Picnic on the Half-shell

April 24, 1961

Some hardened sailors muttered that last week's Miami-to-Nassau powerboat race was nothing but a picnic, and maybe it was (see page 55). But for Miami's Hal Bever and his 18�-foot outboard, it was a picnic with too many showers. Shooting over the water at close to 35 mph, Bever's lightweight SMX-3 runabout at one point dived headlong into a swell. The scallop-shell effect was picturesque, all right, but such spectacular dramatics did nothing for Bever's time. His boat finished seventh in her class, 15th in the over-all field, and three hours behind the winner.