Legends Gather For Offshore Friends Forever 2024

Forever is a long time, but the members of Offshore Friends Forever—popularly known as OFF—have always been long-haulers, in it to win it. A group of former offshore powerboat racing legends, they came to Stuart, Fla., from near and mostly far, as they have for several decades, to regale each other with tale of yore, when racers were real men—and a few women—endurance athletes who battled each other in true offshore races, from Miami to Nassau, or Miami to New York or up and down the crashing Pacific Ocean.

When it comes to offshore racing history, names get no bigger than Bobby Saccenti and Alan “Brownie” Brown. Photos courtesy Marilyn DeMartini.

“We didn’t care if it was rough—we could do that all damn day,” said octogenarian Odell Lewis,  now in his 80s, who went from wrestling alligators to offshore racing for Mercury Marine, “Hell, it was the partying that was hard.”

Said Alan “Brownie” Brown, the. author of Tales from Thunderboat Row, a raucous retelling of those heroic stories that beg the description, “You can’t make this stuff up!” Sammy James told of getting thrown out of a boat in testing and having eight slashes from the propeller that somehow never hit his ribs.

“I still have that propeller,” he said, then laughed.

Those kinds of stories kept the racers and ardent fans circled in rapt conversations on the porch and dining rooms the Pirate Cove Resort and Marina in Stuart. Venue owner Faith Moynihan, a race fans herself, opened the doors of her waterfront resort when Florida’s messy hurricane aftermath made it impossible for former racers and marine industry veterans, Mark and Craig Wilson to again host the gathering at their nearby Palm City estate.

The event started in 2008 after Brownie threw a Fort Lauderdale bash to honor the late Davey Gilmore. Then dubbed “Old Farts Forever,” the happening was conceived by boat racing veterans Steve Sirois (brother of Bill),  race promoter Jim Hauser,  and John “Cadillac” McDaniels, who has played a role in many racers’ lives and boats. Since then OFF has grown quickly and steadily and became Old Friends Forever to assuage some egos. The event has taken different forms, locations and venues, including classic boat shows and many parties with many different people attending over the decades. The annual event evolved from the realization that no event corralled the players who literally built all the forms of racing we now enjoy. As we all are getting older, too many have already passed that “final finish line,” so getting together increased as a priority.

Memorabilia on display.

So when this year’s event was initially called off, organizer Noel Scott’s heart sank after all the work he had put into the preparations. Attendees such as Christian Toll and his father, Ian, had non-cancellable reservations from London to Miami, so they were committed to making the trip.

So thanks to the diligent efforts of Scott, a race fan since his uncle turned him onto the sport as a young lad, and Brownie, the event was on again. They conferred on another possible site, but the gracious Ms. Moynihan worked with Scott to make the event happen and Brownie even presented her a signed copy of his book in gratitude.

The Tolls—who got the “farthest travel award”–have made more recent racing history themselves, renovating a 1965 Cigarette to replicate Betty Cook’s championship KAAMA to race in the legendary Cowes-Torquay Race two years ago. This year, in another Herculean feat, they faithfully restored the Kiekhaefer Aeromarine III Cigarette and despite breaking numerous parts of the nearly original Aeromarine engines and boat, managed to get her back to the finish line, even though the allotted race time was up. That kind of moxie is what draws this group together and keeps the stories flowing.

A few faces from Offshore Friends Forever 2024 gathering in Stuart, Fla,

Racer and enthusiast Jeff Hall joined the Tolls from Minnesota, and like me, he carried his precious copy of John Crouse’s Sea Race offshore racing history book with him to gather autographs or greats like Bobby Saccenti, founder of Apache Boats, his original funder and racer, Jerry Kirkpatrick, Mercury’s Sammy James, Davey Wilson, Dale Thayer and Errol Lanier, who still builds go-fast boats in Sebring, Fla.

“It’s the racing Bible,” said Hall, who has raced in numerous Cowes-Torquay-Cowes races off the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom, including in the legendary 31 Bertram, Thunderstreak, winner in its class of this year’s English race in its 63rd year. John Stebart, who for years worked with Mel Riggs Racing, who raced with Sammy Satullo in Copper Kettle—and many others–were on hand and like Toll, had numerous historic 8×10 glossies for autographs, of boats jumping out of the water, and handsome trophy holders like Lanier and Bobby Kaiser, hoisting silver cups over their heads.  John “Cadillac” McDaniel as always, was on hand—as an off “founder,” long-time participant, supporter and classic race boat collector and builder.

And this year, grown children showed up to honor their fathers, including Mike Brown who accompanied his father, Brownie, Arden Karson, daughter of the legendary record holder and champion, the late Dr. Bob  Magoon and Darryl Silvera, son of long-passed Bahamian multi-win champion Doug Silvera, attended to bask in their fathers’ glories, touched to hear how much they were revered and loved. Silvera even brought a model of one of his father’s Quick Silver race boats, a 31 Bertram, and the 1970 Bahamas 500 Trophy, tarnished, but a statement to victory.

Tales of Bertram, Magnum, Cigarette and Apache race boats and names like Aronow, Kramer, Bernie Little, Clive Curtis, Jackie Wilson and so many others who are no longer with us, filled the weekend. We again felt fortunate to be in the company of these greats who still act like the adventuresome and precocious young men they were, except now they sport electric wheel chairs and canes. They may have lost a step, but not a sliver of fun or memory. They recall each race as if it was yesterday and still chide each other for the races lost or boats—or bones—or even hearts broken as the racers sped off into the night.

Bobby Saccenti was sporting his new trademarked logo, an American flag emblazoned Indian head profile, as Mark McManus bought the original American Indian head logo that Saccenti had master boat painter, Gail Paek, create from a gold coin. Emphatic Apache fan Lucy Bosma still wears the charm around her neck. She is Saccenti’s historian and along with his wife, Yoko, keep Bobby smiling from ear-to-ear as he sets the record straight about his status, not only as the “Golden Throttle Arm” but also as the true founder of Apache Powerboats. Though he and Ben Kramer split ways, they remained friends as well as competitors, as all these men did, and still do.

Though Offshore Friends Forever 2024 almost didn’t happen, the group that gathered boasted legends of the sport.

It is our hope that next year, we can entice more of the younger racers to attend, to expand the history or Offshore Friends Forever because the legends there today may not be here tomorrow. They recognize their vulnerability, but won’t concede to it, as they were and are still Champions of Offshore, the legends whose creativity, engineering and sheer grit, made it possible for today’s “offshore” racers to compete in a different kind of race. It is still all about “man” (and of course now, more women!) against the elements, but today technology and safety requirements assist, making racing less grueling—but still dangerous and exciting.

In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, it was baling wire, chewing gum and duct tape–and just dogged determination that held boats and races together and we were proud to stand alongside these amazing characters who still lived to tell the stories and share the history that they made.

Editor’s note: The owner of PR Power based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., veteran marine industry writer Marilyn DeMartini (above) is a regular contributor to boats.com and yachtworld.com. This is her third article—her first captured the 2023 Old Friends Forever reunion. and her second chronicled the history of a famous raceboat for sale—for speedonthewater.com.

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