this was taken in 1988 in florida.she was a georgeous boat for sure

Interesting.  When I was a kid, on a family vacation in 1958 we went to see some big boat time trials on a canal in the Miami, FL area.  I don't recall if many were Gold Cup boats but at least a few were Allison enginied.  As I remember the canal was too narrow for high speed runs but the impression of them has never left me.  There's a thread on the Jalopy Journal devoted to the vintage Gold Cup unlimiteds ... great photos and information ... and the names of the boats are wonderful.  There era of piston-engine big boats is akin the the old AAA-USAC Championship Trail to me.

Joel

Speaking of boats....  I found this one and a few more when going through some negatives from Nelson Ivins/Provided by Bob Pickell Jr:

I'm guessing that this was somewhere on the Delaware River... Maybe down by Duck Island?

My 60 year old brain can't emember the circumstances, but when I was around 5-6 years old I was at some kind of boat races on the Delaware river. Not full blown turbo's, but kind of like the pic Joe posted. Full blown big blocks bolted onto a boat the size of a bath tub. LOL! Pretty scary stuff, when the boats were at top speed the only thing in the water was the prop! I remember one of the boats was sponsored by Hopin Gator. Wasn't that a beer/ soft drink company or something like that?  

Were they known as Skiffs?  Speaking of Hopin Gator here is some information. 

"In 1969, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company introduced Hop'n Gator Lemon-Lime Lager, which was a combination of beer and Gatorade, but with 25% more alcohol than regular beer. The concoction was created by Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade....
However, Hop'n Gator quickly ran into problems. First, the brewery was sued in 1970 by the makers of Gatorade for infringing on the Gatorade trademark. This suit apparently was settled. But the larger problem was that Hop'n Gator pitched to the public as a "lemon-lime lager," just didn't sell very well.

So the brewery dropped the "lemon-lime lager" description and re-introduced Hop'n Gator as a "tropical-flavored malt liquor." This proved more appealing.....

"In 1975, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company gave up and discontinued Hop 'n' Gator. In 2004, they produced 10,000 more barrels of it as a novelty. But no more since. So unless you can find some on eBay, your chance of ever trying Hop'n Gator is gone.

More information here - https://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/hop_n_gator_beer

Don't forget Charlie Lloyd built some very fast hydro's before he built some of the fastest sprint cars in Central Pa.

Piston era hydrops ...  Joel

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-unlimited-hydroplanes.1169762/

Hydros from the piston era ...  Joel

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-unlimited-hydroplanes.1169762/  

Those smaller ones are what i watched race on the Delaware River. Must have been somwhere down near trenton/Philly where the river is wide because they raced on an oval set up with buoys.

In the 1980's my family ran Jersey Speed Skiffs  up and down the east coast.  Very exciting racing.  The boats at the time ran a direct drive 283 Chevy.  Here is a  YouTube clip of my father in law stuffing his boat in Norristown, Pa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9cjYFdgxm8

This is a Must See!

"Jersey Speed Skiff" APBA Boat Racing Norristown, PAa  1980's JSS

Tom - I lived in Barnegat when I was 7 - 8 years old and spent a lot of my summers down there after that, and a big thrill for me was going to the Garvey races that were held a different places throughout the summer along the Barnegat Bay.

When they made their yearly appearance for raceday at the Barnegat Public Dock, it was like our Indy 500....  Tweety Bird, Red Baron, Chantilly Lace, Tom & Jerry are some of the names I remember.  All the boats were tied up to the dock, so it was like everyone was in the pits even this 7 year old!. 

Watching the drivers climb down off the dock and into the boats to head off to who knows what awaited...  Just two guys with orange helmets... sitting in the back of flat bottom boat, with a 283 with pointed up just a few feet in front of them heading out across the chop. 

Pretty cool stuff.

Thanks Joe for doctoring up my post. I tried to post the link but it would not work for me.

We raced with the group that you mentioned and won championships in the 1980's.  When we raced with them they were called the New Jersey Garvey Association.

I once saw a garvey hit a wave, barrel roll 360 degrees and continue on as if nothing had happened with both its pilot and co-pilot unharmed.  Making it even more amazing was the fact that the race boats did not run seat belts at that time.

The Jersey Speed Skiffs were derived from the boats that were used during prohibition.  Modified skiffs designed to outrun the authorities.

I remember the skiffs too... They had kind of rolled sides so to me, they could lean through the corners more than the garveys that had flat bottoms and short flat sides.  For me, it was dirt track racing on the bay!  The skiffs had more "bite" in the turns, and the garveys kind of slid a little sideways.

Watching the boats head out to race and then make their way back in to the dock (or to the shallows depending on the venue) was as cool to me as the actual races.  Pretty cool audio too with the open headers.

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