Welcome to the White Tornado 1969 Bertram 31 race boat
This site is designed to document the 1969 Bertram offshore race boat White Tornado… Its history, “find”, restoration and the people who brought her back to life.
Many people did not know that in addition to his sailboat racing exploits, Richard Bertram was an Offshore Powerboat racing champion as well. In fact, the Bertram Yacht Company was founded on the 31’ Miami to Nassau winning offshore raceboat Glass Moppie in 1960. Dick Bertram and Sam Griffith were co-drivers and Carlton Mitchell was navigator. In 1966 Peter Rittmaster (President of Bertram Yachts), working with in house engineer Russ Specht, designed a new offshore raceboat. She was 32’ in length and had one engine in front of the cockpit while the other was behind. This was an inboard boat using Z and V drives to deliver the power to the props — a very unique and highly successful arrangement. Not long after when the Mercury outdrive became strong enough to handle the power of racing engines, the boat design was converted to an I/O arrangement with both engines behind the cockpit in staggered positions. The reverse transom was modified to allow the installation of the outdrives, thus shortening the boat slightly. This version of the boat is known as the 31’.
We hope you enjoy your visit!
THE FIND
This 31′ Bertram race boat was saved by Cadillac McDaniel In 2011. He was towing a boat in Boynton Beach and saw the unique profile of this historic boat through a canopy of trees and bushes. He had seen the boat, years before, derelict in a side yard of a house in Miami……
THE RESTORATION
Watch the Restoration story of the White Tornado as told by the owners and staff of the three companies that did all the restoration work.
These videos highlight the work done by the staff of TNT Custom Marine, Guardado Marine and Miami Prestige Interiors in restoring the historic offshore powerboat racer White Tornado.
THE LAUNCH
After almost 2 years of work the official launching of the Bertram 31 – White Tornado took place on October 28th 2015 at the TNT Custom Marine facility in Miami Florida
The rain held off and the launch went smoothly the guests list included friends and family of the owner and people who helped with the project especially the staff of the restoration companies. Some legendary personalities from that racing era were present. After the Launch guests were treated to boat rides on White Tornado on Biscayne Bay – It was smiles all around
VIAREGGIO ITALY 2016
White Tornado is going to Italy to be on display in Viareggio Italy at the VBV Legend’s – 1st International Meeting of Classic Offshore Powerboats to be held July 21 – 24 2016
This will be a historic Italian home coming for White Tornado as she was raced by Offshore Powerboating legends Vincenzo Balestrieri
and Francesco Cosentino as part to the Tornado Racing Team.
