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2004 Ft. Lauderdale Air & Sea Show Pictures...

Discussion in 'Boat Shows & Yacht Watching' started by YachtForums, May 3, 2004.

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  1. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    These are pics of the flotilla around us. We were anchored about a 1/4 mile north of Las Olas Blvd. We had Don Smith ("Smith 42" center console) rafted up on one side and on the other side... I have no idea who these people were, but they had good ratios of women onboard. ;)

    It was fairly windy over the weekend, so many boaters opted to stay in the intracoastal. Thankfully, there were no "bumber boat" incidents. I did my own version of the air show with an r/c helicopter, but got upstaged by the Blue Angels. :rolleyes:

    Here's the first pic. This boat (plane?) was originally built by Howard Hughes. Subsequently, it was owned by Jummy Buffet and renamed the "Cosmic Muffin". It's under different ownership now, and while I don't have any details, I'm sure their website "planeboats.com" will be enlightening... and maybe interesting.

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  2. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Picture quality is poor here (sunscreen on the lense?). Taken by a friend as I was returning from a flight. I was surprised how many boaters approached us to ask if we had the helicopter with us this year. Seems to be popular with the crowd... :)

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  3. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Here's a picture looking east from the flybridge. Earlier, a 90' double deck dinner boat made his way through this mess. Kudo's to the captain!

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  4. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    This was our "backyard" view, looking west. This parking lot got even more crowded later in the day.

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  5. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    These were the "girls next door"...

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  6. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Girls sunbathing on the aft deck. Not too hard to look at. I'll let this picture wrap up my mediocre coverage of the Ft. Lauderdale Air & Sea Show. Hope all of you make it to the show one day. You're welcome to raft up with us! :)

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  7. digitalvibes

    digitalvibes New Member

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    Hey! I'm the 28 foot Wellcraft with the red Bimini in those pics. (that's my "other" boat, the main one is a 42 foot Endeavour).

    It was hard to check out the girls with the binoculars, thanks for the closeup!

    And as usual Carl, you were mighty impressive with the chopper!
  8. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Hey DigiVibes!

    Long time, no post! Good to see you back onboard. Was that you off our bow?
  9. Motoryacht

    Motoryacht Member

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    Thats you Carl? Holy smokes... your amazing with that thing. I have met some guys that have tried those things and gave up after a year. They barely hovered.

    My deck hand said he knows you and your suppose to be one of the best in the world. We were watching you last year hovering upside down inches above the deck! I didn't know that was possible.

    How many have you crashed? :D :eek:
  10. digitalvibes

    digitalvibes New Member

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    Yup, that's us at your bow. We usually go outside but it was a little rough for a 28 footer out there. I hope there's going to be another one next year.
  11. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    I was one of those of those guys! Spent 3 weeks building my first heli and it took 3 seconds to crash it. I threw it in a box never to be flown again! But, I'm never one to give up. A couple of weeks later I decided to give it another whirl (pun intended). This time, it took a week to re-build it and 3 minutes to crash it. This means I was getting better! :D

    If I was inches above the deck, your deckhand was drinking! I don't hover inverted that close to the boat. I'll do it over open land, where parts can scatter without dismembering anyone, but with other people around, I'm more conservative than a republican in room full of liberals.

    Surprisingly... not too many. I've built over 50 of them and crashed about a dozen (over the past 18 years). The first year is an expensive learning curve and you quickly learn to stay within your skill envelope, otherwise... B.O.A.T.! (Break Out Another Thousand)

    The really expensive learning curve is inverted flight. This requires a credit card without a spending limit. :eek:
  12. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    I heard the show will go on for 2005. They say this every year and then somehow... pull it off. Appearently, the City of Ft. Lauderdale doesn't want to "ante-up" each year.

    I really wish you had joined us! We had CTDave, another YachtForums member onboard. He came down from Connecticut.

