race originates in the U.S.—are rated by displacement. According
to most rules, inboard engines may be hopped-up almost without limit.
The
revival—Miami•to•Nassau
In 1956 the late Sam Griffith and Forrest Johnson,
both active in the Miami area boat building industry and both veterans of closed
course powerboat racing, met with international sport promoter “Red” Crise
and concocted the idea of a powerboat race from Miami to Nassau. This contest,
still tops on the annual calendar of offshore races, clicked from the very
beginning. It provides the challenge of pounding 55 miles across the Gulf
Stream, pin-point navigation for almost 70 miles over the baffling Bahamian
shallows and then slugging a final 60-odd miles across the Atlantic depths into
Nassau. Coupled with these natural attractions was the flamboyant promotional
skill of Crise, backed by the hospitality and publicity push of the Bahamas
Ministry of Tourism.
On Dec. 4 of 1956, Sam Griffith and Richard Bertram
teamed up to best a field of 14 in Jim Breuil’s Doodles II. They averaged 19.92 m.p.h to finish four hours and 20
minutes ahead of co-originator Forrest Johnson, who placed third. Since then
interest has increased with a peak number of 52 crossing the starting .lune in
1963. Similarly performance has been stepped up to the point that 1965 winner
Don Aronow posted a new record average speed of 55.6 m.p.h.
Around Long Island
In mid-summer of 1959 the Around Long Island Marathon
Assn. inaugurated its 280-mile event starting and finishing off Jones Inlet on
the island’s ocean shore. Entries, then limited to those belonging to members
of the recreational marine industry, were predominantly outboards. In six
subsequent annual runnings this marathon has become more of an inboard race,
although outboard starters are still numerous. Now open to all corners, entry
lists range in the 25 to 45 area. Speed has stepped up to the current record of
54.8 m.p.h. set in 1964 by Odell Lewis driving Mona Lou.
Cowes to Torquay (England)
In 1961 the “Daily Express” (London) sponsored
the first of its international offshore powerboat races from Cowes, down the
English Channel to Torquay. in subsequent years the length of the course has
varied as alterations have been made in some of the marks to be rounded. Most
recently it was 198 statute miles. In 1961 there were 27 starters of which nine
finished; the list has run as high as 53. The record for the race, set in 1964
by Jimmy and Charles Gardner’s Surf-rider,
stands at 49.1 m.p.h.
Viaregglo (Italy)
There have been four runnings of the race from
Viareggio to Bastia, Corsica, and return, a 1 90-miler. It attracts somewhat
smaller fields than its elder brethren (12 in 1965). Jim Wynne drove Maritime
to the current 49.4-m.p.h. record in last year’s race.
Miami to Key West
Late in 1963 the fledgling Offshore Power Boat
Racing Assn.— about which more, later—ran its first 140-mile Miami to Key
West dash. Twenty-two started and 11 finished in desperately rough water. Capt.
Jack Manson’s Allied GX (pictured at
the beginning of this article) averaged nearly 40 m.p.h. to win, the event. The
following year Manson, in Kamikaze, topped
a 29-boat fleet to average 42.25 m.p.h.
Miami.Lauderdale-Biminl-Gun
Cay.Miami
First of these 145-mile Sam Griffith Memorial Ocean
Powerboat races was run in February, 1964. So rough was the water that only
three of the 15 starters completed the course. The winner was Dick Bertram in Lucky
Moppie. The following year saw half of the 22 starters make the finish line.
Victory and the current~ record went to Bill Wishnick’s Broad
Jumper with an average speed of 44 m.p.h.
Other rough water races have been run and show
promise of becoming annual fixtures. Certainly worth watching in this group
are the shuttle back and forth across the lower end of Lake Michigan, one from
West Palm Beach to Lucayan-Freeport and return and the zig-zag trip from Long
Beach, Cal. around San Clemente Island, back around Catalina and thence to Long
Beach.
Politics
Offshore racing, in common with most powerboat
competition, has had its share of organizational problems and a touch of strife.
Each of the early races—Miami to Nassau, Around Long Island and the English
Channel dash— started out with its own set of rules and a single organization
acting as both sponsor and sanctioning body. In short, there was no uniformity
among races and none had an overseeing group to handle the inevitable protests.
