Cookees Blog

2012-03-02T12:33:00.001Z

Spring is nearly here and the boat will be read to race the best in the World very soon, the BananaShark team E-Lites have had a very busy winter,not only have they been working very hard on the boat to get ready for the 2012season and especially the epic Round Britain race in June, but also had to findtime to visit the Autosport Show and the two Top Gear live shows in London andBirmingham with the boat as guest of E-Lites electronic cigarettes.

Team principal John Cooke also visited the London Boat Showand did a presentation on the boat and the team in association with sponsorsRaymarine who supply the team with the latest multi functional displays.

BananaShark and the crew have also been busy raising moneyfor various charities, and they have auctioned off rides in the race boat atthe Help the Heroes Ball at the Beautiful Soar Mill Cove Hotel near the teamsbase in Salcombe Devon which was at the end of November and they managed toraise a staggering £5,000. In December it was the turn of the Imperial Hotel inTorquay who were raising money for the Devon Air Ambulance and the Round TableChildren’s Wish Charity raising even more money for the excellent causes.Lastly in January the Burns Night Ball for 200 guests held at the Grand Hotelalso in Torquay were also raising moneyfor the Round Tables Children’s Wish Charity and their total for the eveningwas well over £1,000, their highest ever total in the six years the ball hasbeen running.

Despite having the most economical engines in the whole racethe team have somehow found time to enlarge the fuel tanks to account for thelength of some of the legs of the next Round Britain race to be held in June,the Yanmar BY260’s supplied by E P Barrus are based on the very reliable andeconomical 3 litre BMW car engine only use approximately 1.5 litres per mile(for the pair!) and the longest leg being from Edinburgh to Hull at 267 milesit’s going to be a long day and we expect to burn around 250 litres of diesel,the team will also be using the fantastic Raymarine displays which will enableus to keep an eye on our fuel consumption in real time. The team has also beenCarbon Neutral since Cowes Torquay last year and in association with Treecredshave already bought the Carbon Credits required for the whole race, not onlyfor the boat but also for the support vehicles as well, so instead ofdestroying the planet we hope to do our little bit in saving it. The team isalso looking forward to June 2013 when they will be racing from Cowes To MonteCarlo but we’ll be stopping every night on the way down – I don’t think eventhe new fuel tanks will get us there is one go!

E-Lites and BananaShark at Autosport

2012-01-10T15:56:00.000Z

E-Lites and BananaShark at the Autosportshow 12^th – 15^th January

The BananaShark Stirling race boat will beon our sponsors stand at the NEC for the four day Autosport show along with afree 3D Formula One simulator. The boat will be on display alongside the bestthe UK has to offer in the whole of Motorsport, there will be a chance to seeinside the boat and talk to E-Lites director and crew member Adrian Everett aboutthe adventures the crew have already had and how to follow the boat in this year’sRound Britain race which takes place in June.

Christmas

2011-12-21T14:17:00.000Z

All the best from the BananaShark Team for a brilliant Christmas and a very successful New Year with the best boating weather everywhere to everyone!

Raymarine news

2011-12-14T12:23:00.001Z

John Cooke has been featured by Raymarine as one of their ambassadors - have a look! Raymarine news

Cookee at the boat show in London.

2011-12-12T16:38:00.001Z

John "Cookee" Cooke has been invited by the London International Boat Show and Raymarine to talk at "The Knowledge Box" about the BananaShark Stirling project, this will be on Monday the 9th of January at 16.55 - not sure how the whole story is going to fit into about 20 minutes but it will have to! Come and say hi and ask me for a sample E-Lites after the talk!

BananaShark at the Autosports Show

2011-12-12T16:28:00.000Z

The BananaShark Stirling will be making its first 2012 public appearance on the E-Lites stand at the Autosports Show at the NEC Birmingham from the 12th to the 15th of January where you will be able to see the amazing technology from Raymarine and Yanmar packed into the 37' long offshore monster! Also on display will be the E-Lites 3D Formula One simulator.

2011-11-30T14:54:00.001Z

Here's some video of Kevin taking the boat from Cowes Isle of Wight to Southampton - nice day!

You tube video

Our new outboard leisure version

2011-11-09T16:51:00.001Z

I have put some photos up on our Facebook page for everyone to see showing our latest creation - an outboard leisure version of the fantastic BananaShark Stirling 34. the leisure version features exactly the same hull as the race boat but rather than inboards we have gone for Mercury's Verado outboard giving us space to fit lots more people on board in total comfort!

There will be a choice of wrap around seating which converts to a sunbed as shown in the renderings, or even more bucket seats for extra security just in case you don't want to slow down when you have a boat full of passengers!

The cockpit will have a soft roof that will mimic the shape of the hard roof on the race boat for days when the weather isn't co-operating or you need to keep the sun off!

Priced very competitively you will be surprised at how little you could be on the water for! Engine options start with the Verado 250 and go up - of course other engine options are always available if you have a different favourite!

Here's a taster:

2011-11-09T13:07:00.002Z

New photo gallery coming soon

2011-10-21T15:48:00.006+01:00

Find out more about our race and high performance boats.

With prices from £80,000 plus VAT for a 38' twin 250hp Verado turnkey boat for leisure use our high performance boats are better value than you might think!