The Baltika can angle sideways and still break ice in order to create a bigger canal. Watch here!
The Baltika can angle sideways and still break ice in order to create a bigger canal. Watch here!
Get an inside look at the latest and biggest U.S. aircraft carrier ever built! See all the latest specs and watch the timelapse build right here on PBN!
Courtesy – Military Stats
Kenny Mungle, owner of Team GONE AGAIN, has officially announced the purchase of the 2010 Stihl 388 Skater from JR Noble.
“We are extremely excited about the 388. The type of events we will be able to participate in will not be limited to shootouts as we were in the 32.”
After Mungle and his teammate Lee Lockwood turned down the 368 Skater they had planned to purchase from Ron Szolak due to unfavorable sea trials, they began focusing on finding an alternate boat that would satisfy their requirements wholly.
A completely spur-of-the-moment decision, the team’s eye fell on the Stihl 388 Skater entirely by chance.
“We were driving through the Florida panhandle, heading back home to Texas, when I mentioned the Stihl boat… jokingly,” said Lee Lockwood, “The next thing I know, we’ve made a u-turn on Interstate 10 and are heading back east to go check it out.”
Shortly after this first meeting, a sea trial date was set and discussions between Mungle and Noble became all the more serious. Team GONE AGAIN met with throttleman Grant Bruggerman and proceeded to run the boat on East Lake (Tohopekaliga) near Orlando, FL. Mungle couldn’t believe how well the boat performed and handled exclaiming, “Wow, just wow… the boat performs amazing!”
The 388 is a monster of a Skater, currently powered by twin Scorpion Racing Engines (Super Cat Spec) pushing approximately 750HP each she can achieve speeds up to 140 MPH or so. However, Mungle has made it clear that the current power won’t be enough when it comes to the shootout speeds that they hope to achieve so in the meantime they plan on possibly participating in some offshore races for a few seasons before putting some big power in her to really bump up her numbers.
“No matter what, we are still going to be running the 32′ at all shootout events,” adds Lockwood, “and the 388 will be there with us as well for fans to see.”
“Just like the 32′ GONE AGAIN boat, the Stihl 388 has such a great history and a huge following. With the recent passing of JR, owning this boat brings on an even greater level of honor. We will carry on the legacy that JR, Grant, and his team started with this boat,” says Mungle, “I’m a very lucky man, with a very understanding wife. We have a top notch group of people that make up Team GONE AGAIN, this is just the beginning of what we hope is a lot more to come!”
In life and business it is super rare when two independent and dominant powerhouses can set aside competitive business models so they can come together and unite forces to create an even larger powerhouse and bring more powerful products to market.
The marine engine builder segment is a very unique and specialized world and there are many engine builders in this space. But, from crank through intake managed by a ultra fast ECU and sent on to a dash display there has really only been one innovator in this space and the company at the forefront has always been Chief Hi-Performance. Chief is the engine builder who invested countless hours of research and development time as well as money, and I don’t mean a just little bit of money. When Tommy Hofsetter decided he would be the next era of the high performance engine builders he let nothing stand in his way. While the legends of the past engine builders were limited to carburetors, Chief was at the front of the marketplace testing ECU’s while they sat submerged in tanks of water or heated to the point of melting. There is no disputing that Chief power has set the standard for which all engine builders are measured in this market today.
But…….When your focused on pushing the boundaries of not only horsepower but technological limitations it leaves you virtually spread too thin to manage the huge mass of customers seeking out your greatest developments. What it takes to tackle this problem is investment and collaboration. It takes blending two similar yet different skill sets to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. This our friends is easier said than done. Fortunately, for Tommy a great and fortunate opportunity was presented with a liked minded and driven collaborator from Precision Power Offshore.
Precision Power Offshore has been the stable provider of long lasting high horsepower engines from their shop in western Michigan and have built a long list of loyal customers who only go there. Precision Powers customer base has grown at a level that has left them searching for how to service these people without compromise. Through months of collaboration with Chief it became clear this was the future for both brands. Through the combined efforts of these two engine powerhouses they will bring the absolute best performance marine engines to market.
In a recent exclusive sit down in Fort Lauderdale with Chief’s Tommy Hofsetter and Ben Wiersum of Precision Power Offshore, Powerboat Nation was able to hear all the exciting news first hand. Running any business takes time, determination, sweat, and risk. The real beauty of this deal is now Ben and Tommy are left to be the mad engine scientists in the shop to focus 100% on the design and development of the product line. The grind of the business management is left to Dan Wiersum who will run all the operations and be responsible for the blend of the two business operations into one over time.
This venture is more about the future than it is today. Sure together they are great but together moving forward they will change the aftermarket engine business of the future. This is a long time commitment for both brands and the excitement of what will become is going to bring great things to the powerboating world. All the existing customers of both brands get the benefit of two engine brains and all the future customers get the benefit of incredible synergy that will come from this explosive combination!
Stay tuned because there are many more exciting details to come from this great news.
