Seacraft - Miami to Nassau Races

[bigshrimpin]

Does anyone have any information on the old Miami to Nassau races and seacrafts.

This was a good article on Carl Mosley and Seacrafts . . . but it only briefly mentions the boats racing history on pages 6 and 7.

http://www.classicseacraft.com/moselyarticle1.htm

[PARKER RABE]

man my dad would , he raced that race , ill ask him !, they had one to bimini too

[PARKER RABE]

my dad knows carl very good ! i asked him !

[PARKER RABE]

was also talking to him about those races when he ran a 28 foot pacemaker with 4 bp's on it with 4 speedmasters!
the stories and pictures that my dad has at his house will make u sick hes probrally got about 20.000 slides and pictures of old offshore racing for the late 60's to the mid 80's when he quit ! we need to have a scream and fly party over there , man he would love it , the problem is,
we would all have to stay a week to see it all !
man would he love that , he said being retired is geeting boaring

[lilabner]

I knew Carl very well..I worked on his engines and raced with him in his 4 point cat in the 9 and 6 hour races..My wife Treasure raced with his wife Jeanne also in the first 21 foot boat, which the CIA bought and used on operations to Cuba..I was a mechanic for them also..posting a picture of the girls racing a 4 hour marathon on 6-23-62 in Miami..they finished 3rd in the cat class and 7th overall..

[lilabner]

Treasure on the left, Jeanne on the right..

[2us70]

Were those pictures taken at Pelican Harbor? Also who was it that ran a cat into a piling in the Gold Coast? I thought it was one of the Mosleys.

[lilabner]

The dock shots were..I don't recall anyone in the Gold Coast, I may have been in the Marines by then..but someone hit the bridge in the Nine Hour at Pelican Harbor around 59..got busted up pretty good..his dad was a funeral home owner and kept bringing the cat to the races all smashed up with the kids blood still in it..bad taste...Henry Reed was the dad...Reed Gautier Funeral Homes..he towed it with a hearse.

[CALVIN]

Wow,what a cool pic from an era when they really did run" offshore". Is the seacraft a wood or glass boat? Was the first bertram moppie wood or glass?

[lilabner]

The Sea Craft was glass, I don't remember about the first Moppies, I think wood..I rode with Dick Bertram in a few races around 72 while working for Holman Moody..It was the #77 My Moppie..his wife Pauline was nick named Moppie..the boat was a "special" race model (glass) powered by two 700 hp supercharged Holman Moody Ford 427's..top speed back then was about 74 mph..the Mercruisers with 482's and outdrives were about 1-2 mph faster..

[bigshrimpin]

Thanks guys . . . I'm a total junkie for this early offshore racing history.

Lilabner - What kind of speed did you get out of 21 seacraft? Those are great pictures. Were Treasure and Jeanne the only women that raced back then? How did you end up meeting Mosley?

PARKER RABE - I would love to see those slides. Please let me know if you and your dad decide to throw a SF/SC party . . .

[SeaCraft]

Great Pictures !!! lilabner and Parker Rabe I too echo bigshrimpin and would love to see more photos !!!! In fact I think there is a whole bunch of use that would like to see them

Wait till SeaVette see this thread !!

Keep those photos coming

[PARKER RABE]

Im Gonna Get A Scanner Soon , Man U Guys Will Freak

[SeaCraft]

Im Gonna Get A Scanner Soon , Man U Guys Will Freak

No doubt about it !! :D :cool:

[Seavette]

Great stuff! I am sure we'd all love to see more.

[lilabner]

The 21 Sea Craft was pretty fast back then, high 50's light, not much more..there were a lot of women racing, and they were all great looking girls..besides Treasure and Jeanne were Rosemary Young who ran Raveaus (and retired the Helen Martin Memorial Trophy in the Gold Coast, she won it three years in a row.) everybody's sweetheart, and competition, Ellen Click, Barbara Disher, since passed away, Carole Wyckoff was also a mechanic, Helen Campbell bought Rosemary's Raveau, and the ledgendary Jacobys..also Sharon Mims in an inboard hydro called Daisy Mae, and Mona Daily, Duffs mom..we had fun..
I have a lot of newspaper clippings, which don't scan too well, and some photos..we were too busy racing to take pictures..it just didn't seem important at the time..I'll try to scan some stuff and post it, but I don't want to bore anybody with really old OPC stuff..This is all between 59 and 64 in South Fla..that's 40 years folks, most of these guys that post aren't even that old yet..

Butch

[bigshrimpin]

"I don't want to bore anybody with really old OPC stuff"
----------------------------------------------------------
lilabner - I could read about these boats all day long . . . and never get bored.

