Pictures - Cowes Classic 1994

[John G]

So 28 deg at transom then almost straight away deadrise starts to get even deeper as you go forward?

[Adam]

Originally posted by Jon Fuller
tis the same Lorne campbell designed 27 footer, but there were three I think, don't know which one Mike bought.

The first one was built by Midas marine and was the Tony Jenvey / Carryfast boat. This went on to be Mark Mumfords boat and is still for sale I believe. She was the probably the lightest and quickest of the three.

Then Gordon Wright built two more.
Turning Point boat for John Miller, which was briefly raced by Nick Spence and maybe a.n.other before Cliff Smith put a canopy on her for 4 litre. Miller had also briefly raced her as a four litre with an efi.

The third one was RnR Mototrs for Robin Parish which is now Spinksy's boat.

[Jon Fuller]

Originally Posted by Adam

Turning Point boat for John Miller, which was briefly raced by Nick Spence and maybe a.n.other before Cliff Smith put a canopy on her for 4 litre. Miller had also briefly raced her as a four litre with an efi.

The A.N.Other owner was Dave Sperling, when it raced as 'Sweet As'

[BluFin]

Originally Posted by Adam

The first one was built by Midas marine and was the Tony Jenvey / Carryfast boat. This went on to be Mark Mumfords boat and is still for sale I believe. She was the probably the lightest and quickest of the three.

Then Gordon Wright built two more.
Turning Point boat for John Miller, which was briefly raced by Nick Spence and maybe a.n.other before Cliff Smith put a canopy on her for 4 litre. Miller had also briefly raced her as a four litre with an efi.

The third one was RnR Mototrs for Robin Parish which is now Spinksy's boat.

Well to update the Midas is living at Chez BluFin and yes it is fekken light

[Martin The Talker]

Wonderful pics guys - memories of sunny Cowes when TP was in charge !

Hopefully we'll see similar this year, with what seems to promise a good field in P1.

Did your nav enjoy his swim that year Simon ? !

[tblaney]

C47 i can shed a bit of light on as my father was the mechanic.

I was only 11 years old when i learned to waterski close to bembridge on the isle of wight....behind this boat whilst running it in

The driver was Robert Stewart and the engine had a history of throwing the "gudgeon pin" in the piston... which shot the piston through the side of the block.

It was a 23ft frode from what i can remember which spent its early days in the DHL Stickers before my dad landed the snapon tools sponsorship.

I remember lots of trips to Chris Lewis Racing to pick up various parts..

The rage at the time seemed to be having an extended gill bracket? I have no idea why they would do this.. apart from it getting them 1/2 a foot closer to the finish line??

The other thing was to have a bigger air scoop intake in the centre of the deck??

And im pretty sure... they had to have "wiseco" ribbed pistons..


After 95 the boat changed hands.. and my father didnt have any affiliation with boats untill 2000 when he was mechanic for D66 No-Nonsense Sponsored by Autostrasse Porsche. Which had 2x later shaped Merc Xr2's..

The highlight of 1994 for me was hearing "LETHAL MENACE turn up into cowes Harbour, Everyone stopped what they were doing to find out what the deafening burble was!... Just as they killed the engine to Menace..... LETHAL MAGIC turned up.. which was just the same noise comming from the Lambo engines.

I will have to have a word with my father and get some old photo's scanned in for this site.

[Ciao]

Wow! This is an old post resurrected!

I raced that day with Nik Keyser, and as it turned out, Nik's last Offshore race before he took a 14 year sabbatical!

Good to see his average speed in '08 was times 3 of '94.

[Jon Fuller]

Originally Posted by tblaney

The driver was Robert Stewart

He still owes me 50 quid for a second hand XR2 stator he had off me in Hull, 1992/3 ish. It got him on the water that day, but he quickly/conveniently forgot about it.

Does he still dress up as Marc Bolan?

BTW, that boat was bought by 'Lonely of Reigate' some years ago, don't know where it is now.

[2-XS-IF]

Originally Posted by TheOrs

Jon

Unfortunately the t-shirt is very well worn. It used to be 'lemon' but now it's white, plus it's got a couple of marks on it. I couldn't bring myself to chuck it though.

Still, if you were serious and you know someone who would actually still want it, then PM the address & they can have it F.O.C.

TheOrs, thanks for the t-shirt, (3 years late in thanking) pm me your address and I will send you some Swipes and a Speedy metal polish.

[2-XS-IF]

Originally Posted by 2-XS-IF

3

I know we've had this link before but now you can see the boat, well who's got One!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Original-Signe...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Jon Fuller]

Whooooooowa, I was right, he was in with Webby! Along with Andre Jones.

See, I aint such a teapot, not always anyway.

Originally Posted by Jon Fuller

Yeah, Alan Webb & Andre Jones. But I have a vague recollection of a Nick Edwards racing with them too.

Going by the ebay thing, that pic from Cowes with him actualy by a boat and in his race suit must be worth a fortune!!

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by roofer

you got anymore of the flipper?

