V for Victory

The way the postcards picture it, the Atlantic Ocean off Miami is a land lubber's delight where only the antics of frolicking porpoises disturb the serenity of the Gulf Stream. But there are days, and plenty of them, when the east wind rises and turns the 160-mile stretch between Miami and Nassau into one of the meanest, choppiest patches of water anywhere. Then small-craft warnings go up, and cautious skippers stick to sailing olives in a cozy yacht-club bar.

Not 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 are broken with a series of jutting longitudinal strakes, like steps. In high waves, the strakes and deep V keep the hull level, nose down so that it knifes through the waves, while flat-sterned powerboats tend to leap off the crest of each swell and crash heavily into the trough. The result, according to Bertram: "less slip, more control"--and 40% higher speeds.

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 Louisiana's Gulf Coast came Ragin' Cajun, a 32-ft. diesel whose skipper announced: "This is a work boat, the kind we use to take workers out to the offshore oil rigs. We aim to beat the pants off them gentlemen drivers." But the Bertrams' most dangerous challengers were nine Formula 233s, fiber-glass boats whose own deep-V lines were almost dead ringers for the Bertrams' own.

Cracks & Leaks. By the time the field reached Cat Cay, 441 miles from Miami, eleven boats were already out of the race. Ragin' Cajun gave up with clutch trouble. Aboard Allied GX, a geyser of steam and water suddenly shot up from the ruptured bilges. The crew watched sadly from a life raft as the $140,000 boat sank in 600 fathoms.

The 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.

One, Two, Three. On the relatively calm 161-mile stretch from Cat Cay to Sylvia Light, Max Aitken's Vivacity clung to a narrow lead, pursued by two Formula 233s. Bertram's Lucky Moppie was now running fourth, and Abbott's Rum Runner was fifth. Then one of the Formulas ran out of gas. Cracking along at 3,500 r.p.m. and 50 knots, Bertram overtook the other--and shot into first place when Aitken veered off course. With just three miles to go on the final leg from Hog Cay to Nassau, Bertram seemed to have it sewed up--until his reserve tanks ran dry and he had to switch to the main fuel tank. Lucky Moppie stopped dead. By the time Bertram got his engines going again, Abbott's Rum Runner, damaged as it was, had passed everybody and was in front to stay. Up to the Nassau pier roared Rum Runner, and an official waved her in. "Hell, no!" yelled Abbott. "This boat is sinking. We're going to beach her."

Although he had to settle for second place himself, Builder Bertram could hardly have been happier. His boats had finished one-two-three, and the closest competitor, a Formula 233, was 10 min. behind. The durability of the Bertram had been proved again. Battered almost beyond belief, Rum Runner had averaged 32.6 knots to win the roughest Miami-to-Nassau race in history.

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