When I worked for Cary Marine in the 70’s, we acquired the molds for the 49’ Cigarette from Don Aronow. The 49’ was an exact 1.5 times blow-up of the then famous 32’ Cary/Cigarette. Aronow had built the first 49’ Cigarette for the King of underwater movies, Jordan Klein. It was ‘Hippie-tacky”, with shag rugs on the walls, and a pair of extremely measly Chrysler inboard engines on straight shafts with vee drives. To my amazement, the boat ran very well. I had not yet learned the mysteries of model scale. We built the first big fast Diesel runabout/cruisers in America. We used Detroit Diesel V8 engines. First, the 450 HP V8 71s, and later, the 600 HP V8 92s. Almost all of these boats were finished as ready to run vessels, with complete mechanical and electrical systems, and zero interiors. They were sold to a dealer in Italy named Filippo Theodoli. He took them to local artisans for finishing in the Italian style, and I must say, he did a fine job. His client list included titans of Italian industry, films, crooks and such.
Theodoli was married to Katrin, a bright, fit, Swiss born lady who was the perfect foil for the dashing Theodoli. We called Filippo “Ted”. He was a Marchese in Italy. Some sort of royalty. When we did the Genoa boat show every year, we ate, after the show, at a restaurant in old Genoa port. The restaurant, Mario’s, had been a restaurant for 500 years. Ted’s family had bottles of blackberry brandy there that were bottled before Larry King was born, and had little medallions with the family crest on the necks. About 500 meters from Mario’s was the Maritime Office. Columbus signed out there. Ted bought Magnum Marine from Aronow, after former owner, American Photocopy, went into the hopper. Side note. The chairman of the board of Apeco(American Photocopy), was Clayton Rautbord, brother of Bobby. Bobby was a racer and very good friend of Aronow and the little people. I attended the APECO annual sack holders meeting in Chicago with Bobby. Clayton announced the APECO had made twelve million dollars in the last fiscal year. When he asked for comments, Bobby said “Heck, I made more than that, and I don’t even work”.
Anyway, Aronow had started the 53’ Magnum project, and it went with the business. Like the 49’ Cary, it was a product of the copy machine. First came the 35’ Donzi, which was too big for the Donzi factory to produce. The boobs from Teleflex, who had just bought Donzi Marine from Aronow, gave it to Don in return for his racing for them (guffaw). The 35’ Donzi was drawn by Walt Walters (great guy). It was stretched to 38 feet. The 38 was stretched to 40 feet on paper, then blown up 1.25 times. Voila, the 53 foot Magnum, and nobody broke a sweat or paid a dime! The first model was to be powered by a pair of Detroit V8 92’s, and expected 40 MPH. The Theodolis hired me to run the project for the first boat, since I had made most of the mistakes on the 49’ Cary. It was a big job. Some of the 53’s would be powered by the new V16 92 engines at 1400 horsepower each. I held a meeting regarding the salient features of the new boat versus the 49 Cary. First, we needed a 19’ cockpit to hold the new V16’s. No! It is not stylish! Downhill from there.
We had a hull under construction at the old Thunderbird houseboat factory in North Miami. We were also building the deck plug and mold at the same time. The forward deck of the 53 was about 35 feet long,and smooth as a baby’s butt. Ten guys sanded the deck for hundreds of man hours, with sanding boards 12 feet long, with finer and finer grades of sandpaper, until it gleamed like a Ferrari. Side note: When we launched the boat for tests, I climbed to the fore deck to take a line from the dock. In my stocking feet, I slid, faster and faster, right over the side. We rolled a sand finish over the Ferrari.
I had a time and money restriction on finishing the first boat. With the limited resources at Thunderbird, it was a mother! The deck mold was over 16’ wide, and 55’ long. It was also relatively flat (read: floppy).We made a spindle 60’ long out of 4” pipe, and welded on lateral beams to catch the deck edges. On the shop floor, it looked like there mains of a giant’s fish dinner. We built the deck upside down, and attached the spindle. With an electric hoist on each end, we pulled the deck from the mold, and sat it atop the hull. Unfortunately, the spindle was now on the bottom of the deck, between the hull bulkheads and the deck. I drew some cutouts on the bulkheads for access to unhook the spindle. By moving the hoists to the deck hatches and the cockpit, we were able to remove the spindle, and seat the deck on the hull for the first time. On time, at 8 AM sharp,the Theodolis appeared on the platform behind the boat. Katrin had her arms folded tightly when she asked “Who told you where to cut those holes?” “I foolishly assumed that the doors would be somewhere in the neighborhood of the companionway floor.” “I wish you would ask me before you make a decision like that!” “Lady, if I waited for you to make all the decisions that we have made, this sonofabitch would still be in the barrel.” She didn’t come by as often after that.
