This is a 50 foot offshore racing catamaran built in partnership with Jon Sadowski and raced by Miami Vice actor Don Johnson, often with Kurt Russell as his navigator.
Johnson was a serious powerboat racer back in the 80s, having won the 1988 American Power Boat Association (APBA) World Championship – though he will always be better known for playing James “Sonny” Crockett in that iconic 1980s TV show.
Above Video: This is the original coverage of the 1988 American Power Boat Association (APBA) World Championship, showing Don Johnson in action.
Don Johnson: Powerboat Racer
Don Johnson’s other career was racing, but not racing on asphalt like Paul Newman or on the desert sands like Steve McQueen. Instead, Johnson raced on the water.
He first rose to prominence in the public eye for his racing exploits in 1986 when he won a 1,100 mile (1,800 kms) powerboat race up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, Louisiana all the way to St. Louis, Missouri.
His navigator described him as being fearless. Over the years he would be joined in the cockpit by a couple of the biggest celebrity names in the country at the time – Chuck Norris and Kurt Russell.
The highlight of his powerboat racing career came just a couple of years later when he won the (aforementioned) 1988 American Power Boat Association (APBA) World Championship.
The Ex-Don Johnson Team USA Boat Shown Here
This is a 50 foot powerboat racing catamaran named Team USA, it was commissioned by Miami Vice actor Don Johnson after his victory in the 1988 APBA Superboat Class World Championship at Key West – a title he won in a different boat, a 46 foot Wellcraft Scarab known as the Gentry Turbo Eagle, on loan from Hawaiian developer and offshore racing champion Tom Gentry.
This is a 50 foot offshore racing catamaran built in partnership with Jon Sadowski and raced by Miami Vice actor Don Johnson with Kurt Russell as the navigator.
Wanting a catamaran of his own for the 1989 season, Johnson partnered with boat builder Jonathan Sadowsky, who would later go on to found Revenge Yachts in the 1990s. The crew roster at various points included Kurt Russell serving as navigator and Richie Powers (a four-time consecutive UIM Open Class World Champion from 1973 through 1976) as the throttleman.
Though it’s worth noting that Sadowsky served as navigator at the boat’s competitive debut at the 1989 APBA World Championships in Atlantic City. Team USA set a one-lap speed record of 127.3 mph at the 1990 Bud Dry Marathon Offshore Challenge on the Hudson River in New York, showing just what it was capable of, before suffering multiple engine failures.
Team USA was originally powered by four big-block Chevrolet V8 engines, the listing describes each as producing 1,000 bhp. These were paired with Kiekhaefer Aeromarine surface drives (known at the time as “Sterndrives by Kiekhaefer”) which were first shown privately, by appointment only, in a hotel suite near the 1988 Miami International Boat Show, not at the show itself.
All engines and outdrives have since been removed, and no propulsion systems are currently present, the interior has also been fully stripped, and the engine hatches are missing.
The 50 foot fiberglass hull still has much of its white finish along with remnants of its original Team USA livery, including stars-and-stripes accents at the front, faded “Jennings Firearms” sponsor lettering on the top deck, and blue fencer graphics flanking the cockpit.
The removable plexiglass canopy is still present, though portions of the deck, particularly near the cockpit, are noted in the listing as requiring servicing work.
The boat is accompanied by a tandem-axle trailer with manual jacks, storage compartments, lighting, and carpeted bunks, with “FASTEST LAP RECORD HOLDER 127.3 MPH” painted in red on the sides. The trailer was originally fitted with a gooseneck hitch, which has been replaced with a pintle-hitch setup.
Team USA is now offered at no reserve out of New Hampshire with a bill of sale for the boat and a Maine registration in the seller’s name for the trailer. The boat itself does not carry a title or registration and is sold on bill of sale only, and the seller states that no VIN is present on the trailer.
Team USA is now offered at no reserve out of New Hampshire with a bill of sale for the boat and a Maine registration in the seller’s name for the trailer. The boat itself does not carry a title or registration and is sold on bill of sale only, and the seller states that no VIN is present on the trailer.
If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here on Bring a Trailer.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