[Mark75H]

I'm another one who'd like to see that early OPC stuff ...bring it on! :)

[SandSled]

Yep - I'd like to see them too :D

[Tripps]

Hey parker,let us know when the party is!!!!! :D :D :D it would be a blast tripps

[PARKER RABE]

I Need To Plan One !

[pogden]

I just want to see the rest of the pic in those two avatars!:eek: :D



Hammer Down Racing
Parker Rabe

Yummie!!!

[fgbiv]

SeaCraft with Triples

[PARKER RABE]

pogden ,,,, u should come over one friday night ! :eek:

[runwhatchabrung]

Get the book "Searace" by John Crouse. It is awesome and has lots of photos. Great read also.

[T2x]

Iwe were too busy racing to take pictures..it just didn't seem important at the time..I'll try to scan some stuff and post it, but I don't want to bore anybody with really old OPC stuff..This is all between 59 and 64 in South Fla..that's 40 years folks, most of these guys that post aren't even that old yet..

Butch

Too busy to take pictures........ Ain't that the truth?.... All of the "glory days' reduced to fading memories.....and great stories.

In the early 60's we ran the Hudson River Marathons....... I can vividly remember the dock at the Castleton Boat Club (wet and dry pits)..... and the crawdads on the riverbank....... and the sound of the twin in-lines on the Powercats, Glastrons, Allisons and Eltro's.... I've been in everything from Molinari's, to Skaters, to Buzzi's, to Bell Jet Rangers since...... but there seemed to be a lot more magic back in the simple days.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather race in the Miami 9 hour, or the big point to point marathons, than in any event today.

T2x......... feeling very, very old.

[Jeff_G]

Rich, you ARE old!

[T2x]

Rich, you ARE old!

Oh........


T2x

[2us70]

T2x , I was fortunate to have been able to have run in some of those classic races and I must agree with you. Racers today don't get anywhere the racing "seat time" we were so lucky to have gotten back then. Times have changed and todays racers face many more restrictions than we did. Here in South Florida Point to point races were run every year. I personally have raced almost every mile of the ICW from Key Largo to Ft. Pierce with the exception of the portion through downtown Miami. Today the safety nazis and Manatee lovers make boat racing of any kind almost impossable down here.

[T2x]

T2x , I was fortunate to have been able to have run in some of those classic races and I must agree with you. Racers today don't get anywhere the racing "seat time" we were so lucky to have gotten back then. .

Fortunate is the word.........

Old EC prowling the pits......... Sirois, Odell, the Switzers, Kitson, Ron Hill,Culver... guys who could get it on! Every race someone had something new..... and most of it was an improvement!... I remember Dick Schneider at the Orange Bowl Regatta in '65....holding this new odd ball prop he had developed... he called it an "elephant ear"......and would we try it on our twin 17 Glastron?? We could barely plane with it....but it worked!

In those days we advanced the bar from the dark ages in '61....to almost today's technology by '73....12 years from start to finish.... and all on spit, polish ...and duct tape.

We had no safety systems.......unless you call a frayed Gentex jacket and an open faced Bell helmet a "safety system" ..........no fear(brains?)...... and all of us pursued something just out of reach......

We even ran alone out of sight of rescue boats.........


T2x........ proud victim of "boat racer's neck"

[lilabner]

We even ran alone out of sight of rescue boats.........
I remember a Miami Nassau race..around 60..I was working for Dave Craig. Dave lived with his buddy George Griley. I was in race control listening in on the radios..Dave and George were running Vee hulls, I don't remember the brands but EC supplied them. Dave's boat had trouble and sunk, just the bow sticking up, and he was picked up by another boat. George was behind him and came upon the bow with the number on it sticking out of the water, only God knows where between Miami and Nassau. George radios in that Craigs boat has sunk and there are no survivors...George was very nonchalant about it and thought Dave and crew were dead, until he got to Nassau...We were all getting a chuckle about this at race control and used it on George for years after..
"The good old days".. no money, little fame, and little glory, and only among your peers..

[seeroy]

Old memories. Spent many race times at Skyway Marine. Dave lived upstairs with a sweet young blond. What was her name? Dave conquered Gold Coast in wooden Switzer. That boat was at Lake X for years. I last saw it at MEMCO (Mabry Edwards Marine Co.) in Jacksonville. Ralph Seavey and I were sent there to help Ted Jones cut a Vee bottom boat in half longitudinally and turn it into a tunnel boat (Another story, Another time). I still can't believe I worked with Ted Jones for that month. Back to Dave Craig; I once saw him "flying" down the middle of Lake X in a fiberglass Switzer. Just when he got in front of the tower, he got a little too much air under it and launched! He did a half flip and landed upside down. Unlike the previous post, nobody declared him dead. He did however get very wet. The last time I saw Dave, he told me he was the chairman of the Miami Republican Party. He was still living above the shop at Skyway Marine. What ever became of him?

