19 February 2013
Just a few weeks away until the Stuart Sailfish Regatta in WARM sunny South Florida. Mike Grendell reports everything is a go and the committee is sending in their sanction next week. It still looks like if we can get the 77 redone and out of the shop, and the Kennedys get their boat finished, we’ll have at least 6 GPs in attendance. Mike also reports several H-350 boats are going down to get some testing time in. Should be a great race and show for the early springtime. As reported earlier, Martin Rochon will be driving the GP-77 Coppertone boat. This should be a great young team getting into our GP family and also they bring the first major sponsor to our sport in some time, that we can all build on. Yours truly will be building their motors and the boat is now at Jamie Auld’s shop where the motor will be reversed and the boat will be going to a direct drive instead of a gearbox unit. This should prove to be interesting as this will be the first Bergeron GP boat to be running direct drive. In round numbers they say this conversion should save 100 pounds and about 90 to 100 horsepower not running through a gearbox. Speaking of the Bergeron GP boats, in my last newsletter, I forgot to mention that Pierre Maheu won 8 GP finals in his Bergeron hull. Sorry Pierre, I didn’t mean to forget you. Remember, I’m getting’ older these days! Also, speaking of Pierre, there’s a little rumor going around that he “might” be driving a GP boat in Valleyfield. Now remember, that’s a “little” rumor at this time. Included in this newsletter are the first pictures of the GP-77 Coppertone’s new fifth wheel race boat trailer. This trailer features a 24 foot live-in/work station area with a 14 foot slide out with all the features of a small motorhome. As you can see there’s lots of storage space and large work area under the boat cradle. The Coppertone crew will be working overtime to get their boat ready to run down in Florida.
The new GP driver’s committee has been elected with Ken Brodie Jr., Bert Henderson, George Kennedy, Marc Theoret, and Marty Wolfe as their chairman. They’re going to have their work cut out for them with two new rookies this year and two left over from last year although the last two from 2012 are off restriction but nevertheless are still being watched as new drivers.
I also hear that Tom Pakradooni’s new Bergeron hull could be ready to test in April at the race in Stuart. Our ACHA GP family keeps growing every year and getting more competitive.
Until next time “Think Spring”
Huey