Shadow cat experts please
06-08-2009 | 06:56 AM
#97
Registered
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,853
Likes: 11
(I think you'll get your answers. 
)
06-08-2009 | 08:01 AM
#98
Platinum Member
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 87
Likes: 17
From: Boca Raton Fla. usa
Hello Don,
I have the best memories from the Docksider Classic, do I have the name correct, it was a race you sponsered in maybe 1984? I remember somehow renting the units for the race, (Docksider was a townhouse development built by Don on the bay), we had a wonderfull time running that race, all the local teams showed up. Thanks Don for that memory, good to see you here, try to add with the facts os what I remember.
Michael Filippone
Double Vision Racing
I have the best memories from the Docksider Classic, do I have the name correct, it was a race you sponsered in maybe 1984? I remember somehow renting the units for the race, (Docksider was a townhouse development built by Don on the bay), we had a wonderfull time running that race, all the local teams showed up. Thanks Don for that memory, good to see you here, try to add with the facts os what I remember.
Michael Filippone
Double Vision Racing
06-09-2009 | 01:27 PM
#100
Allergic to Nonsense
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 5,007
Likes: 21
From: Granite Quarry, NC
I remember seeing the Docksider boat at its first race....it was one of the first Shadow cats built after George and I left.
Prior to that I was the only one at Shadow who said "NO!"....... Elbie would say "maybe" in a few thousand words and leave everyone dangling regarding "deals" and "specs" and "delivery dates"...until I stepped in and over ruled. People who dealt with Elbie were frequently left believing that many things were agreed to but in fact were not. Among other things during the start up of Shadow I had to straighten these "misunderstandings" out, often a frustrating and needless waste of time. The people I dealt with directly were shielded from Elbie, had fewer problems and fortunately they were in the majority. However, after George and I left, many "black and white" issues became "grey" and integrity took a hike.... In fact that's why we left in the first place as a customer and Elbie tried to "wheel and deal" together around our new 36" Cat plug....so I had it destroyed.
To the point...... When I first saw Docksider (we were busy setting up Conquest at the time)...... Bill Gazelle proudly told me that he had "spec'd" the boat himself and convinced Elbie to build it significantly lighter than our dumb old laminate schedule. ( A schedule that we had updated and modified after literally thousands of test hours and a few years of racing....but what did we know?). I looked and listened and nodded and smiled and couldn't get away from the thing fast enough lest someone think that I was somehow involved with this "potato chip". You may blame Elbie...rest in peace...but he never understood or was involved in any of the design, engineering or building of the boats. He really couldn't give a solid answer because he had no basis to agree or disagree on any technical point. In short he couldn't help himself. He certainly wasn't evil, but he loved to meddle and leave doors open that should have been locked in the first place. If that boat did not live up to expectations you have to remember that too many hands were in the stew and there was no decision maker with any real understanding of the boat to step in.
In my opinion the boats and construction were fine when we departed and the standards and production techniques quickly turned into a reflection of the latest "bright idea" from the peanut gallery until the Shadow Cat became a sad relic of a once mighty tradition.
T2x
Prior to that I was the only one at Shadow who said "NO!"....... Elbie would say "maybe" in a few thousand words and leave everyone dangling regarding "deals" and "specs" and "delivery dates"...until I stepped in and over ruled. People who dealt with Elbie were frequently left believing that many things were agreed to but in fact were not. Among other things during the start up of Shadow I had to straighten these "misunderstandings" out, often a frustrating and needless waste of time. The people I dealt with directly were shielded from Elbie, had fewer problems and fortunately they were in the majority. However, after George and I left, many "black and white" issues became "grey" and integrity took a hike.... In fact that's why we left in the first place as a customer and Elbie tried to "wheel and deal" together around our new 36" Cat plug....so I had it destroyed.
To the point...... When I first saw Docksider (we were busy setting up Conquest at the time)...... Bill Gazelle proudly told me that he had "spec'd" the boat himself and convinced Elbie to build it significantly lighter than our dumb old laminate schedule. ( A schedule that we had updated and modified after literally thousands of test hours and a few years of racing....but what did we know?). I looked and listened and nodded and smiled and couldn't get away from the thing fast enough lest someone think that I was somehow involved with this "potato chip". You may blame Elbie...rest in peace...but he never understood or was involved in any of the design, engineering or building of the boats. He really couldn't give a solid answer because he had no basis to agree or disagree on any technical point. In short he couldn't help himself. He certainly wasn't evil, but he loved to meddle and leave doors open that should have been locked in the first place. If that boat did not live up to expectations you have to remember that too many hands were in the stew and there was no decision maker with any real understanding of the boat to step in.
In my opinion the boats and construction were fine when we departed and the standards and production techniques quickly turned into a reflection of the latest "bright idea" from the peanut gallery until the Shadow Cat became a sad relic of a once mighty tradition.
T2x
Last edited by T2x; 06-09-2009 at 01:29 PM.
