Kap Called It
More than six years ago, a sharp Southern California-based powerboat enthusiast saw today’s sport catamaran craze coming. Phot courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Still writing for Powerboat magazine in 2011, I got a call one fine fall day from an avid and energetic reader named John Caparell. A lawyer and restaurant owner by trade, the San Diego-based high-performance powerboat enthusiast had a few hundred questions about one of my stories. I don’t remember how long we spoke, but I do recall being exhausted by the time I got off the phone.
Caparell—“Kap” to his friends—is as smart as he is relentless. He’s an excellent debater with a finely tuned B.S. meter. In fact, and I think I can say this now because in the interest of full disclosure we’ve become good friends, I believe he likes to argue. And why not? He’s damn good at it.
Anyway, near the end of that conversation, Caparell told me about a “secret project” he was working on, one that was going to “change everything.” In subsequent discussions with him, I learned that his secret project was a 32-foot Doug Wright open-cockpit catamaran with twin Mercury 300XS outboard engines.
and then