Offshoreonly.com - allez vite

I don't know why, but I've never checked the Apache Thread until today.

As Mark said, he built the boat for me in '89, as a "trade-up" from the '87 pleasure 41 he built for me.

I bought both from Ralph Martin @Everglades.

I bought it for pleasure use, but when the offshore circuit came to Grand Haven 2 years in a row, I couldn't resist the temptation entered on a "lark," first in Sportsman D, and then in Open the next year.

To our surprise, we came in second in both races, the second of which yielded a lot of coverage on ESPN. The week after the second Grand Haven race (OPT with John Carbonell), the APBA staged a race in Saugatuck, where I live.We won both Open Class (beating Reggie) and Overall (ahead of the Skaters and Jaguar Cats).

The experience was quite addictive, to say the least. We were officially "Boy Racers."

So we raced most of the OPT circuit in 1990, and never finished out of the money. The final race of the season was in Key West, and we won (coming in third for the 2-race Worlds after breaking in race 1 and limping in 8th).

So it was off to the races again in 1991, and we did about as well as in 1991, but the Skater 40's we're improving so rapidly that it was clear that we had to do something different if we were ever going to do better than second or third.

So, before the next Key West Worlds, we changed from our C&G/Carolina Racing 850's to Merc 1000SC's. The boat was rigged by Lake X, and went 104 there. We thought the 5-10 MPH gain would make us competitive.

BUT, we were only able to garner two 4ths in Key West, and it was becoming clear that we weren't going to be competitive against the Skaters, CUVs, etc. unless the conditions were very rough. And it was also becoming clear that our hopes of finding a sponsor to help pay for all of the $40K motors (we had 5) and $10K rebuilds after every other race (back then, the races were all over 150 miles) were remote, so we decided to quit the game . . .

BUT FIRST, we wanted to do just one more race in order to be SURE that we really couldn't keep up with the cats.

So we entered the first race of 1992 in Coco Beach (where we had finished second to Dirty Laundry the year before). It was very rough, and the V's were well ahead of the cats. Reggie was throttling Ohio Steel, and took a moderate lead in the first lap. We caught and passed him on the second lap (we both had Merc 1000 SC's, although I don't know if his were really "stock," as he had a reputation for having Troy Dennis "breath-on" his stuff those days).

Anyway, we suddenly lost power in one motor on the next lap. Normally in a situation like that, we would stop and open the hatches to see if we could fix whatever might be wrong (usually a broken blower belt), but because it was so rough, we decided that we really couldn't get into the engine compartment without getting hurt, so we dropped out of the race and headed back to Port Canaveral at 40-50.

When we got inside the channel, we slowed down for the No-Wake zone. We immediately smelled very strong gas fumes: I told the navigator to switch off the ignition switches in front of him, but before he could, the fumes exploded and blew us up in the air.

That's the "fire "you heard about.

Actually, there was no fire, as the explosion blew it out, but we didn't know that at the time, and were scared to death that the remaining 4-60 gallon fuel tanks full of 115 octane, and flanking the motors, would blow, so we jumped in the water an tried to swim for our lives.

We didn't get far, because all three of us had broken feet/legs: We were picked up by several spectators boats, and taken to ambulances which just happened to be at a helipad right next to where we exploded. Then on to Cape Canaveral Hospital.

In spite of what eventually ended up being almost half a million dollars in medical expenses to (partially) fix our injuries, the boat was not damaged much at all. There were some burned wires and hoses in the engine compartment, but the main damage was to the cockpit floor. It was replaced by the Skater guys(where I had it shipped) for only a couple of grand. Tom Earhart rebuilt the motors, and Allez Vite was as good as new, but our racing adventure had ended . . . One race later than we all wish it had.

The explosion was caused by a header on one motor "coming loose" (don't ask), and hitting the fuel block on the side of the blower, breaking it. Then the loose header fell down and broke off 2 spark plugs, causing the sudden loss of power.

Unknown to us, as we headed back to port, fuel was pouring out of the broken fitting into the bilge. When we got off plane, the fuel sloshed forward, through the limber-holes, and under the cockpit floor, which we were standing on. The broken, dangling spark pugs must have ignited the fumes, and that was all she wrote.

I kept the boat for a couple of years, and when we came down to Sarasota, I traded it Gene Whipp on a 45 Searay. (Even with mufflers, that boat would NOT have been welcomed in our neighborhood here!) He sold it thru Bobby Moore to the current owner.

I've seen recent pictures, and she looks better than new today. New everything, and now runs even faster on pump-gas with tyrannies. Progress.

As far as I know, Allez Vite is a GREAT boat.

If only . . .