First Lust!
 

OK Folks - Thought it would be interesting to reflect back to the moment in time you knew you would be involved in offshore boating, and what particular brand and model got the juices flowing. For me, it was summer of 1985, I was cruising Cape Cod in my brand new Wellcraft Nova II with twin 300 Tempest's. At the time, It was pretty potent, 63 - 65 mph and really quick off the line. I rolled into Hyannis Harbor and was immediately thunderstruck when a new Cigarette 38 flatdeck came through the 6 mph zone heading out. I whipped the wheel around and shadowed it out to give them a go. Of course, my Nova smoked him from the start, but as we cleared the breakwater outside the harbor, he blew on by in 4 footers as I was pulling my sticks back 'cause we were getting abused. Saw the boat frequently that summer and got to check it out. Twin 400 Cyclone's, TRS drives.White hull and deck with red and black "hockey stick" stripes and the big #1 sticker. It was racked at Hyannis Marine, and I believe sold new by them as they were a Cigarette dealer back then. It was magnificent! Fast forward 33 years and Hyannis Marine will not even consider my Tiger or any other "go-fast" for a summer slip. They don't want the feedback from the "Noise Nazi's". So, let's hear your stories!

Sonic from afar but the real first one was a Fountain 10M. It was cool as heck and fast compared to my old Sea Ray. I have zero interest in Fountains now but it did stoke my fires.

It should have started in the early 60's out here when the Bertrams started arriving but I wasn't really linking them with offshore racing because of their style and functionality . It wasn't until mid later 60's when the first Formula 23 center console arrived and then shortly afterward one of Brownie's Nova 24s . That Nova rewrote everyone's perception of speed boating !
Then Magnum , Cary and Cigarette came along and that was it . For the most part I hate this new stuff and have no interest in them whatsoever.

A 15 year old girl when I was 15 lol. In the 80's I was at one of the many races Al Copland put on. I was in my 19' jet boat I would go out An take off with the race boats that were testing the Day before the races. The next morning I was sleeping in my rear seat. They were building a store at the Marina. Using nail guns a making lots of noise. A a US Customs boat came by An used a loudspeaker. An said to keep the noise down because I was sleeping lol. I told them it was ok. Later that day. A 38 Cigarette US Customs boat lit up its lights An stopped me. It was the same guys. The Cigarette just came out of a shop for repairs. I was shaking in my shorts. I had cocane An weed in my pockets lol. The good old days when your young An dumb. Well they wanted to know if I could share some beer lol. I put a 6 pack in a bag An past it to them. They told me they had my back for the weekend. I went a bought more beer lol. Later that day they lit the lights up again. They wanted more beer. I hooked them up again. I said I have always wanted to ride in a cigarette. Well dock You boat An come on. So I'm ready An they noise up to my jet boat An the nose of the cigarette was at my shoulders while I was standing on the bow of my boat. 2 of them reached down An picked up my 235 lbs. we get out of the Marina an I ask to drive. What till we get out of here. They let me run the boat WOT around the race corse. I've been in love with Cigarettes till this day. Happy Easter

38' Cigarette named Satin Doll in Ocean City Maryland around 1980.

"Night Moves" was here in Ohio in the late 80's, my buddy and I were trying to get money together for it, and to sweeten the deal, the dealer put in a new "bag" cell phone in the boat! Another fellow here, Mitch Warnike, purchased the boat and ran it here for years! Still a very cool boat!!

Somewhere in the late 80s a fiend took me out on his 24ft SeaRay cruiser. Only ever been on a tin boat before. Beautiful hot sunny day, we drop anchor, swimming ,drinking, our girls sunbathing topless. Im liking this ****!! But SOMETHING was missing. Not too long after that some sort of a 24ish Baja and a red Donzi Black Widow rolled by at about 35 mph I was entranced by the sound of their exhaust thought they were super cool. HORSEPOWER!!! that was what was missing! From that day on......well between that day and Miami Vice lol

My dad influenced mine. The man has always been my idol from the time I could walk even up to this day. He used to have old wooden century inboard with thru hulls. The Coronado was a 427 chevy and the Arabian a 427 Ford. Both sounded great, but his cousin had the fast jet boat with the 454. Dad with 3 young kids sold the wooden boats and bought a maxim open bow and put a 350 mag in it. It was a 65-68mph baja crusher on the river. He bought me the donzi 22 poster and had it on the wall for years. We would always watch offshore boats go up and down the river. I liked them all, the speed the noise, and the looks. Then I bought my first donzi 16ft and was able to give it to him once I bought my 22. Then to top things off the 242 formula I grew up looking at from the local boat shop that the was the owners I was able to buy and now I have my 2 dream boats from my childhood. Just growing up listening to the big blocks and then getting the speed bug.