[lilabner]

He is married, believe it or not, a family man, and living in Titusville..George is living in Melborne somewhere..I too got to hang with Ted Jones for a year when I was stationed in Oceanside, Ca..He was the Merc rep and came over to Skip Talbots house and shop a lot..A really neat guy.. told me a lot of old stories..
You are doing good on the forum bit..lets hear some EC stories...

Butch

[Cp]

Im Gonna Get A Scanner Soon , Man U Guys Will Freak

Promises, promises...... :cool:

[T2x]

Dave conquered Gold Coast in wooden Switzer. That boat was at Lake X for years. I last saw it at MEMCO (Mabry Edwards Marine Co.) in Jacksonville.

Steve:

The last Time I saw the "Miss Skyway" was at the Orange bowl regatta in January '66..... Dave was driving it....BUT..it had been modified. The sponson upper super structures (cockpits and fins) had been removed and the cockpit moved to the center of the forward Wing. The boat was painted refrigerator white and looked like a last minute entry....The boat made the start but fell out of the running soon after..... There were so many starters the race was started by a helicopter dropping a sackful of dyed flour...... and sadly stopped abruptly after Hank Bowman was killed in accident in which his own boat ran him over (This led to mandatory kill switches thereafter.) The race restarted the next day with half the entries gone.

I really liked Hank and his writing..... and sought to follow in his footsteps.... My oldest (born in 67) son's middle name is Bowman in his memory. Interesting P.S., that son has a Master's Degree............ in Screenwriting.... from Southern Cal.


T2x

[Powercat]

I have been trying figure out which year my dad (Ray Leger)
ran the Miami to Nassau race.
It was the last time he competed as a driver. It would have been
in these 1962-66 years. He had promised my mom he would not
race anymore, and then flew to Florida on the pretence of going to Lake X
to help with a Power Cat set-up. We found out he ran in the race
some months later in a magazine article. If one of you guys come
across his name in any of the entry lists I sure would like to know.
Danny Leger

[largecar91]

I Used To Have A 1966 28' Donzi Sportsman Just Like The "damn Donzi" That Arronow Raced In That Race. Off Shore Boats Have Come A Long Way!

[lilabner]

First Bahamas 500 I ran, 69 I think, was in a 28 Donzi."SAM-SON",the old "PATTY LOU"...YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Butch

[seeroy]

T2X - this is getting a little to ironic, even for me. Believe it or not, I ran that boat at Lake X to break in the engine. When I jumped into the boat from the dock, I twisted my ankle and had trouble walking for a few days. Perhaps a bad omen. It was either an S-22 or an Alim and the driver sat directly beside the engine and against the transom. Anyway, in the race itself (9 hour at Marine Stadium) I ran the same cutdown Glastron that I had run in the '64 GCM. I had never met Hank but he had just passed me when he hit a wake at a funny angle. It bounced him up on the transom where he stayed for a few seconds and then rolled backward into the water. I slowed down and he waved me and several others on indicateing that he was OK. The torque then turned the sterndrive into a left hand turn. I looked back and saw him appear to push away from the right side of the boat as it came around the 3rd time. That image still lives in my brain. Roy Ridgell was the 1st to get to him, but it was obvious to Roy that it was all over. I think they tried to restart the race that day or the next but it was very rough and I think somebody t-boned a pylon and was hurt pretty bad. That was the end. You are absolutely right about that being the advent of the kill switches.

Best Regards - Steve Sirois

[largecar91]

I Have The Book "searace" , It Has A Lot Of Great Old Photos Of Those Races In It. I Will Try To Find It.

[2us70]

I was in Brooke Russel's Miami to New York boat in the 66 9 hour when the Bowman accident happened. Bowman was running an S-22. The race was run again the next day starting from scratch. I felt like I had been beaten with a 16ft stick by the time it was over. I rigged a kill switch in my SE boat before I ran it again.

