When & where did you catch the Donzi fever?

[Donzigo]

A number of years ago, I was vacationing at South Seas Plantation on Sanibel Island just west of Ft. Myers, Florida. Well, in pulls this mega-yacht around 80 to 100 ft long, with Evil Kenival (sp?) on it accompanied by 1 captain, an "all girl crew" of 10 or so young things with bikinis so small you could put them in a thimble. On top of this giant were, count em, 2 glistening RED DONZI SWEET SIXTEEN"S and a RED HELICOPTER. I became smitten with "DONZI FEVER" at that exact moment. I'm thinking: "If I can't live the whole dream, I'll live part of it........That was in the 1970's, and in 1989, with the Z-25, my own little personal "Donzi dream" came true........

[Morgan's Cloud]

I think it was in the late '60s that the "production" models of the racing boats of the day started getting a good foothold here...It was reported that there was more Bertrams here than any other place on earth.Investigations into the newly revived and rapidly developing sport of offshore racing sparked an interest in all the early deep vees.. especially the Aronow/Wynne varieties.The one with the most alluring mystique was unquestionably Donzi.There began the love affair... I just never thought I'd end up with a St Tropez over a GT21 :)

[McGary911]

I grew up in Point pleasant beach, NJ, and while my family never was into boats, i loved 'em. In the early 80's a new marine dealership opened up on the Manasquan River, next to the train tracks. They were a Donzi dealer. Cerbone marine??? While i never had $$ to buy a boat, i'd roam the docks and dealers and dream a bit. The second i saw a Donzi at that dealership, i knew that nothing else was even close. Thats when it started.
Fast forward 20 years and im towing my new criterion down from maine in the dead of winter, as excited as the kid that stepped into that dealership so long ago. Cept this big kid had a Donzi now :) :) :)

[Team Hula Girl]

The first time I saw the donzi girls!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

I was 14 and I had a Boston Whaler that my family had and we used to use it for skiing, fishing, hydrosliding, etc. I was out on the Indian River with a couple of friends and a 22 Classic came by us at what seemed like a 100mph. (he was probably only doing 40mph) Of course at the tender age of 14 I was very impressionable. I continued to see the boat over the summer and the fever of getting a Donzi just kept on growing.

John

[Donzigo]

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..........John, and that would have been two summers ago, since you're still 16.

(Some guys never get past a certain age) :D

[Darrell]

About four years ago we were at Possum Kingdom and we got into a little race with a late model 28ZX, even though we were able to pass him, we both fell in love with the boat. Janet told me now thats the kinda boat she wanted to have someday. When we were able to get one we did, and it will not be my last.

My progression to were I am now is:

2001 Donzi 26ZX / 502 (current)
1999 Scarab 23SCS / 502
1994 Scarab 22 / 454
1993 Crownline 182 / 4.3v6
1979 Infinity / Johnson 115hp outboard

Darrell

[olredalert]

-----It was the summer of 65.A rich neighbor kids dad had just bought him an all yellow 16.That boat blew me away.I also was using the family Boston Whaler 13 with 40 Johnson at the time.Thought I was king-s*** until I saw that DONZI.
-----I quickly made friends with "Al" and remain so to this day.But,boy,was he hard on machinery.He sank the 16 at the dock the first week.Local yard brought it up and got it going,but it was down hill from there.
-----In 69 he talked his Dad into a 28 Bertram Baron.Once again he trumped everyone in the neighborhood,but beat the h*** out of it too.In 70 I got my first DONZI.It was a badly misused Corsican,and that got me started.I sometimes consider other boats but keep coming back to the fold.
-----If anyone spots a 28 Baron for sale E-mail or call as I could get real worked up over one of those............Bill S

[boldts]

My Donzi infatuation began also at a dealership here in Ohio. They had a blue and beige Minx that I just couldn't afford back then. A couple years later, I found my first Donzi at Indian Lake. It was a blue and white 1969 18' Holman Moody Classic. I borrowed money for the down payment from one company and then financed the boat through the dealer. I worked 2 full time jobs to pay both loans off. That was 18 years ago. If I had to do it all over again, I would. My father didn't know what, but knew something was up when the garage got cleaned out. When he came home from work and saw the Donzi in the garage he could only grin. He had raced a Dorset in family class and also owned boats when we were kids. We enjoyed a number of fun days on my Donzi boats. Even my mom took off in the 18 one day when she was supposed to be watching it while I went for a ride on my brother's boat. One of my most favorite pictures is my mom coming back behind the wheel of the Classic.

[BigGrizzly]

I lived on the bay on a bost at PT Pleasant/Bay Head NJ where they started running the Hennessy Grand prix from in the early 60's We would go over to Kings Grant inn and talk to the racers. These guys were the ICONs of off shore racing like Don Arrono Allen Brown (brownie) doc bob Magoonetc. Any way Dick Burtrum kept his boats before the race at Dale's yacht Basin where we lived and met him. The rest of the story is too long. In 1966 we bough the 16 and still have it today!

[oldLenny]

...I grew up on a "GULF ISLAND" here in Southernmost West Canada. I started living there in 1967, I was 6. I have watched more boats go "by" than any human being on earth and all with a intent stare for their inherit flare and style. I heard a "loud" boat go by many years ago...I , later in life, figured it was a Cigarette. Upon typing this "name" in the search engine, I found links to here..That is the truth...

Man, am I glad that meta-search worked out... Now I have 3 real, none run, and 4 non.. all this in 3 years...and I am now paying for it... :D

Regardless, the "mystique" is no different in Canada than it is there...only you guys have about 1000 times more of them...

[HyperDonzi]

I got drawn to an 18 Classic (Elliot Reiff) while right next to it was a 30 Spectre with tripple 300x's.... The Donzi just has something about it.

[goatee]

i think i was about 8 the first time i ever saw one......... love at first site!

[Rootsy]

i had seen the classics in photos, magazines, etc during the 70's and 80's i vaguely remember... but it wasn't until about 1987 when i saw one in all of it's glory... later in the early 90's working at toledo beach marina just north of Toledo, Oh they seemed to be as thick as flies on a horses arse... they were beautiful... and a few were hopped up... the onsite boat dealer became a donzi dealer for a time and i scored a few rides... i was hooked... then one day a limited ed blackhawk arrived for me to offload and place in it's new rack inside the building... how incredible and beautiful... been a love affair ever since...

i truly believe i was born a decade or two... too late... i missed the glory years of awesome boats and muscle cars... frown

[mattyboy]

there was this little blonde in High school,
Oh sorry I thought you meant when you first caught the........ NEVERMIND :p wink :D

The boat that started me was the chicken


Matty