My thoughts and prayers are with you, your father and your family, so sorry for your loss. I grew up on the Jersey Shore and definately remember the yellow Magnum

Smarty, I'm very sorry for your fathers loss. From what I've read over the years of your comments on this board, your father was very proud to have a son like you. My dad always said..the pear usually doesnt fall far from the tree. Thanks for sharing with us your dad's love for the sport. Hang in there. I just went through this with my dad back in Feb. Cancer is a wicked disease...may he rest in peace... If you ever need someone to talk with..give me a call 228-216-0900..Jeff

Your dad seems like he was a character, pulling fast boats with fast cars. :D Those are some great pictures and stories, made me feel like I knew you guys!

I'm sure he's running a fast boat somewhere. :)

RIP

Thanks to all for the kind words, and thoughts. My mother finally read this thread last night. She has never, ever looked at OffshoreOnly until last night. It really touched her heart on how kind and thoughtful the members have been.

She thought is was pretty cool that Pepe Nunez, as well as everyone else, gave a testimonial or condolence. The viewing is tonight, and funeral tomorrow, so I may will not be online for a few days, so thank you all for the thoughts and prayers.

And, if you have any Alan Jones stories or experiences do not hesitate to share them, my father was definitely a character on some occasions. I will share one more boating story which is typical of my father.

He was out in ocean off of Atlantic City, NJ in the late 1980's or early 1990's - looking for race in his 27' Magnum (the Hairy Canary), a typical Sunday afternoon. Frank Kerbeck, the car dealer - Corvette, GMC, Bentley, ect. - here in NJ, had and still has a 41' Apache raceboat. Mr. Kerbeck would race anybody - which I thought was pretty cool. So on this day my father and Mr. Kerbeck finally run into one another. So now its on, roughly a five mile drag race; and at the end Mr. Kerbeck and his Apache (Island Runner) had him by about 1/2 boat length, at most. Mr. Kerbeck yells over to my father, "I didn't think that thing ran that fast." To which my father replied, "I didn't think you ran that fast either, let's do it again." There wasn't a second race.

The moral to the story - Frank Kerbeck never boasted that his ran 100 mph, but all the dockside bullsh*tters thought so (it may have run 100 mph with the race motors). And unless you give someone a run, you'll never know. So don't ever be intimated by that supposed super-duper hot-rod; give that other boat a shot and find out what they got and how they run, that's how my father viewed every weekend and every race.

Thank you Mr. Kerbeck for racing my father. It made his day, even though you beat him, it was a good race - many, many years ago.

And again, thanks to all for the kind words.

Hi Stephen,
I was trying to get out of it and change my shcedual all around. I have an exam this eve and would have liked to have been there!

Another story:
I was selling a boat for Bob @ offshore really good guy, and your dad calls me in regard to this hot rod baja. nothing major 79-80 mph at best but he was all over it and looking at everything, he was the most insightful person. and he said the boat could be made into a real "sleeper" which i thought was so so cool. that was around the time your gang bought the phantom good idea!!
Thanks for all your help with my GOAL, cant wait to be of service to you when it comes time to get that hull ready

Can donations be sent to a certain charity or boating group??

My mother has not set a charity, so keep your money saved for tuition. With respect to that Baja, he did like that boat, if I remember correctly it had a new 525 or 500 Mercury EFI motor, and Bob Wallace had serviced the boat so you know it was in great mechanical shape. He actually made an offer on that boat about an hour too late, the boat was sold the day he made an offer. I was stunned he considered buying it, but he thought he could get into more races with a single engine "sleeper" and have reliabilty too. It was a solid boat because he said that Baja laid it up/framed it differently than they had the other 24's due to motor package from the factory, he went through that boat with a fine tooth comb. I am glad he got the Phantom, the Phantom is an awesome boat.

There are alot of hot-rod single engine boats out there, and he liked to race so it made sense to him in that respect, as well as less fuel, one less motor and drive to be concerned with, and so on....

I want to see one of your clam/skiff boats, and I you know I like the Sutphen. I did not think I would be online till after the service tomorrow, but...Talk with you soon.

Yup i remember, that eve a man from riverside came back and bought the boat. You guys did very well though getting the phantom! I also remember drifting with my father with the engines off and you and your dad ran a white pink blue orange, and green 28 cigarette, he had a great throttle arm i dont think he spun those engines once. wasnt at the other finishing end, but i am pretty sure of the out come! GOT an 92 on math exam last eve!

the 18
www.battlewagon18.com

OSO friends,

I thank you all for the offers of assistance in putting my father's 34' Phantom back together. The family (me, my mother and brother) have decided to take the boat down to Will Smith, owner and builder of Phantom Boats, and have him do it right.

Will Smith will also use Innovation Marine to set-up the 540's with the MerCruiser EFI, so if we keep the boat it will be reliable and user friendly, and if we decide to sell the boat, it will be perfect, with zero headaches for the next owner - my father wouldn't ever sell a headache/problem boat to the next guy so why would we (we won't)... We want reliability (mild tune job) and a low rpm idle, but enough idle to avoid reversion - that's why Innovation will dyno, tune (fuel pressure and air flow), and reprogram the ECUs; and Will Smith will make it look great, re-rig, and help dial it in (propeller selection).

Look for the boat next summer, Ryan Beckly had already sent the new graphics for the boat, but we never did apply the graphics, some more glass work, and vent relocation after-work needs to be finished. So new power, new graphics, but the memory of my father will remain as will all the changes he made to make that boat run so well. It was/is the best performing boat he has ever owned; that son-of a b*tch "gets with the program!"

Till then, have a great summer of boating...

Best way to do it Stephen. To many hands in the mix makes for problems. Good Luck and keep us posted. Call if you need anything. 484-883-1390 John

Steve , I just got the bad news about your father from John ( R addiction) and I almost fell on the floor !! What an owesome , kind hearted guy he was . Loved hanging out with you and Al @ Lloyd creek and will never forget the ass whoppin he gave me in the canal last summer . Your father and a long list of other is why I like to live every day like it's my last !! Your father will ALWAYS be on my mind when I think of Lloyd creek !! I'm also local if you need anything .

Larry @ 609-315-2640