[PARKER RABE]

my dad was in SEA RACE , look in the index for randy rabe , there is a few good pictures of him also , racing a 28 memco with 4 bp,s with speedmasters
the writer of sea race john crouse is a great friend of the faimlys , talk to him all the time

[T2x]

T2X - this is getting a little to ironic, even for me. Believe it or not, I ran that boat at Lake X to break in the engine. When I jumped into the boat from the dock, I twisted my ankle and had trouble walking for a few days. Perhaps a bad omen. It was either an S-22 or an Alim and the driver sat directly beside the engine and against the transom. .

Best Regards - Steve Sirois

Steve:

I remember the seat in that boat was very high...literally on the rear corner of the boat....It was almost destined to spit the driver out.

T2x

[lilabner]

since this thread started out with Mosley..I've got some old pictures of him..he got thrown out of his cat, and managed to climb back in between two running engines in gear..talk about reality shows!!!!!!!!!!

[lilabner]

"circle the cats"

[lilabner]

i've got you big boy...

[lilabner]

Where's the next buoy?

[lilabner]

Here's a picture of a cat Marcel and Bob Walwork built..didn't perform as expected and was decked over..

[bigshrimpin]

lilabner - I can't see the pics. I have a place for you to upload/host them if you like. Do you know why Mosley sold seacraft? and where Bill Potter came into the picture at seacraft?

Thanks Again!!

Keep them coming!!

[lilabner]

I don't see them either..I saw them right after I posted them though..."THEY" must be messin with my head...I don't like this new version..don't know why he sold it..I went to war for a few years...he had moved out when I got back..

[lilabner]

I did an edit and they are back up..hope "THEY" don't mess with em again!!!

[Li'l Toy]

I'm 13 years old--had to be the summer of 1966. My younger brother and I are in my Dad's 14' open fibergalss runabout, running in the Gold Coast Marthon against about 20 little kneel downs in Class 1. Must be 200 boats churnig around out in front of Pelican Harbor, waiting for the start. We hear this scream from south of the Causeway, and under the bridge comes a pair of black Switzers with the megaphone exhausts. It still sends chils through me remembering it. They were timed up just right, headed North past all of the rest of us, and sure got to West Palm way before we did. I was always told that was Dave Craig and someone else from Skyway. But Lou Nuta won that year, doing it in a 266 or 280 hydro. That was the last or second to last time the race ran up the Intracoastal

[2us70]

I was in that one too in a Class 3 (SE) boat. Yes that was the last time up the Intercoastal. Del Dailey with son Duff hit a cruiser wake from a boat that ignored the patrol boats efforts to slow him down. Del hurt his back pretty bad and Duff was also injured. I heard that legal actions were filed and that pretty well finished point to point racing in South Fla. They tried to run a few after that but nothing lasted more than a year at a time.

[lilabner]

Hi Joe, I think that might have been Bruce, not Duff..don't remember for sure but Duff was pretty young..about 13..this picture was in 62 and he was 9...


Butch

[2us70]

Duff was riding with Del when they had that accident. I think he was 14 at the time. Bruce and I met at Ft. Jackson SC in the fall of 64 whe we both went in to the Army and Bruce may have still been in by the summer of 66. I was in the Reserve so I got out in 65. I got my only ride in a F Service boat with Bruce at Pelican Harbor. Last I heard of Duff he was still a City of Miami Fire Fighter. It seems to me boat racers made good Fire Fighters.

[lilabner]

they sure do..especially in Miami...used to race against Duff in GN's...actually it should be I also raced in GN's...Duff was King...

[Bruce Washburn]

Duff still races and does very well. I think he now lives in Martin County/Port St. Lucie. The last time I saw him was about 2 years ago when the inboard guys raced with us in Ocoee, Fl. Duff had a brand new Rayson Craft that had to be 21+ ft long. It was the he biggest GN boat I have ever seen. He dominated the rest of the GN's that were there. I know he still runs Pro Stock and KRR from time to time.

[bigshrimpin]

Thought these pics would make a good addition to this thread.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Handel/MO1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Handel/MO4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Handel/MO3.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/Handel/MO2.jpg

[CALVIN]

Dual homelites and seacraft.........Can this be the first 4 stroke race boat in the history of boatracing????

[bigshrimpin]

From Cliff Root:

Thank you very much for your inquiry about the SeaCraft.

This is one of the first SeaCrafts built. Later designs eliminated the high freeboard and flare at the bow and reduced the angle of the deep-V. Seacrafts, including this one, were originally built in Princeton, FL which is part of the Miami suburbs and is located about fifteen miles SW of downtown Miami on US-1. Their production warehouse is still there. The boat was purchased new by Johnson and Kirby who had one of the more popular marine store, boat maintenance and engine sales and maintenance operations in Miami by the same name located on US-1 in South Miami. They passed away, the store was closed, the property was sold and the lot bulldozed.