Ben might have sold them but I raced Flying Flippers for three years during the late 1980’s in Cruiser Class B with John Baker. I have loads of pics so PM me if you want more info.

The Flying Flipper was a terrific sea boat and very quick. We won many races including the National Championship and the Guernsey Worlds in 1987 with the twin Yamaha 200 powered one and did well with the twin Johnson 300HP powered Class 11 version . John B sold the Yamaha powered boat to Alan Webb which enabled us to buy the Class 11 version from Finland. Alan also did very well with that boat.

The “hook” in the hull enabled the Flipper to get on the plane very quickly, much faster than any other out board powered cruiser but the trouble was that at high speed (around 70/75mph with the Johnson’s) you suddenly lost all hull contact and simply ran on the props which did make it very fidgety.

Steve Hutchinson (Hutchy) brought the Class 11 Flipper back to life for the Round Britain Race 08 (I had found it sitting in a warehouse in Manchester for the last fifteen years and tipped him off) and it was going very well indeed until they had a crew fall out in Inverness when they had no option but to retire. It was a great shame because the boat was doing very well. Steve had fitted it out with twin Merc Optimax 300’s and after testing found that fitting VERY long Trim Tabs stabilised the boat to a degree at high speeds. There is some good film of it running in the RB08 video. If they had continued they would definitely have finished in the top three of their class against some hefty competition, IMHO. He, and others had a problem with the Merc Optimax oil reservoirs during the RB08 with them frothing when low on oil and then the engines going in to low revs. It was a common problem during the race and cost Steve in particular a couple of places. This particular boat is now in Texas I understand.

And then of course there was the first one with a "lid" on which JB raced at Liverpool with Peter Dredge and I subsequently owned for three years fitted with twin 200hp OMC's it was pretty nifty.
ML.
.

[TheOrs]

Originally Posted by 2-XS-IF

TheOrs, thanks for the t-shirt, (3 years late in thanking) pm me your address and I will send you some Swipes and a Speedy metal polish.

Thank-you. PM sent. I guess a previous boat of yours was named on that T-shirt?

[larslindroth]

51 FLIPPIN'ECK Class II boat is now in Gothenburg, Sweden. She will be taking part in Classic Offshore Racing events etc. starting summer of 2010. I currently live in Southern California since 25 years, but will spend more time back home in Sweden from now on.

Merry Christmas and a toast to a Happy New Boating Year for all Classic

Offshore Racing Aficionados

Regards, Mr. Lars T. Lindroth,

Marina Del Rey, California, U.S.A.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by larslindroth

51 FLIPPIN'ECK Class II boat is now in Gothenburg, Sweden. She will be taking part in Classic Offshore Racing events etc. starting summer of 2010. I currently live in Southern California since 25 years, but will spend more time back home in Sweden from now on.

Merry Christmas and a toast to a Happy New Boating Year for all Classic

Offshore Racing Aficionados

Regards, Mr. Lars T. Lindroth,

Marina Del Rey, California, U.S.A.

Great to hear that the old girl is still going. She is now close to her original home as John Baker and I flew out to Finland to "negotiate" a new boat from Flipper on the 21st December 1987. It was 21 degrees below when we got off the plane!

I am sure that Steve will correct me but I think he had her running around 80 in trials. We could only manage around 75 with the big 300hp Johnsons as they were so heavy and she was very flighty at that speed.
ML.
.

[larslindroth]

Thank You Sir for giving a valueable Glimpse into her past. Since Honorable Mr. Baker & Webb both have moved on to better things I truly appreciate any memories around her and her older sister FLIPPIN'ECK I colourful racing past. I have also start saving any images that have appeared of Mr. Baker's Cougar 38 FLIPPIN'ECK.
I was fortunate enough to have a lengthy phone conversation with Mr. Isacson about 15 years ago, but at that time we talked about hull design and not about the racing history of his Flying Flipper boats. He is a very remarkable man, so intelligent and with that unique quality of being both an artist, engineer and most importantly a very competitive but humble sportsman.
Over here in the U.S. South-West we have the chance to boat 12 months out of the year, but somehow I prefer the seasons back home in the archipelago of Stockholm. I already long for the beautiful days when I'll have the privilage to run her since they are fewer and therefor so much more precious!
The offshore racing fans in Sweden are still in awe of the 84 mph that Hutch saw during the test runs. But as You know it's because of The Flying Flippers capabilities in rough sea that they are living legends among Vikings.
Mr. Lloyd, my hope is to stay in future contact with You Sir and learn more about The Flying Flipper boats adventures outside of the Scandinavian waterways.

Warm regards,

Lars.

P.S. Offshore Race video from the 80's, Stockholm-Aland (Finland), with Sigurd Isacson's son Per racing a Flying Flipper. Unfortunately one of the Yamaha engines called it quits;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov-B5slDTWo

D.S.

[Mike Lloyd]

I have many pics of both boats including one with Sigurd who came over to the Worlds in Guernsey to watch our boats racing. John took BOTH boats to Guernsey before he sold the first one to Webby.

I will scan and post over the Christmas holidays.
ML.
.