If you're like most car enthusiasts, just the thought of big horsepower and speed likely gets your adrenaline pumping. Putting your foot to the floor and tearing up the tarmac, paving your own route through the desert, or simply sprinting to triple digits speeds -- there are few things in life as exhilarating time and time again.
For some, triple digit speeds and big horsepower aren't exclusive to an automobile. If you are 51-year-old real estate investor, Rick Bowling, there are two alternative elements that will do just as well to get your heart racing. Water and a boat! By water, we're not talking about a glassy lake or a large open river; rather the open ocean where massive swells and choppy waters reign. And the boat is not your ordinary day cruiser or ski boat. No, it's a full-blown offshore racer.
So what makes a man want to take to the water to get his adrenalin rush? Could it be insanity? Or is it passion? According to Rick, all it took was one high speed ride in a 30' Scarab race boat nearly 24 years ago. After that he was hooked. If that is all it took, we'd have to refer back to our insanity query... Just kidding.
"Gone Again" is the name of Rick's latest, rather "re-engineered" boat. This is actually the boat he had built back in the early '90's to satisfy his offshore racing addiction. (The originally was made in '94 by Talon Custom Marine.) During its original years of operation, Gone Again and its crew captured many offshore racing championships. Rick also drove this boat to a world speed record of 138.040 MPH under Jelly Belly sponsorship.
Unfortunately, it was just a matter of time before Gone Again's luck began to run thin. During a race in St. Petersburg, Florida back in 2000, the boat flipped over at 120 MPH and was completely destroyed. The remains of the battered boat were recovered, placed on a trailer, and hauled to CK Motorsports (CKM) in Nunica, Michigan. Here, the "re-engineering" of Gone Again took place, basically making it a new "one of a kind" boat.
At CKM, architectural plans were laid out as a new experiment was underway; to take the race boat and create a fully enclosed pleasure craft that would provide a race-like feel without the high-risk. This experiment took nearly two years and some 5,000 hours of labor to complete, but the revamped, custom 37-foot long, 10.5-foot wide catamaran is now ready to go. This time, Rick's "re-engineered" boat incorporated a few new features and amenities. The most significant is a special watertight canopy designed and built by Douglas Marine. This greenhouse fully encapsulates the crew and protects them from the elements, including the noise of the two blower topped, 1000-plus horsepower engines built by Sterling Performance. The interior layout of the cockpit is straightforward. This is a race boat after all. Up front, a carbon fiber dash is littered with instruments. Immediately to the right of the steering wheel is a standard Horizon Marine Radio, a definite necessity for anyone interested in offshore travel. Clustered around the steering wheel and overflowing to the passenger side of the dash, 20 Auto Meter gauges and a single Gaffrig 180 MPH speedometer monitor nearly every aspect of the boat. Mounted to the left of the gauges are two monitors. The first is a TFT color display connected to a camera mounted in the rear of the boat. This aids Rick in backing up Gone Again since the cockpit does not allow for good rear visibility. The second is a Garmin GPSMAP 215/225. With no reference points in the ocean, this becomes a bit of a requirement to find your way around a race coarse, or to simply find your way home.
The remainder of the interior is not what you would call standard for a boat. Appearance Products Inc. in Caledonia, Michigan upholstered, or rather "crafted" the entire interior. For the driver and navigator, two 2-tone suede covered Sparco Milano seats reside in an almost car-like driving position. The navigator is supplied with an "Oh Sh!# Handle" for those somewhat intense moments. Directly behind them, another set of dualing Sparco's, also in a forward sitting position, allow for two additional daredevils to ride. To the outsides of the rear seats, custom armrests were constructed and wrapped in vinyl. The remainer of the side panels were covered with contrasting gray vinyl, suede or ozite carpet. On the floor is adhered a durable, non-slip rubber matting commonly found in machine shops while the rear compartment was treated with marine grade carpet.
Rick loves music, but when it came to the sound system for Gone Again, he opted to keep it simple. "The interior of the boat is enclosed and well insulated, so the audio system did not need to be extremely large. It doesn't take much power to reach high volume levels in such a small cockpit," says Rick.
Nearly all of the system components in Gone Again are from the Sony Xplod lineup. Located amongst the cluster of gauges in the dash is the source of the system, a Sony Xplod CDXT68X CD player. This unit was placed to the left of the steering wheel and makes for easy access for the driver. To complement the source unit, a Sony CDX-T70MX 6-disc CD changer was mounted beneath the dash in the navigator's footwell. This additional music play time just encourages Rick to play a little longer and harder.
Filling the front stage, a pair of MB Quart QM160.19 Nautic component coaxials playback the tunes. With the seating position much like that of a car, the speakers were located in an area that resembles kick panels to get the best possible imaging and overall performance. Just behind the front seats, a matching set of MB Quart 6.5" coaxials add to the ambiance to the system. Folding the rear seats forward reveals the two custom fabricated MDF enclosures in the rear corners of the greenhouse. Each of these holds one Sony Xplod XS-L1036 10-inch subwoofers to keep the bass notes flowing.
Powering the system are two Sony amplifiers. A 760 watt, 4-channel XM-475GSX is responsible for running the front and rear coaxials, while a 800 watt, 2-channel XM-2150GSX powers the subs. Both of these units are mounted in the rear just above the sub enclosures.
What is really fascinating is the PS-one and LCD combo mounted in the center console. It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to play games while riding in such an incredible boat. But, then again, if your son works for Sony Computer Entertainment America, it is bound to make its way into the family water ride, no matter how wild it is.
To keep everything powered, 4 Deka Marine Master batteries are employed. Three of these supply juice to the boat. Two marine battery switches reside between the rear seats and so the batteries can be turned on or off independantly. The fourth is on its own circuit and is used for all of the accessories, including the stereo system. This additional battery keeps Rick from having to ask for a "jump" on the rare occasion he has a dead battery from playing his music or PS-one for too long.
The outside of Gone Again is just as much a work of art as the interior, if not more. Dean Louks of Art of Design, came up with a patriotic paint theme to cover not only the boat, but the Kenworth tow rig as well. The paint is semi-asymmetrical, with an American flag that starts on the bow of the boat and continues down the left side of the canopy. Both the left and right side skins of the hull contain a red stripe detailed with a blue underline and "Gone Again" in big, bold letters over a white background. Towards the front of the lettering, you see the lucky number 7 which is hard to miss.
Rick is very proud of Gone Again and its accomplishments, just as he should be. This unique boat would not have been possible nor would his dream have been fulfilled if it weren't for the people supporting and helping him. For this he would like to thank all who were involved including his sons, Rick and Ryan Bowling, Henry Andreotti and Brian Howlett (who together form the race crew); and others who participated on the boat. Thanks also go out Rick's new sponsor Red Line Oil.
So what does Rick have planned for Gone Again's future? Well, there was no mention of racing. Believe it or not, the boat is a bit more civil now. Rick will be using it primarily for pleasure, or as he terms it, high-speed leisure runs. He does intend to show off his pride and joy, Gone Again, at special events and exhibition races, so be on the look out. By the time you read this, you may be able to catch a glimpse of his masterpiece at the Miami to Key West, Florida Poker Run in November of this year. Try to catch it while you can....or it'll pass you by.