The early pictures show the boat (open console) as Johnson and Kirby set it up for racing to Bimini and Nassau. In the late 1950's the Bertram Glass Mopie by Ray Hunt was the first deep-V design and revolutized boat racing and boat design. It shattered the existing record by several hours in a race were many boats turned back and a few disinagrated and sank due to the very rought water. Everyone quickly started building deep-V hulls. This SeaCraft was built in 1962. I remember the Homelites and I am sure that the Homelites were 55 HP. Johnson and Kirby raced the boat for publicity to advertise their store and for fun. I know nothing about their racing success, if any.

At this time my father was working at Johnson and Kirby. He bought the boat from Johnson and Kirby. Soon after, he replaced the Homelites with two 100 HP Evinrudes and converted the boat back to the factory design by removing the center console, reinstalling the windshield, forward steering and bimini top as shown in the later pictures. When I gave the boat away, it still had the original Seminole trailer as shown in the pictures and the original boat production paint colors as shown in the small owner's manual - white hull, black stripe under the gunnel and sky-blue deck.

About 1970, my father bought a 50 ft houseboat and gave me the SeaCraft. I ran it until the motors reached the point that the Johnson and Kirby mechanics refused to work on the motors unless I had them completely rebuilt. I had two daughters in college at the time and could no longer afford two new motors so the boat sat in the backyard and the wood rotted out. Hurricane Andrew tore off and shattered the windshield.

I kept the boat because I though it was a great boat, great design, great ride, high freeboard for offhsore, etc. and I had hoped to someday eventually restore the boat. However the boat was becoming an eyesore in the backyard and my wife wanted me to get rid of it. She started calling the towing companies to have them haul the boat and trailer to the county trash dump. However the county dump will not take boats unless you first take a chainsaw and cut the boat into pieces. Which is probably why you see so many old boats abondoned along the roadside. I refused to destroy the boat and started looking on the Internet for alternatives. Fortunely I found the SeaCraft collectors' website. A fellow from Palm Beach picked up the boat and trailer, title, pictures, and small owner's manual.

If you have any additional information I would greatly appreciate knowing the current status and seeing some current pictures. You are welcome to post any of this information on the SeaCraft website.

Cliff Root

[STV_Keith]

Duff had a brand new Rayson Craft that had to be 21+ ft long. It was the he biggest GN boat I have ever seen. He dominated the rest of the GN's that were there.

This is the biggest GN I think I've seen. It's in Parker, AZ quite a bit for GN stuff. It's absolutely huge compared to the rest. Not sure what it is though.

http://www.speedcraving.com/stv/tday03/images/DSCN1372.jpg

[lilabner]

Here is a picture of the first Sea Craft..Carl's wife Jeanne and my wife Treasure in a race..notice the "Sweet 16" Raveau just off the bow..

[velox]

Hi Cliff, Butch and who ever else is from Miami
I think you and my wife are distant relatives from Miami. Her name was Bonny Bennett.
I knew your dad and the last time I saw him was in Coral Gables about 15 years ago at a dive shop business. I know your dad and my father in law and Dr John Dix, were some of the first skindivers and spear fishermen in S. Florida
Carl Mosley came into my airplane factory about 7 or 8 years ago in Stuart and introduced himself. I told him I had known him as My best friend Richie Baiz had worked for him back then . And I also knew him from racing back then.
Butch worked right down US1 from Johnson Kirby at Dade Marine the Merc dealership .
I hung around visiting with Butch so much ,the manager ,Kenny Wilson put me to work selling boats. That was about the time Butch left to join the Marines. After just a couple of months Kenny left for another job and the absentee owner had no other option, but to make me the manager. I was in my early twenties and looked about 15, but I ran it for about a year. At the end of the first year we actually showed a small profit, so he sold the business and I was out of work. I talked to Duff a couple of months ago. His Mom Mona and my wife have gotten together several times in the past 6 months.
I also became friends with Rusty Bonds and his brother Del while in Stuart.
Rusty raced some of the Sandy Shoes Marathons back in the 60's and Del is an airplane instructor/ exam. He is now building big boats in the Carolinas.
I saw Ray Bonds at Rusty's funeral about 15 years ago at Stuart Beach

[Lake X Kid]

Miami to Nassau
Overall winner Odell Lewis boat 36. Roy Ridgell boat 38.
Mabry Edwards boat 222. Nick Chapman boat 30.
Carl Moesly & wife Jeanne boat 21. George Blumberg boat 106.

I think this article is the 1963 race.
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