With Class 1 Cat Complete, Outerlimits Eyes V-Bottom Kilo Record

Given the once-bitter rivalry between the principals of Fountain Powerboats and Outerlimits Offshore Powerboats—during their V-bottom supremacy feud the Fountain camp actually ran a magazine ad accusing Outerlimits of leaving its Kilo Run event “under the cover of darkness”—the picture above bears testament not just to how things change, but to the brand-new high-performance boat world in which we live. Outerlimits owner and founder Mike Fiore and Reggie Fountain standing arm in arm for a photo op? Just five years ago, that would have been unthinkable.

But that, as the cliché goes, was then. Since Fountain departed the company he founded, the iconic V-bottom builder and his former arch-rival have been in touch. And when Fiore wanted “warmer water” for the first sea trial of the new 48-foot catamaran his company built for Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella to campaign on the Union International Motonautique Class 1 offshore racing circuit, he called Fountain.

“I called him and said I need a place to put the boat in some warmer water,” said Fiore whose company is based in Rhode Island. “He said, ‘Come on down. The water is 62 degrees. We ran right behind his house. We had a really good day with Reggie. We got to run some boats, shoot the bull and have a good time.

“Reggie is a very smart, very dynamic guy,” he added. “I have offered to help him out with whatever he has in mind. I’m kind of game.”

Next up for Outerlimits, according to Fiore, is setting a new V-bottom kilo record. The company currently is building a 43SV with twin 1,800-hp engines—built in house at Outerlimits—for the job. Fiore said he hopes to attempt to set the record on the Salton Sea in California, most likely in May this year.

“It ought to run in the 180s (mph),” he said. “I’ll probably do it with Joe Sgro. But our first job was to finish the Class 1 boat. Now we can focus more on the kilo boat.”