The sad end of .."The Cigarette"
11-05-2013, 06:17 PM
#41
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As an update to this story since 2007......Michael Aronow has given us some additional information in the years since. Michael and Knocky House were the official transporters for Don's boats in Europe. When the 69 season was coming up, Don decided he was,going for the World Championship again and he had a new boat made. The new boat was a 32 foot built under the brand name Cary. Don had just sold Magnum and wanted to be able to race under a new name, so his friend Elton Cary started a new company and the boat was called a Cary.
Don's plan was to build a few of these boats and position them all over the world. Back then to a be a World Champion, you really had to race all over the world. He built at least 4 of them as Michael remembers. Three of them were lettered up as The Cigarette. That was the name of a famous Rum Runner out of Brooklyn, Don's home town. He named his first race boat from his first boat company the same name....that was a 233 Formula with a single engine. Bob Di Nisco owns this boat and has perfectly restored it and we ran it in the 2008 Race to Bimini in Don's honor.
The fourth boat was sold to Peter Rothschild and was donated to HORBA a few years back. We are still gathering period pieces and money to begin the restoration. As far as we know that is the only remaining race boat out of the 32 Cary molds that Don built and tested himself. That boat was campaigned as Thunderball.
Don's plan was to build a few of these boats and position them all over the world. Back then to a be a World Champion, you really had to race all over the world. He built at least 4 of them as Michael remembers. Three of them were lettered up as The Cigarette. That was the name of a famous Rum Runner out of Brooklyn, Don's home town. He named his first race boat from his first boat company the same name....that was a 233 Formula with a single engine. Bob Di Nisco owns this boat and has perfectly restored it and we ran it in the 2008 Race to Bimini in Don's honor.
The fourth boat was sold to Peter Rothschild and was donated to HORBA a few years back. We are still gathering period pieces and money to begin the restoration. As far as we know that is the only remaining race boat out of the 32 Cary molds that Don built and tested himself. That boat was campaigned as Thunderball.
Plus....The only race that Don ever won driving a Cigarette made by Cigarette Racing Team was driving a 36 footer that he raced in the local Jockey Club race in Miami.
11-06-2013, 12:06 AM
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11-07-2013, 07:50 PM
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11-08-2013, 03:33 AM
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Hi Charlie,
I found this thread the other day and found it truly fascinating. Foolishly, based on the Beep Beep version of the boat, I had thought JCS was the original designer of the Cary 32’. Then, a friend of mine enlightened me that it was in fact Harry Schoell, so I searched the internet to confirm it and found this.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...at-design.html
I had always thought the underwater section a 35’ Cigarette was exactly the same as the 36’ Cig, so Brownies comments regarding the different chine line were very interesting to me. I also always wondered why the double gunwale was designed into the 32’ Cary and the 36’ Cigarette, thinking this was for stiffness but hadn’t appreciated it was there to allow two different sized boats to be pulled out of the same mould.
Also coincidentally, a few days before this I was researching the Beep Beep boats (which I totally love having seen them race in Poole and Cowes in the 70’s) and had always thought JCS was the original designer of the 38’ Cobra. I could never understand the relevance of the title MSV on the side of the boat until I found these posts and started reading about Sonny Miller………….again, this is incredibly interesting.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/c...ep-beep-2.html
Beep Beep 38 Coyote
Charlie, can you please tell us why the Guido Niccolai/Davey Wilson, Coyote also had Picchiotti on the side? I posted this question months ago but did not get one response. I assume that JCS and Joel Halpern by this time had fallen out, hence the boat being a Coyote and not a Cobra, and that Picchiotti built the boat under license in Viareggio? I had thought they only built Aluminum boats?? Is this why it delaminated on its first race??
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511993[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511994[/ATTACH]
I found this thread the other day and found it truly fascinating. Foolishly, based on the Beep Beep version of the boat, I had thought JCS was the original designer of the Cary 32’. Then, a friend of mine enlightened me that it was in fact Harry Schoell, so I searched the internet to confirm it and found this.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...at-design.html
I had always thought the underwater section a 35’ Cigarette was exactly the same as the 36’ Cig, so Brownies comments regarding the different chine line were very interesting to me. I also always wondered why the double gunwale was designed into the 32’ Cary and the 36’ Cigarette, thinking this was for stiffness but hadn’t appreciated it was there to allow two different sized boats to be pulled out of the same mould.
Also coincidentally, a few days before this I was researching the Beep Beep boats (which I totally love having seen them race in Poole and Cowes in the 70’s) and had always thought JCS was the original designer of the 38’ Cobra. I could never understand the relevance of the title MSV on the side of the boat until I found these posts and started reading about Sonny Miller………….again, this is incredibly interesting.
