Looking for a little history help. Back in the mid to late 70's there was an offshore racer by the name of Randy Rabe. He owned Rabco Boats, Inc. if I remember right. This is the same Randy Rabe that had 5 outboards on the back of a deep vee hull. Randy is also the very first barefoot waterskier off of St. Pete pier. Randy and my Dad (Ernie) threw around a lot of money in the marine industry for years. In the mid to late 70's, Randy aquired a turbine and they installed it in a deep vee hull. Back then it was a nightmare. Drives weren't big enough to handle the horsepower. Couldn't get transmissions/crashboxes to stay together either. The other problem with a boat of this magnitude is that there was no class for it. So Randy used it to start many of the offshore races, like several in Lake Seminole. It was called "The Spirit Of Seventy-Six". I went for a ride on it one time when I was around 10 years old. It was one of those rides that you will never forget. (It was a cross between Nightmare on Elm Street and your first love.) I was wondering if anyone remembers this boat or has pictures of it? Rabco Boats was located in St. Petersburg, FL. I have noticed in a lot of your historical type threads that this board seems to be very knowledgable of past marine activities and creations. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Chris U Can Call Randy Rabe @ 727 347 0900 , Hes Still Alive And Doing Well And Would Love To Talk About Spirit Of 76, I Have Many Pictures Of The Boat And Belive It Or Not The Boat Is Still Around ! ,with No Turbine. Im His Son And Am A New Member To The Site , U Can Usally Catch Me On Scream And Fly.com

Parker

post some pic's parker

There was a turbine powered offshore boat before that.
Back in the days of the Miami to Nassau races, and the boats were inboard types (not many out drives), there was one. I don't recall it's name or too many details, but I do remember after that season all turbines were banned. Seems they were bullet-proof compared to the piston engines of the day.

I Have So Many Old Offshore Pics , But No Scanner Or Way To Post Them I Have About 1.000.000 Slides Of Old Offshore Also , All Miami To Nassau . U Want See Alot Of My Pics On Screamandfly.com Under Outboard And Racing History

Have About 150 Vhs Videos Of Old Offshore As Well

If i remeber right, old Howard Arneson had a jet/turbine coupled to one of his drives back in the late 70's, used to bring it to some of the POPBRA events along with Nordskog and gang- Jeff

i just sent greg from s and f 20,000 pics off offshore stuff to post , stay tuned.....for the best pics to ever hit the web ....thank u randy rabe ...rabco boats

WOW, I thought I had alot of vhs tapes, when last i looked I had 20):