JO - PANTERABOATS

Hi Audacity,

The Fiberglass materials today have come along way from the 70s and early 80s.

I think the race boats today are built ultra light to test what we can get away with.The laminates are definetely stronger and resin quality is much better now to.

Back then the boats would be (racing way offshore) so in away it was necessary to have more glass thickness to make them stiffer-stronger.You could not afford to build them too light since you normally would run in whatever sea condition was up for the day and would be far from land most of the time.

That is the reason you would be required to carry a life raft and drinking water.

In approximately 1980 a few of the Open class teams began to show up at races with a flat water boat and a rough water boat. A Deep V and a Cat.

The race coarses now are much closer to land and now do laps with safety personel right above you or near by so it allows for race boats to be built lighter and that makes them faster.It takes horsepower to push weight to get speed.

This information is based on facts from My father and some memories of mine while I was a kid.

I remember quite a few race boats from the 70s and 80s being delaminated from heavy abuse in big water also.

Regards, JO

Panther

Hey JO, Thanks for your input. I am in agreement with you. Who would know better?? The old boats were built like Brick Sh$T Houses.

In regards to the year of the race. I am too young to be able to know personally what year the race was in. It may very well be 79?? I have about 60-70 pictures and they are all jumbled together.

A few of the pictures have the year printed on the back of the picture. One of the pictures that has the year printed on the back is of the boat Satisfaction. I also have a bunch of pictures of Harry O, Pure Insanity, and El Boss.

There is no doubt that boats are being built better, along with better materials. One obvious difference is the use of Biaxial Cloth, and Vinyl Ester resins.. But I feel they have been so maxed out that some of them are like egg shells.
.

Zoomnfun

32 A/T 6 to 8s 71mph? I too find that hard to believe, for how long?

SABER28

also did you know it did 71mph with 5.7 liters and alpha drives!!

just busting your chops ssherman, don't get mad

Panther

Even the coverage of the races is poor. The helcopters have to fly so far away from the boat, that I feel like I have tunnel vision watching the race.

Steve 1

Those were the Good Ole days The Classes were Production, Modified, Sport ,Open That’s all Folks ! Real easy to understand!

SABER28

yep,

coverage not good at all, not like old days where the helicopter was right down on the deck!!!

its sad what offshore racing has become

Fast Shafts

There was also open class II which was usually single engine boats which ran against the "Open" class boats.
Does anyone remember when "Super Toad", a single engine 28' Cigarette, open class II, broke 1/2 mile frome the finish during the first "Benihanna", and handed the win to "LaTortuga"- a 44' MSV?

Shane

NOPE! I was driving unfortunately. They were maybe 4-6's with an occassional hole. Additionally, we ran out of gas because a certain individual decided he wanted to stay light. I advised against it, to no avail, but that just shows lack of experience on the decision makers part. Sorry that you guys were mislead with water conditions and speeds. Glad you saw right through it and recognize that it is not really possible to consistantly run those speeds in that boat. The ride was definitely IMPRESSIVE though! As always, I just like to set the record straight with the truth.

Audiofn

DUDE you need to get out of the lake some time and learn how to measure waves In what I would call 6-8's you would not be going 10MPH let alone 70 unless they were swells coming in from a hurricane