This is a long story, but I'll try to keep it short...
Back in the mid-80's, a friend had a 38' Coyote with quad 2.4 Mercs. It ran a very respectable 90 mph, which was very impressive in this era. After hanging new powerheads, he invited me to join him for a "break-in" jaunt to Bimini. (about 50 miles off the coast) The seas were calm in the morning, good for the first hour of break-in, slower to medium speeds, constantly varying RPM's.
We arrived at one of the outer islands of Bimini, I think it was Barracuda Island. Dropped anchor and went looking for lobster. After gigging a few bugs, we swam back to the boat, boarded and began stowing gear for the cruise back.
Looking up, we saw an "all-black", large performance V-hull approaching us from the south. It was moving very fast. As it drew closer, we could see a man STANDING ON THE DECK at 60+ MPH. Needless to say, there was something very wrong with this picture.
This was an amazing curiosity to me. How could a man stand on the deck of a performance boat travelling at speed... in choppy water? My buddy was not as curious... he fired up all four and had us on plane within seconds.
As I look behind, this "black boat" is now following us. The guy is still standing on the deck, but now I can see what he's holding. It's a machine gun! And now I can see how he's able to stand on the deck. He's strapped into a deck mounted stand (similiar to an airplane "wing-walker" harness).
My first thought was... immigration officials? Nope. Pirates!
I wasn't really up to speed on Caribbean Canibals, but my buddy was. He had recently heard about the "Bimini Black Boat" and wasn't sticking around to find out. As the black boat was gaining on us, I could hear "pops". I thought we had engine problems at first. I was wrong. We had bullet holes! Three of 'em on the hull and one went through an engine cowling.
No sooner... we were running Wide Open Throttle and pulling away. The throttles stayed pegged for 20 miles, when the black boat finally broke-off the chase. We continued back to Lauderdale, filed a report with the Coast Guard and I never returned to Bimini.
I was expecting the life of those new powerheads were significantly shortened, but they ran flawlessly for another few years.
Moral of the story... break 'em in like your running for your life!
