TBPNews #27 - August 14, 2002
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In this issue: 
1) Longtime Unlimited owner, Bob Fendler passes away.
2) 'CART Performance Secrets for Powerboats'
3) Discounts on 'Bass & Walleye Boats' magazine
4) 'Offshore Grand Prix' book deal
5) New FREE Software on our Download page!
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1) Bob Fendler passes away Sunday, August 11.

He was 67 year old.  Longtime Unlimited owner Bob Fendler has (was, next to Bernie Little) the longest tenure of any hydroplane owner.  He fielded his popular yellow and red U-19 boat in 2001, which was purchased from Fred Leland in 1996.  A former outboard competitor, Bob Fendler saw his first Unlimited race when he was a spectator at the 1964 San Diego Cup.  The following year he had his own boat, the former Coral Reef (U-19).  Bob changed the name to Miss San Diego but kept the U-19 designation, which he used consistently ever since.  Fendler was his own driver during the first three seasons, but later stepped aside to campaign a popular string of Unlimited hydroplanes.  His lone win as an owner came at the 1973 President's Cup in Washington D.C., with Gene Whipp driving the Lincoln Thrift Special. Bob always had a smile and a friendly greeting for anyone wandering through the pits.  He had alot to do with racing in his hometown of Honolulu.  Our thoughts are with Bob's family and friends.
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2) 'CART Performance Secrets for Powerboats'

There is a great winning lesson for high performance powerboaters from Formula 1 and CART Series car racing.

At the CART Series Grand Prix of Cleveland on Sunday July 14/2002, Team Player's Patrick Carpentier gained an important 13 second lead on Team KOOL/Green's Dario Franchitti by running his car with a lower weight of fuel in his car for 4 laps prior to the last pit stop.  Carpentier ultimately won the race. 

This is a great lesson for powerboat designers...and here is why?

Auto racers like CART and F1 calculate the exact advantage that fuel weight has on the performance of the car.  Since the cars all weigh about the same, the fuel weight is important.  The 25-gallon "advantage" of fuel that Mr. Carpentier had over Mr. Franchitti for a few laps, would have represented a car that weighed 200 lbs less.  This lower weight meant less drag and thus, more speed.  The same applies to boat design - but not just for fuel - we can gain more speed by cutting weight in lots of places.

A similar situation can be considered for a 30ft offshore catamaran with 2X600hp engines.  Its total running weight (loaded, including 700 lb of fuel) could be about 7700 lb, and it would have a top speed of say, 105 mph.  By running with only 200 lbs less weight (this is only about 2.5 percent less weight) the top speed would increase by 1.5 mph.  This may not seem like allot, but remember - the winning boat need only cross the finish line 1 foot sooner than the 2nd place boat!  Over a 5-mile racecourse, this represents an advantage for the lighter boat of over a second (or 175 feet) on each lap!

There are lots of ways to reduce the weight of such a boat by only 200 lbs.  A lighter fuel load is one method (can be accomplished with economical engine/prop efficiencies); lighter hull designs; lightweight engine components, lower unit drives and accessories - and yes...a lighter driver, too!
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3) Huge Discounts on 'Bass & Walleye Boats' magazine!  

We have recently obtained great deals on Powerboat magazine subscriptions.  
Family & Performance Boating - Showcases sport and performance boats in ways never before seen, and provides performance enhancement solutions to better meet the power and handling demand of today's more knowledgeable enthusiast.  Only $2.55 per issue -- That is 36% off.
http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/boating%20magazines%20discounts.html
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4) High Performance POWERBOAT Books - 'The Offshore Grand Prix: There's No Turning Back'

We have obtained great deals on Powerboating design and history books.
http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/boating%20magazines%20discounts.html

In The Offshore Grand Prix, There's No Turning Back, author Jill Berg introduces the reader to the dynamic sport of Class I offshore powerboat racing.  While following the day-to-day race activities of Norway's Ugland Race Team, readers learn about the basic technology and safety measures involved in the sport and get a sneak peak at the behind the scenes activities competitors enjoy during the seven month season.  33 international race teams are featured in over 190 photos illustrating the excitement, danger and color of offshore racing.
http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/boating%20books%20discounts.html
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5) New Software FREE on our Download page!

Madison's 'Convert' - an easy to use unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions.  Download for FREE at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/free_downloads.html

'PolyCAD 5.0' - a geometry tool designed for editing entities commonly found in Naval Architecture applications. Provides a range of extensive, simple and straight forward editing features across all entities and to allow level physical conversion between entities.  These factors make this tool more useful than most Naval Architecture design packages and more flexible than most drafting packages such as AutoCAD.  Download for FREE at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/free_downloads.html 
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See you next issue!

/Jimboat
www.aeromarineresearch.com
Jimboat@aeromarineresearch.com
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>>>>>> Tunnel Boat Performance News >>>>>>>>>>>>>>


