German businessman and speedboat fanatic Roger Klüh broke the Florida-to-Cuba record on August 1. The old record was 6 hours and 23 minutes, set in 1958 by American boater Forest Johnsen on the 145 km route.
However, in the following years there was a communist revolution in Cuba and diplomatic relations with America went down the drain. Boat races between the USA and Cuba were thus practically no longer possible.
But since Barack Obama and Raul Castro have been trying to restore relations, the stage was set for Roger Klüh to take advantage of advances in speedboat technology and finally set a new record.
The Apache Star competed in a speedboat world championship for the first time in 1992 and immediately captured the world title. In 1993, the Apache Star, then named the Apache Heritage, again took the World Championship title. Unique for a V-hull boat, especially since speedboat catamarans dominate the top. And this is where the passion for the boat begins, because Roger Klüh was there live at the time. Klüh in an interview: "It was love at first sight".
But after that it was quiet around the boat, it was like disappeared from the face of the earth. The owner at the time no longer had the time or priority to use the boat, but also did not want to part with it. And so it happened that the boat was left to rot until Roger Klüh rediscovered the boat in a shipyard in early 2012 and immediately acquired it.
Elaborate restoration work costing around two million dollars and around 7000 hours of work followed. The hull was completely gutted and now has a free-floating titanium floor, which was attached to the hull with a spring bearing and absorbs the extremely hard impacts.
In any case, the effort was worth it!
Basic data about the boat:
- Shipyard: Apache Powerboats
- Year of construction: 1993 / Complete refit from February 2012 - February 2014
- Length: 15 meters
- Width: 2,44 meters
- 2 Mercury Racer with a total of 2,700 hp
- Fuel tank: 1200 liters
- Water tank: 300 liters
- Cruising speed: 90 knots
- Allowed passengers: 4
- Color of the boat: ApacheStar Orange (unique and designed and produced in Europe)
Other data:
- Racing bucket seats Recaro exclusive in leather - silver.
- Tanks integrated in the fuselage made of titanium
- Air conditioning in the cockpit
- Most modern safety standards, Security Safety System
- Racing cockpit windshield from US fighter jet in green tone made to measure incl. heat and breakage; tests approx. 6 months, same material on engines / turbines tested to 2000 degrees heat resistance
- After the boat won 2 times (1993 and 1994) in Key West both world championships in all categories, after that it was always in Apache Powerboats shipyard
- Today Apache Star has a German flag certificate with the home port Miami
- The logo on the boat is from a Native American artist from New York and was painted with a labor of about 800 man hours
- Logo and name (ApacheStar) were developed and patented by me
- For the technology of the boat only materials from the aircraft construction were processed
- The hull has been completely refurbished and reinforced, practically indestructible for the next 100 years.
- Furthermore, the hull has a free-floating titanium floor, which was attached to the hull with a spring bearing and absorbs the extremely hard impacts.
- Apache-Star is the highest quality V-hull powerboat in the U.S.
Source: Boote-Magazin
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