Image Of The Week: DCB’s Proudest M37R Moment

From conceptual renderings and receiving the hull and deck molds to the first day of on-water testing and the delivery of seven new models in less than a year, there have been a lot of gratifying instances over the two-plus-year journey of developing their newest model—the M37R Widebody catamaran—for the folks at DCB Performance Boats in El Cajon, Calif. And while every one of those examples will remain vivid in the minds of everyone at DCB, the Thursday morning photo shoot on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks last week with four of the company’s 37-foot models is going to be at or near the top of any list when it comes to the history of DCB, especially for two of the company’s most public principals, Tony Chiaramonte and Jeff Johnston.

Four DCB M37R Widebody catamarans powered by twin Mercury Racing 450R engines strutted their stuff on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks last Thursday. Photos by Tom Leigh/Tommy Gun Images

Chiaramonte and Johnston were in the center of the action, sitting next to each other in the back seats of Kris and Shelby Hansen’s M37R Widebody, the same boat Chiaramonte drove to 118 mph two days later to win his class in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout hosted by Captain Ron’s Bar and Grill in Sunrise Beach. And, according to Johnston, they both took a few seconds to look to the left, glance to the right and soak in the fact that there were four extremely happy clients from four different states running side-by-side in their dream boats, all of which were powered by a pair of 450-hp, supercharged 4.6-liter V-8 outboard engines from Mercury Racing.

“I looked over at Tony and he said to me, ‘This is what it’s all about,’ and I just smiled,” Johnston said as four of the company’s first true-tunnel catamaran models ran in formation along the popular waterway with Arizona-based photographer Tom Leigh capturing the action above courtesy of locally based Tom Cline Helicopter. “I don’t know the best description for it, but the whole thing was incredibly gratifying. Or maybe rewarding is a better word. Either way, I felt extremely proud. Extremely proud of what the entire DCB team accomplished to get to this point and extremely proud of the way these four great drivers were able to stay in sync with the helicopter and photographer above. It all felt very professional.”

The four boats pictured, and featured individually in the slideshow below, are owned by (from top in the image above) New York’s Ken and Renee Lalonde, California’s Kris and Shelby Hansen, New Mexico’s Dave and Sheri Hoekstra and Nevada’s Bryce and Ashley Menzies.

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Check out the slideshow above for more images of the 37-foot cats running on Lake of the Ozarks.

“Any photographer will tell you that’s not an easy shot to pull off,” Johnston said. “I mean it’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s still a cool shot that took a good amount of coordination. It took a great crew to make it happen—the pilot, the photographer and the four terrific drivers who selected us to build them their dream boats. Again, it really made Tony and I feel full of pride.”

Image Of The Week: DCB’s Proudest M37R Moment

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