    Next time you see us, raft up!! :)
  13. yachtjim

    yachtjim Guest

    I had 2 RC Heli's, still have one. My learning curve was a lot easier because I started with planes. My RC stable includes just about every variation of vehicle imaginable. I have sort of widdled my interest down to on and off road cars, airplanes, and sailboats. My fastest car does about 75 but can only be used on a well maintained track, my most able plane can hover like a helicopter, and sailboat racing is a great way to hang out on the dock and down a few beers. The most impressive thing about flying your helicopter off your deck is knowing that you will lose the $1500 in gear if anything fails cause its going straight to the bottom :eek: . Too rich for my blood!!
  14. digitalvibes

    digitalvibes New Member

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    Will do! :)
  15. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    Which ones?

    Planes? Are those the things with fixed wings and propellers on the nose? Yeah... I think I've seen 'em. Love to watch helis collide with 'em. Instant balsa dust! :D

    I actually turned one of 'em into a submarine 2 years ago. I was touching the skids in the water and my charging jack got wet (it dangles from the bottom of the canopy). This immediately cross circuited the on/off switch and... splash! :rolleyes:

    No worries though. The machine was fully amortized. Had about 1300 flights on it and it was ready to retire. The good parts got relegated to the re-supply bin.

    My scariest flight was at the air show in the preceeding pictures. I hadn't flown for about 6 months prior and had no warm-up. Flying heli's is a "use it or loose it" skill and I was flying in a flotilla with some sailboat mast's around me. These can be very magnetic obstacles to an r/c aircraft!

    Well, after I landed, my hands were shaking so violently... I couldn't hold a drink. I'm ashamed to admit, after I had a drink... I flew MUCH better. ;)
  16. JHA

    JHA Senior Member

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    As much as I love a nice bird, be it with two rotors, or two h**ters, I must ask - what type of boat where you on at the airshow?

    It looks from the photos like an older 70 or 80 foot broward or burger.
  17. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    You know your boats! It's a 1982 72' Broward. Long story behind the boat...

    As a kid, growing up at Bahia Mar, I spent free time making "doodle-like" sketches of yachts. I got pretty good after awhile and was able to sell a few of these drawings to owners for about... the cost of a Snicker's Bar. Well, word got around the marina and soon I was visited by a guy who had an office at Bahia Mar. You might have heard of him... Richard Bertram.

    Mr. Bertram seemed to like my penmanship and subsequently introduced me to two gentlemen…Jack Hargrave and Frank Dennison. I had no idea who they were, but man did that have an impact on the rest of my life! They seemed to really like my drawings. Although I never saw Jack Hargrave again, I would see Frank Dennison at boat shows decades later and he always remembered me.

    Fast forward to the late 70's. Living along the intracoastal near the Commercial Blvd. Bridge, we heard the horns blow from what sounded like a freighter. My mom called out to me to see it. We both starred in disbelief. It was almost identical to the yacht I had drawn in 1972 and hung framed in our den. The yacht was a 70’ Broward and it was magnificent. Since that day, it is the one single boat I’ve always desired to own.

    Now I’m not about to take credit for the hard work and ingenious designs of these marine icons, but it’s fun to tell the fable of how I designed the classic 80's era Broward. In a somewhat amazing irony, guess what our current boat it is... 1982 72’ Broward! The identical boat that I dreamed up and... dreamed of owning.

    I love to tell that story... :)
  18. JHA

    JHA Senior Member

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    WOW!
    Jack Hargrave - one of the best yacht designers of all time; the Herreschoff (sp?) of motor yachts!
    And Dennison... I live next to the old Broward yard where Dennison built his boats when he created Broward (from what I hear;though my history may be skewed)
    Is it just me, or are the new Hargrave designs enough to make Mr. Hargrave himself turn in his grave.
    If you get a chance check out he Oct. '03 BoatUSA Intl. article on the Alexis refit. I worked on that boat when it was named Columbine. She is a Hargrave design, built by the Stevens yard on the west coast. And she has some of the prettiest lines of any yacht I've seen.

    Side-note : as a kid I drew ferrari's. I once met Luigi Chianetti, one of the ferrari designers (and the largest collector in the U.S.) he gave me a picture he had drawn, and signed it. I think it's in my folks attic somewhere. Anyway, I still don't own a ferrari, but maybe some day. As for the car he had drawn - unfortunately it never got produced.