Jesse James Gang

[Ryan Beckley]

one more....

[Black Tornado]

Here some from my files.

[T2x]

Great article! I like how it mentions that race courses have been brought closer to shore for the benefit of the spectators-this was 24 years ago. Some old timers act as if racing close to shore is something new.

For the record..."Racing close to shore" back then meant 20 mile laps instead of 40-60, and.......... we still ran outside of the reef at Key West. When you raced "on a Lake" it meant Lake Michigan....not "Lake Catchafish"....and even when we raced out of the Unlimited Hydro pits in Detroit, the course went all the way around Lake St Clair....at least twice. Today's "Offshore racing" is best summed up by the fact that nothing is , in fact, Offshore and some courses can also be run by a 17 foot tunnel boat. The recent failures by current era Offshore marvels to complete the old Around Long Island course....said it all IMHO.

[FLYING FISH]

For the record..."Racing close to shore" back then meant 20 mile laps instead of 40-60, and.......... we still ran outside of the reef at Key West. When you raced "on a Lake" it meant Lake Michigan....not "Lake Catchafish"....and even when we raced out of the Unlimited Hydro pits in Detroit, the course went all the way around Lake St Clair....at least twice. Today's "Offshore racing" is best summed up by the fact that nothing is , in fact, Offshore and some courses can also be run by a 17 foot tunnel boat. The recent failures by current era Offshore marvels to complete the old Around Long Island course....said it all IMHO.

I agree with the above statement,except the last sentence is nonsense in that particular case.That race was damn lucky to be held considering the lack of entries it attracted,for even the brits were wondering what they had got into with absolute minimum entries to race against.How can you say the boats that entered failed due to true offshore conditions.For heavens sake, the brit boat was brand new and still being sorted and retired before it had even flexed it`s muscles.As for the cat,I would be surpised if it retired due to the testing conditions for it hadn`t even got into it`s stride.
I can understand the point you are trying to make,which is a valid one,but don`t use the Long Island race as an example.
If you want a test case then consider the Fountain/Phantom boats that raced in the UK marathon races where they have extra bhds to strengthen their hulls before attempting true offshore.Just ask the Phantom designer,he`ll tell you.

[T2x]

True...but the rest of the Offshore teams were in Atlantic City that same weekend and found the conditions "too rough" to race. A week later another guy took his megabucks cat and tried to set his own record around Long Island...and didn't finish.

In its history Offshore racing had a lot of new boats that were finished within minutes of the start and got their maiden voyage in competition rather than "sea trials". The 4 engine diesel boat had already been tested...certainly not extensively...... and it basically evaporated in a few minutes. As far as the Around Long Island Race was concerned the guys who ran it...thought they were racing....

[Fast Shafts]

In all fairness, years ago (1970's) the drivers "voted" on wheather to race. In one instance Bob Magoon voted to race, but the majority voted not to race. Magoon understood their predicament stating that the owners have a small fortune tied up in their boats-and agreed not to race.
I personally think OPA and the Coast Guard made the right call. If a boat were to break down, it would be extremely difficult towing a boat thru the inlet with breaking waves. You can't ask a volunteer (towboat) to jepordize his boat doing this.
As far as a megabucks cat attempting to set his own record-this boat (as far as I know) has nothing to do with OPA. By mentioning this in the same paragraph as the AC race-kind of implies it was affiliated with the race or OPA.
Question for T2x, Being that the Lavin foundation promotes race boat safety thru canopy guidlines and specs, wouldn't it seem prudent that if conditions were to rough for safety boats, that the foundation would agree with canceling a race? When do the water conditions out weigh the safety of just the canopy? How can one promote safety on one hand, and than complain a race is canceled, for safety reasons?
Bob

[T2x]

In all fairness, years ago (1970's) the drivers "voted" on wheather to race. In one instance Bob Magoon voted to race, but the majority voted not to race. Magoon understood their predicament stating that the owners have a small fortune tied up in their boats-and agreed not to race.
I personally think OPA and the Coast Guard made the right call. If a boat were to break down, it would be extremely difficult towing a boat thru the inlet with breaking waves. You can't ask a volunteer (towboat) to jepordize his boat doing this.
As far as a megabucks cat attempting to set his own record-this boat (as far as I know) has nothing to do with OPA. By mentioning this in the same paragraph as the AC race-kind of implies it was affiliated with the race or OPA.
Question for T2x, Being that the Lavin foundation promotes race boat safety thru canopy guidlines and specs, wouldn't it seem prudent that if conditions were to rough for safety boats, that the foundation would agree with canceling a race? When do the water conditions out weigh the safety of just the canopy? How can one promote safety on one hand, and than complain a race is canceled, for safety reasons?
Bob

I am not saying that the race should have been run....you can't when the Coast Guard says no. I am pointing out the rough conditions that day made the accomplishment up north even more admirable. Bottom line is the little boat could...and the bigger boats couldn't.

As far as the Lavin guidelines. Sadly they came into play as speeds went up dramatically in Offshore racing. This was in part due to the shorter calmer courses. In a perfect world you make the races long and rough enough that you can run in an open cockpit and not hit speeds where a canopy is needed.
Or, if you are big and fast enough to warrant a canopy...you need your own rescue helicopter. The tricky part is that most helicopters can't carry enough fuel to stay in the air for a truly long distance race.....?

[Fast Shafts]

Thanks for responding T2x. By the way, is there any significance to the name "Jesse James"?
Ryan, thanks for sharing your pics. I took the pic of the 28 Cigarette in post 1, B-91, on Barnegat Bay-late 1970's?? maybe early 1980's??

[Ryan Beckley]

I was told that the name Jesse James was on the Cigarette when Mark and Chris bought it and just kept it.....

[T2x]

Ryan is correct.........

Funny thing is the name fit the boats and team better than anything I can think of..... The whole thing would have been lacking something if they called the boat "Wyatt Earp"...

[Ryan Beckley]

Here is a page out of my "JESSE JAMES" scrap book 1985 Key West boat parade, in the cockpit me, Mark, Miles, Francine, and my friend Recep. This shot was in the Key West Citizen.

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

I have a few pix from '85 too.





One minute they were in the boat. Next they were on the ground. They had engines bagged and ready for each race.

[T2x]

There was a lot of structural work done between races on the JJ Chris Cat hull that year. C/C had a very inconsistent product for the first couple of years and "bandaids" were needed repeatedly.

Mercury saved the "crown jewels" for the team and placed their best Mod motors in the boat for each race. Mark and Chris rewarded them with some of the best racing the sport had ever seen.

T2x

[Gladhe8er]

Just ran into Chris at the local market during my lunch break. He still has the 28 and is thinking about repainting it. It is showing a lot of wear and tear after 30 years.

[lucky strike]

Just ran into Chris at the local market during my lunch break. He still has the 28 and is thinking about repainting it. It is showing a lot of wear and tear after 30 years.

Tell him to paint it black like it was when I built it with the hockey stick stripes in red,silver & white.

[Gladhe8er]

Tell him to paint it black like it was when I built it with the hockey stick stripes in red,silver & white.

I'll mention it, but I think he was just going to do the JJ paint scheme again.

[OneBadInjun]

The first year of Chris*Craft offering the Chris*Cat 30 to racers was 1984. They were $14,000 a copy, bare race boat, outboard or inboard, to any existing offshore racer that wanted to take the chance. If memory serves, they sold 12-14 of them that first year. Most of them had structural problems of varying degrees, some lesser, some major. Fewer went out the door the next year & the price went up.