"Reporter" Cougar

fobes · 03-02-2009, 02:08 PM

Anyone have any pics/info about the "Reporter" Cougar. There is some great footage of it running in Europe back in the day on one of the Big Seas dvd's.
Thanks: Matt

littlenige · 03-02-2009, 04:38 PM

Here's a starter. I remember when Buzzi won at Cowes in the quad diesel hull. I was standing on the esplanade at Cowes listening to the commentator stating over the PA system that Curtis had the throttles to the wall in Reporter and was entering the solent at around 110mph in an effort to catch Buzzi. It was quite a finish. At the time such a speed was almost unheard of in UK races.

Ryan Beckley · 03-02-2009, 04:42 PM

those are cool shots....thanks

littlenige · 03-02-2009, 04:44 PM

I think these are all the same boat. Flying Fish can almost certainly clarify a timeline. The Fleetlease and Smorgon Steel liveries were when the boat went to Oz.

fobes · 03-02-2009, 06:36 PM

Nice pics, thank you. That boat can really run. Any idea where it is today?

flying fish · 03-03-2009, 02:01 AM

Cor! Nige,what a mish mash there.I`ll give you my details as I know it before sherlock enters the ring and says otherwise.

Seahawk then rebuilt to be Reporter,then became Ferrari Shipyard.

Notareal then became Finnscrew and then Fleetlease.

Smorgen Steel I have not really traced as yet.

Bagutta became SDA and then rebuilt to be Bagutta again.

That Seahawk was the second one Magluta had.

pete60 · 03-03-2009, 05:51 AM

Smorgon Steel is sitting in Melbourne. Tony Low bought Fleetlease in about 2002 and replaced the aluminium deck with a fibreglass deck, with safety cockpits from the 1995 Victory Marine World Champion hull brought into Australia by Steve Searle.

The boat is for sale at the moment. I hadn't realised it had such a history.

pete60 · 03-03-2009, 06:17 AM

Here is the boat as it is today

http://www.aopc.com.au/classifieds.htm

Scroll dowm and the boat is at the bottom of the page.

CougarM · 03-03-2009, 01:26 PM

Correct Flying Fish Reporter was originally raced as Seahawk and after a few years (88/89) as Reporter it became Ferrari Shipyard, the boat was damaged by the Seahawk team during a roll over in 87 and returned to England for repair, Steve was approached by a company from Monaco about putting together a team so the boat was purchased, refitted with canopies and lambo engines, we raced the hell out of that boat during 1988 always chasing Mr Buzzi in the big red thing, best result was second in the UIM Class 1 Guernsey World Championships again behind big red (fecking rough that year) The boat was only 36' so in the rough it was very hard work, we stuffed it, spun it out, snapped motor mount bolts, ripped Arneson rams off, hit a ferry (hydraulic tie bar failed) but it was great fun.

Notareal was a new boat 40/41' built for JP Mattalla ?? , it had the same style of canopies and hatches

The engine hatches on Reporter were wood, we lost one in Venice when my side went under so I took the good one back to the UK with me on the plane (Try checking in a engine hatch) we then made two GRP versions, going back to Sardinia was more fun as the airline were not to keen to check two hatches in!!. They did in the end and then lost them, I had to make two wooden boxes for the first race as it was illegal to race without hatches.

Pete

fobes · 03-03-2009, 04:07 PM

Great stuff all. CougarM: any pics from your days in the boat? There is some great footage of it running in some big seas in Europe on dvd.