OUR HISTORY: The Risk Takers (Part 1) – Charles D. Strang

In all spheres of endeavour or work, there is a multitude, very often the journeymen or the “clock punchers”, who carry out the duties assigned to them by those in charge without query or quibble and little inquisitiveness. Such people are necessary to get things started, built and finished, and are a key requisite for getting products into the hands of customers.

OUR HISTORY: The Risk Takers (Part 2) – Carl Kiekhaefer

Should one wish to read a full, warts-and-all biography of Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer (pronounced “Keykayfur”), the father of the Mercury outboard motor, there is an excellent book (possibly out of print now but nonetheless magnificent) by the Pulitzer-winning writer, Jeffrey Rodengen, with the title “Iron Fist”.

OUR HISTORY: The Risk Takers (Part 3) – Don Aronow

Northeast 188th Street, North Miami was a bland, seedy industrial area, made up of nondescript boatbuilding facilities and allied fabrication and engineering businesses. It was the sort of stark industrial area one would also find in Auckland, Sydney, or Los Angeles. However, NE 188th Street also had an imposing and impressive alternative name that belied its stark environs.

OUR HISTORY: The Risk Takers (Part 4) – Renato Molinari

In a recent idle moment, I was browsing through some online historic boat-racing sites when I chanced upon a picture of an oldish man – not tall or particularly well-built – perched a little awkwardly, almost incongruously and self-consciously, on the sponson of a modern-day race boat from the F1H20 World Championship Series. 

The Outboard Files: THE ICE AGE AND BEYOND Part 1

With the automotive industry currently racing towards a credible and viable alternative to the internal combustion engine (ICE) and zoning in rapidly, and maybe somewhat hastily and rashly, on an all-electric future, one would be tempted to think that the outboard industry – by virtue of the overlap and synergy with the land transport sector enjoyed by three of the major manufacturers – would not be far behind in terms of opting for an electric or even hybrid solution, but that is possibly a rather simplistic supposition at present.

The Outboard Files: THE ICE AGE AND BEYOND Part 2

With the headlong rush of automotive manufacturers to embrace electrical motive power, one might think that the future has already been predetermined and mapped out – but this is not so. Whilst I know (or think I know!) a not unreasonable amount about engines of the internal combustion variety, I would be the first to admit that my knowledge of new-technology electric motors and drive systems is, at best, patchy, limited and, at worst, coloured with a fair degree of wary scepticism.