more detailed Coyote history...
10-05-2004, 08:43 PM
#1
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more detailed Coyote history...
I'm posting this little bit of history in response to a request in another thread requesting information on Coyote Marine...here's a little pictoral history - hope you enjoy it.
This didn't scan very well but the photo caption reads, " Jean Claude Simon, a French underground fighter as a youth and later a Ferrari race team driver, boasted that his new boats would one day shoot down the sport's top hulls. Chided and criticized for his arrogance, Simon had the last laugh as his Cary and Cobra hulls went on to win the US Open, Sports, and Modified classes! The most famous was Joel Halpern's 38' Cobra "Beep Beep" which he used to win back to back U.S. Open class titles in 1976 and 1977." (from "Searace" by John Crouse)
Sometime in '77 my dad (Charlie McCarthy) and Jean Claude struck up a partnership to build 38' and 34' boats based on Jean Claude's designs. My dad was looking to grow a side business of his called Banana Boat Co., which custom manufactured 24' boats based on a design and mold he purchased from Don Aronow in '75. He raced a 24' Banana Boat called "Top Banana" in Modified class and was Mod. class Champ. in 1977 (this boat is my avatar). Besides the design work, Jean Claude was to construct finished boats under the name of his company - Coyote, and provide hulls to Banana Boat to complete with it's own unique designed decks to sell under the Banana name. As my dad and Brownie said in the other post on the Coyote, the design is based on the 38' Cobra which in turn is based on the 44' M/S/V- (the most famous was the boat "La Tortuga" - winner of the Benihana back in the 70's due to fog). Jean Claude rented the 44' M/S/V mold and plugged it at 38' - this design went on to become the Cobra.
In '78 they built the plug, mold, and first boat. The first boat out of the mold was my father's 38' Open class race boat "Top Banana". This first boat went on to win the '79 Bushmills Grand Prix and take a 3rd at the Bacardi Trophy race. In 1980, it was renamed "Rums of Puerto Rico" with it's two best finishes being a second in the Bahamas and a 3rd in Detroit. There are great videos of this boat and many other famous boats of that era in action on Phil Lewis's NNRT collection on www.big-seas.com.
This was a period of great change in offshore racing - it was the dawn of the Cats and you needed two boats ($$$) to be competitive - a Cat for calm and a deep V for rough water. Betty Cook won the championship in '79 with this two boat strategy. This combined with business pressures on my dad from his main business (Trucking) eventually led him to retire from racing and sell the boat company in '81. The Coyote/Banana connection ends there as well - the second boat out of the Coyote mold was my dad's personal pleasure boat and the third was raced by Chuck Fogarty and Neil Cody as "Gone Bananas". Both boats had the Coyote decks as the Banana deck plug project was scapped. Jean Claude continued to make Coyotes for a few more years but eventually sold to molds to Sonic in the early/mid 80's. Sonic continues to produce excellent boats based on these molds/designs to this day.
Note: That's the first Coyote hull on the left - "Top Banana" - you can just make it out in the photo.
This didn't scan very well but the photo caption reads, " Jean Claude Simon, a French underground fighter as a youth and later a Ferrari race team driver, boasted that his new boats would one day shoot down the sport's top hulls. Chided and criticized for his arrogance, Simon had the last laugh as his Cary and Cobra hulls went on to win the US Open, Sports, and Modified classes! The most famous was Joel Halpern's 38' Cobra "Beep Beep" which he used to win back to back U.S. Open class titles in 1976 and 1977." (from "Searace" by John Crouse)
Sometime in '77 my dad (Charlie McCarthy) and Jean Claude struck up a partnership to build 38' and 34' boats based on Jean Claude's designs. My dad was looking to grow a side business of his called Banana Boat Co., which custom manufactured 24' boats based on a design and mold he purchased from Don Aronow in '75. He raced a 24' Banana Boat called "Top Banana" in Modified class and was Mod. class Champ. in 1977 (this boat is my avatar). Besides the design work, Jean Claude was to construct finished boats under the name of his company - Coyote, and provide hulls to Banana Boat to complete with it's own unique designed decks to sell under the Banana name. As my dad and Brownie said in the other post on the Coyote, the design is based on the 38' Cobra which in turn is based on the 44' M/S/V- (the most famous was the boat "La Tortuga" - winner of the Benihana back in the 70's due to fog). Jean Claude rented the 44' M/S/V mold and plugged it at 38' - this design went on to become the Cobra.
In '78 they built the plug, mold, and first boat. The first boat out of the mold was my father's 38' Open class race boat "Top Banana". This first boat went on to win the '79 Bushmills Grand Prix and take a 3rd at the Bacardi Trophy race. In 1980, it was renamed "Rums of Puerto Rico" with it's two best finishes being a second in the Bahamas and a 3rd in Detroit. There are great videos of this boat and many other famous boats of that era in action on Phil Lewis's NNRT collection on www.big-seas.com.
This was a period of great change in offshore racing - it was the dawn of the Cats and you needed two boats ($$$) to be competitive - a Cat for calm and a deep V for rough water. Betty Cook won the championship in '79 with this two boat strategy. This combined with business pressures on my dad from his main business (Trucking) eventually led him to retire from racing and sell the boat company in '81. The Coyote/Banana connection ends there as well - the second boat out of the Coyote mold was my dad's personal pleasure boat and the third was raced by Chuck Fogarty and Neil Cody as "Gone Bananas". Both boats had the Coyote decks as the Banana deck plug project was scapped. Jean Claude continued to make Coyotes for a few more years but eventually sold to molds to Sonic in the early/mid 80's. Sonic continues to produce excellent boats based on these molds/designs to this day.
Note: That's the first Coyote hull on the left - "Top Banana" - you can just make it out in the photo.
10-05-2004, 08:46 PM
#2
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Re: more detailed Coyote history...
Here's "La Tortuga II" a 38' MSV - can't find any pictures of original 44'. Also Joel Halpern's "Beep Beep"...
10-05-2004, 09:09 PM
#6
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Re: more detailed Coyote history...
here's a little Banana Boat history - Mom & Dad boating in FL around '77 in a 24' Banana Boat owned by a Phillip Morris PR exec., and dad with Don Aronow in '74...
10-05-2004, 09:24 PM
#10
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Re: more detailed Coyote history...
...finally ready for 1st sea-trial. That's Jean Claude and my dad leaning over the trunk going over last minute details...
