Editing Go-fast boat

{{short description|Type of boat}}
{{redirect|Cigarette boat|the 2012 rap album|Cigarette Boats}}
{{redirect|GOFAST|the UFO video|Pentagon UFO videos}}
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[[Image:gofast.jpg|right|thumb|A "go-fast" is a preferred boat for smugglers]]

A '''go-fast boat''' is a small, fast [[motorboat|powerboat]] designed with a long narrow platform and a [[planing (boat)|planing]] hull. Depending on definitions used, it is either a speedboat (synonymously) or a certain type of speedboat<!--hyponymously-->.

During the [[Prohibition in the United States|United States alcohol prohibition]] era, these boats were used in "[[rum-running]]", transferring illegal liquor from larger vessels waiting outside US [[territorial waters]] to the mainland. Their high speed enabled them to avoid interception by the [[United States Coast Guard|law enforcement]]. The present conception of such boats is based largely on designs by [[Donald Aronow]] for [[offshore powerboat racing]] in the 1960s. During this period, these boats were also used by drug smugglers to transfer drugs across the [[Caribbean]] to the United States.

==Name==

Go-fast boats are also called cigarette boats or cigar boats—references to their hull shape, to the items that they are (archetypally) used to smuggle (see ''[[Illicit cigarette trade]]'' and ''[[Cuban_cigar#Effects_of_the_United_States_embargo_on_Cuban_tobacco_products|Cuban cigar]]''), or both.

The term "cigarette boat" is especially popular because it is a brand name for a line of go-fast boats that popularized and largely defined the class in the 1960s, made by Don Aronow's Cigarette Racing Team.  "Cigar boat" is often preferred because it avoids confusion with that brand.

Although modern go-fast boats postdate [[rum-running#The ships|the fleet that was used for rum-running during the Great Depression]], some of those boats were small and extremely fast, a theme that is shared with later smuggling (such as [[illegal drug trade|drug smuggling]]); thus, go-fast boats are sometimes informally (jocularly) called rum-runners.

==Construction==
[[File:USN sailors run a suped-up modified cigarette boat at full speed through narrow river channels.jpg|right|thumb|[[United States Navy|US Navy]] [[Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen|SWCCs]] train with a modified go-fast boat during a training exercise in Mississippi]]
A typical go-fast is [[Fiberglass#Construction methods |laid-up]] using a combination of [[fibreglass]], [[kevlar]] and [[carbon fibre]], using a deep "{{mono|V}}" style offshore racing hull ranging from {{convert|20|to|50|ft|m|order=flip}} long, narrow in beam, and equipped with two or more powerful engines, often totalling more than {{convert|1000|hp|order=flip}}. The boats can typically travel at speeds over {{convert|80|kn|km/h mph|lk=on}} in calm waters, over {{convert|50|kn|km/h}} in [[choppy waves|choppy waters]], and maintain {{convert|25|kn|km/h mph}} in the average {{convert|5|to|7|ft|m|adj=on|order=flip}} [[Caribbean]] seas. They are heavy enough to cut through higher waves, although slower.

==Use==
Reflecting their racing heritage, accommodations on these five-or-fewer-passenger boats are minimal. A small low cabin under the foredeck is typical, much smaller than a typical motor yacht of similar size. In addition to racing, most buyers buy these boats for their mystique, immense power, high top speeds, and sleek shape.{{Tone inline|date=March 2021}}

==Illegal use==
[[Image:USCG pursuing gofast boat.jpg|thumb|A helicopter from the US Coast Guard's [[Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron]] pursues a go-fast boat during training]]
These boats are difficult to detect by [[radar]] except on flat calm seas or at close range. The United States Coast Guard and the DEA found them to be [[Stealth technology|stealthy]], fast, seaworthy, and very difficult to intercept using conventional craft. Due to this, Coast Guards have developed their own high-speed craft and use [[helicopter]]s equipped with [[anti-materiel rifle]]s used to disable engines of fleeing boats. The US Coast Guard go-fast boat is a [[rigid-hulled inflatable boat]] (RHIB) equipped with radar and powerful engines. The RHIB is armed with several types of [[non-lethal weapon]]s and an [[M240 machine gun|M240]] [[General purpose machine gun|GPMG]].

==Media portrayal==
In the 2006 film ''[[Miami Vice (film)|Miami Vice]]'', go-fast boats are used to smuggle drugs for cartels.<ref>{{Citation |title=Miami Vice (2006) - Plot - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430357/plotsummary/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Jersey Skiff]]
*[[Narco-submarine]]
*[[Night Train seizure|''Night Train'' seizure]], one of the largest drug seizures in history.
*[[Supercavitating propeller]]
*[[Tunnel hull]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*''Don Aronow: The King of Thunderboat Row''. (1994), by Michael Aronow.  Write Stuff Enterprises. {{ISBN|0945903227}}, {{ISBN|978-0945903222}}.
*''Secrets of Tunnel Boat Design'', JD Russell, P. Eng. {{ISBN|1-894933-30-3}}

==External links==
*[http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/congress/1998_h/h980610-raff.htm Congressional testimony on technologies for detecting go-fast boats]

[[Category:Smuggling]]
[[Category:Motorboats]]