Following the 1963 Miami-Nassau event, a group of participants made known their
desire to set up their own body and run some races in the Miami area according
to their ideas. This stirred up
short-lived acrimony between the splinter group and “Red” Crise who
handles the Nassau event almost as a one-man show. Meanwhile the dissidents
incorporated the Offshore Power Boat Racing Assn., set up their own rules and
became the sponsors (and sanctioners) of the first Miami to Key West and
Miami-Lauderdale-Bimini-Gun Cay-Miami races.
Shortly
thereafter the American Power Boat Assn. made overtures to both Crise and the
OPBRA, seeking to provide them with a rules-making and appeals body. Initial
meetings produced more heat than light, but the idea of having uniform rules
throughout the U.S. with all the other advantages of a sanctioning group,
continued to attract the OPBRA. Thus, late in 1964, the APBA organized an Offshore
Racing Commission and adopted a set of rules for this sort of competition,
OPBRA president Jack Manson became the first chairman of the new APBA body.
The
promoters of the Around Long Island race had switched to APBA sanction even
prior to this. The Lake Michigan and Long Beach events ran APBA from their
beginnings. Thus, today, every U.S. offshore race runs under uniform rules.
Miami-Nassau
and the CowesTorquay races continue to be quite independent but their
sponsors are understood to be willing to follow rules of the Union of
International Motor-boating when, and if, that world rules body adopts a
suitable code for offshore competition. Since APBA is the U.S. representative
of UIM, all the major offshore races may soon be operated out of the same rule
book.
Technical developments
No
other event, activity or trend can match offshore racing for contributions to
the development of hulls and engines. Even closed course racing, often
considered a fine breeding ground for technical advances, is unable to
challenge the offshore variety when it comes
to developments translated into features of stock boats.
Probably
the best known result of research and development in offshore racing is the
so-called deep-vee hull. Originated by the versatile architect Ray Hunt, the
deep-vee has been perfected in rough water competition by the Hunt followers
(Bertram hulls) as well as by the team of Walt Walters and Jim Wynne (Formula,
Donzi and Maritime hulls). Taking the Miami-Nassau Race as a prime proving
ground, we find that every one of these events since 1960 has been won by one of
these high-dihedral, longitudinally-stepped hulls.
As
for hull materials, all common forms are being subjected to the crucible of
offshore competition. Among this years’ top winners Brave
Moppie (Cowes Torquay) was wood, Broad
Jumper (Long Beach, Cal.) was fiberglass and Maritime
(Palm Beach-Free-port) was aluminum.
Inboard
engines have undergone a great step-up in power during the short history of
offshore racing. Not all can be attributed to this avenue of development
because (1) the entire automotive
industry—builder of the basic engines for marine use—has been in the throes
of a “horsepower race” during much of the time and (2) stock car racing
has played its part in engine development. Regardless of the relative
contributions of these influences, since late 1956 the top Chrysler marine
engine has jumped from 275 to 415 hp. and Fords—as converted for marine use
by Eaton—have climbed from 215 to 400 hp.
In
the diesel field, where there have been no obvious outside influences other than
offshore racing, the General Motors 6-71 engine, rated 271 hp. nine years ago,
was credited with 550 untold varieties of equipment and accessories have
undergone and are still undergoing improvements as a result of failures that
developed under the stress of a high-speed rough water race. We have seen a
radiotelephone torn asunder in a horizontal plane merely from the pounding of
the boat. And more than a few transmissions have failed under the hopped-up
power of engines used in offshore racing.
The men who take part in offshore competition have a
common characteristic that sets them apart from most boatmen—they hope for,
and thrive on rough water. Where most of us will stay ashore rather than take a
chance or even be uncomfortable, this breed of competitor is happiest when the
starting field is decimated by treacherous water conditions.
During the ten-year history of this sport (as revived) there have been many outstanding owners, drivers and designers. Most of them have taken part primarily because they enjoyed the activity and incidentally because it directly or indirectly produced income for them. To select as outstanding any one, or three, or a dozen would likely be unfair to an equal number who were omitted. Their tribute will have to come through YACHTING’S regular coverage of their exploits, which appears monthly on these pages.