We finished the job on time, it worked just like it was supposed to, and was a great success. Ted was ecstatic. He decided to get rid of the original 35’ Magnum molds and make more space for the 53 stuff. One day, one of Aronow’s Jewish mafia friends approached Ted and said that he had a small company in South America that built fishing boats. He said that he would like to have the 35’ molds to build fishing boats for the rough Chilean coast. Here was a chance to get rid of the molds for money without worrying about someone competing with him. They agreed on a price of $15,000. The buyer asked Ted to give him a “Paid in Full” receipt for $1,000, for customs purposes, and that he would pay the balance in cash when he picked up the molds. What could possibly go wrong? The next day, when Ted got to work, there was an entourage waiting for him. Trucks, Sheriffs, lawyers, etc. They presented the paid in full receipt, and took the molds. They did not take them very far. One block further down Thunderboat Row, was Bob Saccenti’s Apache Marine. They offloaded the molds there, and Aronow gave Saccenti an order for a couple of boats. Ted took Aronow’s autographed picture from the trophy wall in the office, and stomped it into little bitty pieces.
Watch the best of powerboating in 2006 captured by Aerial Video Systems.
The owner of Barbie, one of two yachts destroyed in a fire in Turkey in January, has just received his insurance check for the gutted superyacht.
A group of 14 Lloyd’s insurers paid the $20 million within 60 days of the fire.
The yacht, which Al Jadaf built in 2006 at its Dubai shipyard in the United Arab Emirates, was destroyed Jan. 4 after a fire broke out on The One, a 233-foot superyacht that Lurssen built in 1973. Both were moored in Marmaris harbor. The fire quickly spread to the neighboring Barbie.
“Barbie is the largest claim that the superyacht insurance market has had to deal with in quite some time. That it was paid in full within 60 days of the event will hopefully help the owner to reach closure from this traumatic incident,” Hiscox MGA director of underwriting Paul Miller said in a statement.
The NMMA has shared that Jim Lane, President of Chaparral and Robalo Boats has passed away.
“Jim was a great supporter of NMMA and I always enjoyed my time with him. He was on the search committee that hired me sixteen and a half years ago. His passing is a significant loss. Our sympathies to his wife, Damaris and the Chaparral family. May God bless Jim, Damaris, his family, and the entire Chaparral family,” noted NMMA President Thom Dammrich.
Jim was extremely active in the boating community and served as Finance Chairman and was also on the Board of Directors of NMMA. He was also both a founding member and served as Chairman for the America Boat Builders Association.
His memorial has been planned for 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24th at Crossroads Baptist Church (3001 Country Club Drive in Valdosta, Georgia)
The boating community is truly saddened at the lost of such a true member of the boating industry.
Get a great look at footage of the Lamborghini powerboat showing off its muscle and design.
Fort Lauderdale local Greg Darby has been building his “Cruisin’ Tikis” since February of this year and he’s starting to get things rolling!
If you’ve seen him out on the water near Ft. Lauderdale then you know what we’re talking about and you probably couldn’t help but stare and take a few photos or video. The vessel, equipped with stools and a circular bar top—even a fridge, wet bar and LED lights—is a prototype for the model Darby invented himself, which he’ll be selling around the country. (Three Cruisin’ Tikis were already sold before his first boat was even in the water, according to Darby.)
Darby comes from an engineering background and instead of retiring and floating around in his own Cruisin Tiki all day, he’s built a business out of it.
The boats are customizable with either bar stools or picnic benches and are sold at two different price points: non-powered ($16,500), which he calls a docksider, or motorized ($21,500). The latter comes with a six-year warranty through Suzuki.
The Cruisin’ Tiki is Coast Guard compliant and ready to hit the water wherever you are.
“This tiki wasn’t made for work,” he said. “This is all about relaxing and kicking back and enjoying the river.”
Darby is heading up to the Palm Beach International Boat Show on his Cruisin’ Tiki this weekend, taking what he estimates will be a 12- to 15-hour boat trip, depending on how many stops he makes along the way. It’s guerilla marketing tactics like this, along with the power of social media, that have helped word spread so fast.
Here in Fort Lauderdale, locals can also look forward to seeing the Cruisin’ Tikis make an appearance at WinterFest in December.
Eight sailors on board the USS Eisenhower were injured Friday in an accident involving an aircraft landing, the Navy said.
The exact cause of the multiple injury incident is not known as of yet but according to a statement by the Navy, the arresting gear that catches landing airplanes broke on the deck of the ship. What this means in regards to how the sailors were injured but information should be forthcoming after the ship breaks its “radio silence” that it put in affect until all of the families of those injured were properly contacted.
While the names of the crew members were not released, the sailors are listed as in stable condition and without any life threatening injuries. The E-2C Hawkeye aircraft that was involved in the accident was able to regain flight and return safely to its base at Norfolk Naval Station Chambers Field, where it was reported that no aircrew members were injured in the accident.
Stay updated with more details here on PBN as the Navy is investigating the cause of the incident.
Nothing like a classic powerboat race! Head back a few years to the 1988 Cowes Classic and see what powerboating is all about!