History

[Dream Chaser]

We have been told that our boat was one of the 4 that were used to film the movie "Capt Ron". We have virtually no history about our boat and have not been able to find any information about the boats used to film the movie...so although we would love to beleive this we are wondering if it is really true...Does anyone have any idea how we could find out more about our boat??? If was built in the Formosa boat yard..and the previous owner died of Cirrhosis...it was purchased in St. Augustine from the handlers of his "estate"...and we found an old picture of the boat in its younger years...but other than that we got nothin...

__________________________________________________ ___
"Mind the rudder or meet the Rock".....Capt Fatty Goodlander

[Joli]

Is the maker still in business? Maybe contact them if they are?

[mobetah]

I've been told, by more than one person, that the (I have never heard that there werre four) boat used in Capt. Ron is now located in Lafayette Landing Marina in Kema Texas. If your boat was actually used in the filming of Capt. Ron it will probably hard to prove! If you could located the owner of the boat in Kema, perhaps you could compare notes.

We suspect that our 1984 Endeavour40 was the sailboat used the first season of Miami Vice. We have the vidios of the first year and have been unable to detect anything that would prove our boat to be the one used nor have we found anything that prove it was not. In Miami Vice, the boat never had a jib and the main never even had a sailcover (the main was usually just draped over the boom), there were no instruments, roller furling or accessories of anykind installed (the boat was completely bare). Those scratches on the deck that look like they were made by the claws of an alligator might mean something!

Good luck in your search for the history of your boat!

[knottybuoyz]

Might be a leads here.........

60' ketch in "Captain Ron" - Boat Design Forums

1976 FORMOSA SAILBOAT. 51 foot.

http://www.force50.org/forum/cmps_index.php

[Pblais]

It could be true but I wouldn't pay extra Odds are it is "like" the one used in the movie.

The 1976 boat above is obviously not the one filmed as it does not look like the boat in the film. As noted on the first link from the forum above nothing you see below was used in the movie was aboard a real boat. All the interior shots were constructed so they could fit a film crew inside the set too. The cavernous engine room below the saloon is obviously not a plasuible engine room as that much head room below the saloon would be a very large boat.

[GordMay]

I understand that the movie “Captain Ron” utilised 3 separate Formosa 51’s, including one named “Wanderer”, and another named "Windborne", both from Kemah, Texas.
Perhaps your “Dream Chaser” is the third?

[Fishspearit]

You might try finding something that shows it was in the area of Puerto Rico and St. Thomas when the movie was filmed. Something like 1989 I think. That scene where Capn Ron comes flying into the dock, slams it into reverse, and jumps off for a cold one was clearly filmed at Puerto del Rey in Fajardo, PR.

[Dream Chaser]

Thanks for all the feedback, gives me a place to start...We were told this after the boat was already in our posession, and in our hearts...so it did not increase our love for her, but it would be a nice tid-bit of info to pass onto visitors...if it were true...Most Formosa's I see have the square (rectangle) window on the sides of the cabin top but ours are the round porthole windows...if that is any indicator I don't know...the one in Kemah TX has the rectangle windows and the same carvings on the doors in the parlor...(I understand that each familiy that built these boats put "signiture" carvings in them...so all with sailboats carved on the doors were built by same family...I have seen some with Tigers or Lilly's carved on doors...but the one in Kemah had the boats just like Dream Chaser...so perhaps...????

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Dream Chaser,
Welcome aboard! Millions of questions answered here daily.
If your is the boat used in Captain Ron I'd think about fixing the engine. Seemed to use lots of oil.
Just kidding!
Really, wouldn't the movie industry have records of such things?
Kind Regards,
JonnL

[knottybuoyz]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Really, wouldn't the movie industry have records of such things?

I checked the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) which is usually a good source for trivia etc. but it had nothing on the boat(s).

