Excellent information and pictures.

Thanks

How does Eddie LeCareau (sp) fit in with his #8 - Yellow 31 - 32 Bertram with Stern Drives, Saw the boat on a trailer at the Kings Grant Inn, in Point Pleasant NJ for many months. Bill Wishnick once told me Eddie L., went into the Priesthood to avoid a situation. No mention of this boat or Eddie in the articles. Info appreciated !

WOW! Great stuff, what a race! I thourghly enjoyed the articles and pics. Also enjoyed the numerous mentions of the Maritime boats as I had a 1967 21 foot Maritime that I was told had raced. You could see by the welds on the transom that it once was outboard powered but when I purchased it it had a Chrysler/Volvo IO.

Thanks for posting the articles,

Padraig

Good call.....🙂



As always, thanks Lars for the great info, always welcome your posts.

RR

Was Bill Wishnicks "Boss A Nova" a Bertram?

yes, 31 Bertram with Stern Drives, then he went to a 32 Cigarette and eventually to a 36 Cigarette

Please note that when the boat raced with number 123, that it also had midship, a Cigarette Racing Team decal on both sides.

Such a sign of the times and the friendly rivalry of the era.

Thanks for the reply. That boat got me interested in offshore boats. I remember him switching to the Cigarettes later on but I've always loved the look of those competition Bertrams.

Further to the previous information published regarding McQueen Jeans / Master Moppie, my dad purchased her from Roger Kelly as McQueen Jeans back in late 1979/early 1980 from Roger Kelly and converted her to a cabin cruiser and sold her to a hotelier approx. 1986.

I have received the following information from Christian Toll a couple of days ago
"Brian, after your message I wrote to Sammy James, he was the main man at Bertram who developed these boats and raced the living hell out of them, I wanted to make sure I had my facts right. He came back to me just now and said the following....."That boat was hull #1, named Master Moppie with 2 Hemi head Chrysler’s. The American Moppie was a different boat, built for Peter Rittmaster but I drove it in Key West and then it was sold to Ronnie Beneli.

The 32’ Bertram was a slope transom but was cut 13 degrees to make it 31’ so they could run out drives". My own personal belief is that Tim Powell named the boat American Moppie simply because it came from America. He soon changed it to Canadian Moppie I think because of a sponsorship deal. All the best, Christian"

Are there any original type configuration survivors from the 31/32 Bertrams still around?