I grew up in South Florida. I can remember as a kid crossing the Oakland Park bridge and looking at the 2 dozen Cigarettes rafted out at Shooters. Of course we would never go there but the boats were there! Back then the ICW was not very speed restricted and you could frequently hear the big boats roaring down the ditch long before you could actually see them.

A few years later in Boca I would see Roger King (King World Productions, produced Jeopardy/Oprah show) get picked up at the dock in his 47 Fountain (Double Jeopardy was the name). He lived on the ICW in a huge gated estate but kept the boat at a marina down the street so someone would pick him up at the dock. There were a few Cigs/Sonics/Fountains around and with fuel at $1 a gallon there was no shortage of guys using them. A 50 Meteor was kept in Lake Boca by a guy that owned the hotel it was docked at and that thing was really over the top with triples!

Shocking thing for me to learn, the boats really weren't eye watering fast like today's boats are but they were sure cool both on TV (Miami Vice) and out on local waterways.

Hands down the 35 Cafe Racer was the hottest boat on the water for me. The dimensions were perfect and the name was simply cool. Fast forward to 2002ish, my wife's uncle bought a house across from where Pale Face (47 Apache) was kept on a lift. Sure the 10-15 million dollar yachts were showstoppers but that 47 Apache firing up was the baddest thing on the canal. I eventually met the owner (Michael F) and years later caught a ride on another Apache of his in the Bahamas.

Huh?
 

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For me I was very fortunate to grow up with fast boats since I was born... When born my dad had a 17' Kona with an outboard.... Around when I was 5 he bought a brand new 18' jet boat with a 454. It was love at first site! The big engine sticking out, the rumble of over the transom headers, and the rooster tail did it for me. It is funny to think that was our "family" boat. 2 kids, my parents, and a small dog would go out every weekend on it. 10 years later my dad was ready to move up. We were really limited with places to boat. Family was getting bigger and it was the right time. He found a 24x7 Python Vector... That opened up our world to boating in sandusky bay and around the islands on calm days. This is when I really started seeing the boats that made and impact. The select few are...

1. The Irritator: A 35' Cigarette Mistress that was racked stored at Venetian. The name was killer. I loved seeing it roar past cedar point while playing on the sandbar. It was just awesome!
2. Night Moves: Same boat as above.. A 38' Cigarette Flat Deck. We used to see the boat come and go out of the Harbor in Sandusky. At that time it was stored on a lift at the end of one of the finger docks. Later it did get rack stored at Venetian. I will never forget driving accross Cedar Point causeway and seing it get on plane. Just a super awesome boat.... Whenever I hear Bob Seger I still go back to seeing that boat...

Those boats all started it for me... and my pops. While we had a "mini" cig, We dreamed of having big one. We eventually did with a Mistress and a Top Gun. Ever since then I have loved the boats with the number 1 on the side...

I cant leave out my love for Apaches. There were 3 that I saw and still think are sweet even to this day..

1. Lenny's 41, Team Apache. The memory that really stuck was seeing the picture of it hanging in the old McGarveys whenever we would stop in. Ever since then I really loved that boat.
2. Alter Ego: A 41 Apache. Only saw it once! Snapped a pic for evidence. Never saw it again until OSO came along.. That thing was sweet.
3. Stillwater: A 41 Apache that was in the boat house right by the entrance to Venetian. Never seen it ran. Just by luck we were idling down the canal. I saw that big Indian head! The cover was off and I could see the gold dash bezels... I was never really hip on the colors but man did it look classy!!

I guess seeing those boats are why I have my little Apache Scout.... Someday when my kids get older I will jump up in size. I still dream of owning a big Apache or Cig. Just need the right boat for the area we boat.. Most of the lakes I go to I could see a 30 spectre being super fun.... Who knows... All in all this stuff is my passion!!! It really is the only thing I like...