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/c...ep-beep-2.html
Beep Beep 38 Coyote
Charlie, can you please tell us why the Guido Niccolai/Davey Wilson, Coyote also had Picchiotti on the side? I posted this question months ago but did not get one response. I assume that JCS and Joel Halpern by this time had fallen out, hence the boat being a Coyote and not a Cobra, and that Picchiotti built the boat under license in Viareggio? I had thought they only built Aluminum boats?? Is this why it delaminated on its first race??
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511993[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]511994[/ATTACH]
Last edited by Ratman72; 11-08-2013 at 03:39 AM.
11-08-2013, 01:32 PM
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Yes as many know, Cary went through some further evolutions, one of them involved Jean Claude Simon. Joel Halpern who made the name BEEP BEEP famous was funding this project at the time and started with a modern version of the 32 footer, different beam, first in Sports class and then he moved up to Open Class again with JC Simon and a new 38 footer.
Last edited by Ratman72; 11-08-2013 at 01:35 PM.
11-08-2013, 01:50 PM
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Sonny Miller made a deal with Joel Halpern to build him a few of these boats in the 38 foot range by blocking the mold. JC Simon took a design for a deck by Paulo Calgiri and modified it and used that for the deck to make the MSV look different from the Cobra.
When JC Simon and Joel had a falling out, JC called his new company Coyote after the cartoon where the Coyote is always chasing the road runner who says Beep Beep. Why did Dry Martini have the name of the italian boat yard on his boat? Who knows, maybe they paid for the advertising space or amybe he promised to buy an aluminum boat from them and then bought the Coyote.
The smaller Cary 29 that was also called Beep Beep had an 8 foot beam, the 32 foot Cigarette had a 9 plus foot beam. Later they took the dimensions of the Cigarette and multiplied them by 1.5 and they now had the first 50 foot Cary (actually 49 feet) It never ends what these guys would try...sometimes it worked great and other times a dismal failure, but the objective was always the same, beat the other racers.
11-08-2013, 01:57 PM
#47
Great reading. BTW, the 29' Beep Beep is sitting in a boat yard in Falmouth Ma. Belongs to a friend of mine. No power/drives. Hull is still very sound. Been shrink wrapped for close to a dozen years. He planned on re-rigging but don't thing it will ever happen. If someone was interested, he just might part with it.
11-08-2013, 03:16 PM
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Great info Charlie, thank you.
Can't help thinking it's criminal to have these old boats all laid up and in bits........need to see some of them get put back together and wet again........I just need to win the lottery!!!!
Can't help thinking it's criminal to have these old boats all laid up and in bits........need to see some of them get put back together and wet again........I just need to win the lottery!!!!
Last edited by Ratman72; 11-08-2013 at 03:20 PM.
11-08-2013, 03:28 PM
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Christian....Sonny Miller, Bob Saccenti and Jon Varese won the first ever Benihana race in NJ with a 44 foot MSV (the names of the crew) boat was named La Tortuga. The boat at the time was the biggest race boat out there and the engines really didn't have the power to propel it very fast. BUT everyone else got lost and in the end they won the race. Bobby told me that they thought the helicopters were busting them for running so slow and when a helicopter came over them and held up the number one finger, they gave the guy back the middle finger. Five minutes later they realized they won.
Sonny Miller made a deal with Joel Halpern to build him a few of these boats in the 38 foot range by blocking the mold. JC Simon took a design for a deck by Paulo Calgiri and modified it and used that for the deck to make the MSV look different from the Cobra.
When JC Simon and Joel had a falling out, JC called his new company Coyote after the cartoon where the Coyote is always chasing the road runner who says Beep Beep. Why did Dry Martini have the name of the italian boat yard on his boat? Who knows, maybe they paid for the advertising space or amybe he promised to buy an aluminum boat from them and then bought the Coyote.
The smaller Cary 29 that was also called Beep Beep had an 8 foot beam, the 32 foot Cigarette had a 9 plus foot beam. Later they took the dimensions of the Cigarette and multiplied them by 1.5 and they now had the first 50 foot Cary (actually 49 feet) It never ends what these guys would try...sometimes it worked great and other times a dismal failure, but the objective was always the same, beat the other racers.
Sonny Miller made a deal with Joel Halpern to build him a few of these boats in the 38 foot range by blocking the mold. JC Simon took a design for a deck by Paulo Calgiri and modified it and used that for the deck to make the MSV look different from the Cobra.
When JC Simon and Joel had a falling out, JC called his new company Coyote after the cartoon where the Coyote is always chasing the road runner who says Beep Beep. Why did Dry Martini have the name of the italian boat yard on his boat? Who knows, maybe they paid for the advertising space or amybe he promised to buy an aluminum boat from them and then bought the Coyote.
The smaller Cary 29 that was also called Beep Beep had an 8 foot beam, the 32 foot Cigarette had a 9 plus foot beam. Later they took the dimensions of the Cigarette and multiplied them by 1.5 and they now had the first 50 foot Cary (actually 49 feet) It never ends what these guys would try...sometimes it worked great and other times a dismal failure, but the objective was always the same, beat the other racers.
