Word: bertrams
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Richard H. Bertram. At 48, Florida's Dick Bertram is the Enzo Ferrari of powerboat racing. Like Ferrari, he sells luxury transportation to the well-heeled: his sleek, fiber-glass cruisers and sport fishermen cost anywhere from $9,000 to $75,000. Like Ferrari, he puts his reputation on the line on the racing circuit. And, like Ferrari, he almost always wins, in smooth water or rough...
Last week, on the eve of the annual Miami-to-Nassau powerboat race, billed as "the most rugged ocean race in the world," the forecast was for 15-to 22-knot winds and steep seas with 2-ft. to 6-ft. crests. "Good," said Bertram. "In rough weather, everything comes into play-hull design, engines, even the crew. The question is whether the crew can take the pounding...
Deep & Level. The Miami-to-Nassau race is practically a Bertram monopoly. Bertram won it with Moppie in 1960, the first year he ever entered, and his boats have won it each year since. Key to his success is the unique hull design of his boats, brainchild of famed Boston Naval Architect Ray Hunt. Most powerboats are sharply V'd at the bow, but the hull flattens out to provide a smooth "planing" surface near the stern. In the Bertrams, the "deep V" runs all the way aft to the transom, and the smooth sides of their hulls...
...Bertram entries in last week's race included Lucky Moppie, his own 31-footer, equipped with twin 380-h.p. Daytona Marine engines; Vivacity, a 38-ft., diesel-powered Bertram owned by British Newspaper Publisher Max Aitken; and Rum Runner, a 31-ft. bomb, driven by Florida's Harold Abbott, whose twin 521-h.p. Holman-Moody Ford engines made it the most powerful boat in the race. For competition, there were 32 other boats. General Motors pinned its hopes on Allied 36 and Allied GX, a pair of 40-ft. monsters powered by twin 315-h.p. G.M. diesels. From...
...Bertrams were having their own woes. Harold Abbott's Rum Runner developed a 4-ft.-long crack in the cabin; the radio was smashed, and a reinforcing stringer had broken loose from the hull. In Lucky Moppie, every time Bertram tried to switch to his main fuel tank, his engines quit. Then, maneuvering at the check-in station on Cat Cay, Lucky Moppie slammed into another boat, knocking it into a sea wall and out of contention. Miraculously, Lucky Moppie kept going...