Jr.

Nice pictures J, I love the "tower of power" Merc on the Kona, it reminds me of the 16' Wriedt Spoiler I had with a 150 Merc on it. Land and Sea hydraulic jack plate, and propped to the max, a real handful as she chine walked her way to nearly 70 mph! Then I discovered Hydrostream's. My 18' Viking with a Black Max 200 was light and crazy, she would run low 80's, and was the fastest thing in Lewis Bay in 1980. A year later, a Bud shows up with a 16' Rabco tunnel (a splash of the Magnum Missle) with a worked over 2.4 Merc.The scariest thing I have ever been in, it would touch 100+ if you had the courage. You would have to trim it in to get it to plane off, trim it out to around 90, and then trim in slowly to keep it from blowing over as she ran up to the ton. Damn, those were great summers on the Cape!

Well, duh!

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I have a picture of me somewhere as a kid, sitting on the Scarab on Michigan Avenue, while it was on an 18-wheeler trailer for a "Stars of Miami Vice" tour. I was probably 12.





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Not offshore boats, but my first memory of Fast Boats was a week in August spent in MI at DeWitt’s Northaire Resort, on Clam Lake, near Torch – probably about 1968. We rented a cabin and there was a family next to us, I think it was a father and his two or three teenage sons. They had two matching blue fiberglass speedboats—black bucket seats and giant-ass Merc outboards hanging off the back—my dad referred to them as “yellow-jackets” but I know they were not.

My older brother and I loved to watch them fly up-and-down Clam Lake, throwing huge rooster tails—I’m sure they would not be doing that today. They would sit out at a campfire by the water most nights; I can still remember coming out to the docks one morning and seeing their spent fire with a bunch of empty Hamms beer cans in the ashes…Seemed to me they were having lots of fun.

My dad was a fisherman, and wasn’t crazy about how this disrupted his fishing a little—but he was an ex-marine who appreciated having fun…and I could see that he kind of enjoyed watching them too. Times are different now, but it’s a happy memory that still gives pleasure.

Miami Vice best boat scenes:

Sydwayz, that is some great stuff, awesome pictures! To this day, that 38 Scarab remains one of the most attractive boats I have ever seen. Cool for you to have actually sat on it.

Kelleys Island? Night moves used to be there all the time, was a flat deck though not a gun

correct.

MANY....MANY... MANY.... cool offshores and history around our Islands, Jerry once said we have more here then anywhere he ever boated.... people don't understand what we have here until they come see...

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I grew up on lake Erie going fishing on my uncles 24 Sea Ray, always loved boating... dad and al his buddies were all hot rod gear heads so I have always been into fast cars and anything else with engines...fast forward to late 80's we would camp at Kelleys Island Ohio, The Casino is well known offshore hangout, always packed with a marina full of everything and anything loud, I would stand at the rail and dream saying someday I will have a cool boat like them... Mid to late 90's my best bud bought a 311 Formula, ran 80 when he was done with it, for that time that was FAST! fell in love even more as I went with him every weekend and boated, met guys like Jbonz and more that are on here... I got a 20 Sea Ray free, fixed it to sell and buy my Chris craft245 Limited, had that a few years went to Baja 320, then the Mistress and now a Top Gun, I love my Old school gun and a lot of old school boats.... I would not change a thing about any of it!!

You have to be talking about Randy's boat, its for sale!

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Mine was more recent. A good friend of mine and I got into Wave Runners in 2008. Prior to that I would boat with my uncle or friends. By 2009 I bought a new Wave Runner and sold the first one, but 2010 my friend ended up buying a bow rider so I was out on my wave runner alone for the most part and decided to start looking at boats. My initial search was for cruisers, but when I found this site and started looking I knew my old gear head self would appreciate performance boating over a cruiser. That lead me to finding my first boat, my Tantrum. Drove up to IL to buy it and kept it a few years. After seeing how much the Chesapeake can impact the day out, I wanted to go bigger and that led me to Dave at MDG referring me to a friend of his that was selling his Bullet. The rest is history and I've been running my Bullet for 3 seasons. This will be the 4th.