Go-fast boat
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The cigarette boat or go-fast boat is a high performance boat of a characteristic design. Originally designed for his offshore racing team by Donald Aronow, the fast, powerful boats became notorious as the drug smuggling boat of choice in many parts of the world in the 1990s and first years of the 21st century.
[edit] History
Don Aronow became involved in powerboat endurance racing in the early 1960s. He started Formula boats, Donzi boats, Magnum, Cigarette, and Squadron X11 (12). His boat, a long, narrow 32-foot (10-meter) hull using twin MerCruiser engines, was called Cigarette, after a Prohibition era rum smuggling boat. When he retired from racing in the 1970s, Aronow formed the Cigarette Racing Team, and continued to build offshore endurance racing boats of similar design. The innovative Cigarette was successful enough that boats of that type, even by other makers, are still commonly called cigarette boats or just cigarettes.
[edit] Construction
A typical go-fast is built of fiberglass, with a deep "V" offshore racing hull from usually 30 to 50 feet (10 to 15 m) long and multiple powerful engines, often with more than 1000 combined horsepower. The boats can travel at speeds over 80 knots (150 km/h) in calm waters, over 50 knots (90 km/h) in choppy waters, and maintain 25 knots (47 km/h) in the average five to seven foot (1.5 to 2 m) Caribbean seas. They are heavy enough to cut through higher waves, although at a slower pace.
[edit] Use
In accordance with their pure racing heritage, the accommodations on these boats are minimal, and they are built to hold 5 or more passengers. While most do have some cabin under the foredeck, it is low and much smaller than a typical motor yacht of similar size. Apart from the racing market, most buyers of these boats purchase them for the mystique; the combination of the racing and smuggling connections, plus the immense power and high top speeds make these boats popular as ostentatious displays of wealth.
[edit] Illegal use
These boats are rarely detected by radar except on flat calm seas or at close range. The US Coast Guard finds them to be stealthy, fast, seaworthy, and very difficult to intercept using conventional craft. Because of this, Coast Guards are developing their own high-speed craft and also using helicopters. The helicopters are equipped with sniper rifles which can be used to disable the motors of the go-fast boat. The Coast Guard go-fast boat is an rigid hulled inflatable boat RHIB equipped with radar and powerful engines. The RHIB is armed with several types of non-lethal weapons and M240 GPMG. RHIB's are not typically fast boats.