[JON KING]

I HAVE OWNED A 1976 FORMOSA 51 SINCE 1990. IN 1989, IT WAS PURCHASED IN FLORIDA AND THE BROKER TOLD THE OWNER THAT THIS BOAT WAS ONE OF THE 3 BOATS THAT WAS USED IN THE MOVIE CAPTAIN RON. I HAVE THE YACHT BROKERS NAME IF YOU WANT TO TALK TO HIM AND GET MORE INFORMATION. YOU CAN CONTACT ME THROUGH EMAIL AND I WANT TO SELL THE BOAT. NIKNOJ@HOTMAIL.COM

[Admiral-SeaWolf]

If she has her name on her trailboards as DreamChaser with a gold-border
hand-scroll and her name in block as Dream Chaser (note the difference) on her transom; if her hailing port was Highlands, NC and her main and mizzen
are full batten; if she has a PUR watermaker in her main salon port-side and an ice-maker in her galley; if she has a blue light affixed to her mizzen top
and a strobe at her main; if her suit of sails includes one or two asymmetrical
tri-radials; and if she was once white of hull and had been recently redone
in chocolate... is she had her cannon still a'deck and her black powder stored
in a midship compartment...

Then it is likely that it is meownself shall have all the information you seek.
For 'twas she and I once sailed the Caribbean through years of infamy and
notoriety... steep seas and howlin' gales...

SeaWolf
~~~~~

[Solitude]

Funny scenes

YouTube - Captain Ron's docking manuevers

YouTube - Captain Ron's Lessons in Anchoring

[Admiral-SeaWolf]

HarHo! Remember that film well.... once upon a time in a far off land as I strolled my decks while at berth in a rather heavily populated commercial marina/yacht haven... a tourist cruise boat pulled alongside my beam and over the deck megaphone was heard to say:
"...and here folks is Captain Ron himself and as you can see he hasn't changed a bit!..."

I smiled and waved and encouraged Sir General Lee (my pirate parrot of equal infamy who was perched upon my shoulder) to respond with his usual quips, quotes, slanderous remarks and jovial trouble-making....
So a thanks to you, Solitude, for the peek back in time.

It is easy to understand how just as easily there are those who upon sight of any given W. Garden design 50 or 51 (and/or all those variations thereof) might conclude such as that which began the inquiry relevant to this thread.

The subject itself: the Formosa/Taiwan boat building era, with specific regard to the
W. Garden designs was, is and will most likely continue to be a topic of hot debate.

Due diligence notwithstanding... and with a firm belief that the proof is found in
the pudding... there is one topic that (at least for me) is no longer open to debate:
the inherent speed and handling capability of the 51 in any sea-wind state.
To those who would propose that the Garden 50-51-52 is less than fleet I say:
ye'll need learn a bit yet more of the art of catching the wind.
For those who in reality did propose as much to me in those days of yore...
I had only a wave from my quarterdeck aft toward the rapidly diminishing shapes
of their various hull designs and sail configurations.

I was drawn to the original post by happenchance on a surf ... which sparked an almost shelved memory of days gone by and friends long lost ... seas sailed ... hearts won ...
legends easily created and then as equally embellished ... and all the fond memories of my years at the helm, sprit, and topmast of my ol' princess warrior o'the seas ...
DreamChaser. Seas well sailed, offings well made, races well won and feats of daring well done. It is told well that tale in a port well south of the day a ketch of merely 65 feet LOA was seen to do the impossible... as she placed her bowsprit across the start line well ahead of the Schooner America... with her rail down and her uppermost spreaders within inches of the rigging of that noble schooner .... and as well of her departure from that port after winning that particular racing series of events ....
7 sails aloft bound west to the Cay Sal for a meeting with the GulfStream and her journey north into the eye teeth of a full blown norther gale.... her infamous Heart of the Ocean jewel (embedded in the teak of her bowsprit's very foremost tip) to be lost yet again to the depths of the North Atlantic.

While the movie in question was a well done depiction of that which the hearts of all sailors alike embrace... DreamChaser sailed the reality of dreams well chased.

As did meownveryself... aye indeed... aye indeed.

'Twas but my thought that her new skipper might enjoy the tales of her years of revelry, infamy and daring-do in the Caribbean Seas and North Atlantic.
As always... I enjoy the telling and re-telling of them all...
equally as well as I did the creation of them...

SeaWolf
~~~~~

[Dream Chaser]

I haven't been on this site in quite some time...thanks for the responses...SeaWolf drop us a line...sounds like you have some great tales in need of telling and we be in need of hearin...
docjgs123@aol.com