Gold Coast Marathon

[lilabner]

That was the 1960 Kissimmee 4 hour Marathon i'm pretty sure. Largest field of cats I ever saw..till next year at the Six Hour, same place. I drove Bobby Warworks Raveau in the Six Hour, with Craig DeWald as my co driver.

[cadillacboats@me.com]

I grew up with Mike Gordon's family. COuldn't get any closer to the action. He would launch his SK or GN boat right from his raceshop lift and get into the race. Cadillac

[Instigator]

Killer video!
loved the 3 point inboard against the o/b cat 😎


Sad thing is, it will never happen again.

[2us70]

The " Gold Coast" was the high point of every summer for years down here. Everybody tried to run in it with what ever you could put together. I knew several guys who had a "Gold Coast" project going in their garage or carport pretty much all year long just to be able to run this race. I only did the point to point version twice but they were both unforgettable for me.

[Instigator]

The " Gold Coast" was the high point of every summer for years down here. Everybody tried to run in it with what ever you could put together. I knew several guys who had a "Gold Coast" project going in their garage or carport pretty much all year long just to be able to run this race. I only did the point to point version twice but they were both unforgettable for me.

IN one part of the clip you can see a guy in a vest and a helmet getting in a 13' Whaler w/numbers on the side of it!

I would have raced whatever I owned or could borrow. Fk winning, lets race!

[2us70]

In those days a lot of those 13' Boston Whalers got raced. With a 50hp Mercury they were pretty fast. They weren't legal in opc but ran in races like the "Gold Coast" all the time.

[Instigator]

In those days a lot of those 13' Boston Whalers got raced. With a 50hp Mercury they were pretty fast. They weren't legal in opc but ran in races like the "Gold Coast" all the time.

Similar to the Caribbean Club back in the day of center consoles and Whalers

Y'all, had all the fun down there in the day. Can't even imagine......

[Bob V]

Sad thing is, it will never happen again.

In those days a lot of those 13' Boston Whalers got raced. With a 50hp Mercury they were pretty fast. They weren't legal in opc but ran in races like the "Gold Coast" all the time.

Similar to the Caribbean Club back in the day of center consoles and Whalers

Y'all, had all the fun down there in the day. Can't even imagine......

Comments like these pretty much say it all. Those were the days when you could go out and run your whaler alone side a wing and still feel like you were a part of what was happening. It is so sad that nothing like this could happen today, but still nice to know that so many of you were a part of the best time in racing.

I have fond memories of the Caribbean Club racing. My Zonkercraft at the Caribbean Club back in 1976. Yes, those were the days or is it daze

[lilabner]

In those days a lot of those 13' Boston Whalers got raced. With a 50hp Mercury they were pretty fast. They weren't legal in opc but ran in races like the "Gold Coast" all the time.

Jim,
They were legal in the first Six Hour in Kissimmee, I almost got beat by one in the 40 class. I had a lot of trouble. First the swivel pin broke, I had to tie the motor on, then the left front steering pulley broke, tied on again, then the front throttle bolt sheared off, couldn't fix that, just motored on. Last lap I ran out of gas on one tank. I had to tilt the tank to cross the finish line. The Whaler passed me, but the rules said the field was fixed at the six hour finish mark, and I was ahead, so I won..He got his revenge in Leesburg later. That was my only loss in the 40hp class.

[T2x]

In those days a lot of those 13' Boston Whalers got raced. With a 50hp Mercury they were pretty fast. They weren't legal in opc but ran in races like the "Gold Coast" all the time.

Actually they were legal in OPC for a while and a bunch of them ran in the Hudson River Marathon in E class. Once the "F and "S" designations came in to play (about 1965-66) they were outclassed by other cut down hulls, McCalls, etc in sport class.

[Instigator]

Comments like these pretty much say it all. Those were the days when you could go out and run your whaler alone side a wing and still feel like you were a part of what was happening. It is so sad that nothing like this could happen today, but still nice to know that so many of you were a part of the best time in racing.

I have fond memories of the Caribbean Club racing. My Zonkercraft at the Caribbean Club back in 1976. Yes, those were the days or is it daze

Love it.

I think that same sail boat is anchored there now

[GENE LANHAM]

Any remember Stu Wilson? I have been asked to get a photo for a historian.

l

1958 pic from Robert Suarez

Stu did win the GCM in 1956---

Lots of familiar names---and a Roy Ridgell Jr. finished 23---

[lilabner]

"I have fond memories of the Caribbean Club racing. My Zonkercraft at the Caribbean Club back in 1976. Yes, those were the days or is it daze "
from BobV


Dave Craig's father Raymond owned the Caribbean Club in the 40's-50's.. He sold it to the father of a girl that used to work for me. I don't think he had it too long. It was a fun place to race. The Miami boys loved racing in the Keys. We even had one race at Sugarloaf Lodge, but I think after we got there it was cancelled.

[velox]

We had fun racing the GCM, but if we had understood that it was not going to continue forever we would have appreciated it more.
it was the special event of the summer in S Florida. I was lucky to run it 3 times and finishing in the top 10 twice. If you could win this thing you were the "man" for the next year.
when Richie Baiz and I built the 4 point hydro we had an excellent chance of winning it. The boat was so light, Richie and I picked it up full rigged with fuel tanks and steering without engines and put it on a trailer. Richie was about 5 '7 and 120 lbs and I was 5'7 and about 140 lbs so I got the heavy end! We made a deal with George Griley to use his engines and he would run one way and Richie and I Flipped for the other run. George was a great driver, but he could screw up a free lunch. Richie won the toss so George was to drive the first day and Richie the second.
The beginning of the race was open water and usually pretty rough. George made it to the canal in second place with at least a twenty MPH advantage on the first place boat with about 50 miles to go.
He got to Ft Lauderdale and instead of cruseing through that section went full bore and flipped in the inlet ship channel in 80 feet of water.
Richie and I were waiting for him in West Palm Beach when we got word he had sunk. I was so pissed at him I only talked to him a couple of times for the next 5 years!
We made up and we're best friends until he died about 10 years ago.
i do have to admit, he was a best friend and if you were with him, something crazy and unusual. Was going to happen. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was bad , sometimes it was legal and sometimes not.
It was always a great story, you could tell for the rest of your life!

[GENE LANHAM]

We had fun racing the GCM, but if we had understood that it was not going to continue forever we would have appreciated it more.
it was the special event of the summer in S Florida. I was lucky to run it 3 times and finishing in the top 10 twice. If you could win this thing you were the "man"

I didn't run the first GCM---but I did run the 'Last Gold Coast Marathon'

But by 1973 the City of Miami and PHYC had tried to keep the name alive for seven years by having a race in the Bay, or in the Stadium---they even ran a single engine '225' at the Stadium and called it 'The Gold Coast Marathon'

All us old guys will remember it as that great race to Palm Beach and back----