Billionaire Offshore Racer Eike Batista Loses 34.5 Billion?

[Serious News]

Eike Batista stands at the center of a specially built air-conditioned stage on his 22,000-acre-plus Açu port project, a massive oil and iron-ore shipping complex about 200 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. He’s beaming, flashing victory signs. He has on an orange-and-gray racing jacket of the type he wore as a champion speedboat racer two decades before.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...billion#r=read




Batista Takes First Place In Superboat
April 29, 1991|By ANDY NEWMAN, Special to the Sun-Sentinel


MARATHON -- Brazilian gold mining magnate Eike Batista drove Spirit of the Amazon to a Superboat class win Sunday at the Bud Dry Marathon Offshore Challenge in the Florida Keys.

His 48-foot Cougar catamaran averaged 90.85 mph in the OPT`s first powerboat race of the season. Batista, 34, won the Offshore Professional Tour`s 1990 world championship in Key West last December.

[rschap1]

Sounds like he should have pioneered a "green" technology in America like Solara ... then he could take everyone's tax dollars and just walk away.
Or keep asking for more under a new banner.

[T2x]

Sounds like he should have pioneered a "green" technology in America like Solara ... then he could take everyone's tax dollars and just walk away.
Or keep asking for more under a new banner.

I knew Eike fairly well and, along with Bobby Moore (his throttleman crew chief), was able to get a friend of mine into his boat as navigator at a few races. That friend also brought Stephen Stills to the races as part of the "Spirit of the Amazon" entourage. Eike represented the best chance Offshore boat racing had to grow to the next level. He was able to use his influence to coax a million dollar a race sponsorship offer from a major soft drink company. This required an exclusive commitment to a one organization by all racers in the Open and Superboat classes, and would have given control of the sport to a single major sanctioning body. The wealthy racers, goaded by a race promoter, whose grip on racing would have been threatened, voted against this sponsorship preferring to continue with coming and going as they please with random class rule changes and additions as capriciously desired. That moment marked the last chance of a unified sport and resulted in the anemic alphabet racing we have today. Eike was a true visionary who saw where the sport was headed and walked away from it shortly after. I have no idea how he climbed to the top financially since then nor what has apparently taken him down...but he did fully understand the simple dynamics of the Offshore boat racing brand and what was needed to make it successful.

I wish him good luck with his current mess.

[Ratickle]

I have to believe he'll dig his way out of this one and be back up there.

I'm a bit surprised at how few pictures there actually are of "Spirit of the Amazon". It seems like there is more video of the boat than stills. It was an awesome offshore racer.

[Ratickle]

Right at the start here is one video..

[rschap1]

What a video ! ! !
Seen it before but still WOW

[T2x]

What a video ! ! !
Seen it before but still WOW

That was one of only two races where Michigan's own Bruce Merriman and I teamed up for the live to tape announcing. Sadly, he passed away shortly thereafter. I didn't like co-announcing live (loved it in studio) because it would interrupt my train of thought in many cases, but that race was fun and we sort of clicked... and yes that was done live without script or editing from a Bell 407 helicopter...with the doors off. The 407 was faster than the older model Jet and Long Rangers and also had more stability. Best helicopter to capture truly fast racing is either a Hughes or an old French Gazelle. Today they use Robinsons which are cheaper, smaller, slower, and I won't fly in one.

[Ratickle]

Would those older choppers keep up with the really fast turbine boats of today? (Although with the 150mph limit being enforced may not matter so much)

[NNRT]

Some how, this footage looks very familiar! - This event was filmed from a Long Ranger, that a famous Golfer owned! The Pilots, and narrators made the film, I just tagged along for the ride -!

As far as keeping up with todays boats, No - not in calm waters - but in seas like this event had, it would be no problem ! This race was truly Offshore Racing - sure it had its calm areas, but also
rough areas too - Sadly, I hear they run closer to shore now ! Once we filmed the superboat class in
the Hudson River, hard to keep up in a Jet Ranger, however with the right pilot - and with the "climb and dive" we were able to keep up for 30 seconds at a time - with good editing it looked as if we could
keep up with them !

I always wanted to have the "live" experience, as that is what it is like when filming - we brought
that to our customers, and I must thank them all for their continued support over the years !

Thanks to all that made NNRT ! Narrators, Pilots ! and our loyal customers !

[NNRT]

If I am correct, Bell 407 helicopters are 4 bladed, twin engines, and much faster
than the 206 Bell Jet Rangers and Long Rangers that we used back in the day !

[T2x]

Would those older choppers keep up with the really fast turbine boats of today? (Although with the 150mph limit being enforced may not matter so much)

The older choppers as you call them were (and are) faster than the "toy" helos used today. The only reason you see the Robinsons (which are just as old) is simply that they are cheaper and there is no real money in the sport anymore. Selling video and photos for peanuts doesn't carry the coast of a first class airborn platform. Today there are more photographers, and independent video guys covering far less boats...do the math. Oh and one more thing...as soon as you take the doors off for proper video work helicopters lose about 40-50 mph...I think a lot of guys shoot through the windows today....

If Phil says that was a Long Ranger I will defer to him... but it seems we were using a 407 during Batista's days, but I might not have been flying with Phil at those races... By the way the "Golfer"'s nickname was taken from a large predatory fish with a well known dorsal fin profile....

[Bobcat]

Was it John "The Hammerhead" Daly ?

[T2x]

Was it John "The Hammerhead" Daly ?

Nope......

[njthumper]

Greg Normon

[njthumper]

oops Norman

[T2x]

oops Norman

Known as......?

[fund razor]

Known as......?

The Shark, mate.

[Ratickle]

Wow, I never would have guessed they lose that much speed with the doors off......

[Ratickle]

Nice Lambo's......

[jetcruzr]

Nice Lambo's......

Something in that picture looks very familiar......