We recently had an opportunity to meet up with Phil Axtell to get the story on his absolutely remarkable 21' Rush. It's not common knowledge outside of bar conversations, or perhaps on the rare occasion when I'm in the company of a 21' Rush that the subject comes up, but it is absolutely my favorite looking hull of all time. From the long bow, to the smooth transition on the bubble deck, exceptionally wide side rails leading up to the gunnels, to the perfectly shaped transom, the shape of this hull is about as sexy as it gets, regardless of time period.
Long time RDP Member John OBrien contacted me via a PM saying he has a boat that I'm going to have to see with my own eyes to believe. He told me a story about a friend of his named Phil whom he had known for quite a few years, and recently Phil had gotten his boat out of storage. Being not only friends, but river friends John was shocked when Phil showed him some pictures of the boat, and it turned out to be a Blown 21' Rush V-Drive. This speaks a little to Phil's exceptionally humble character.
I talked to John and we got a meet time setup at the Pirates Den Resort in Parker so that we could take some pics of the boat, and if Phil was up for it take it out for some video and running shots. I had never seen the boat before, but when someone tells you they are bringing a blown Rush down, you can pretty much go on good faith it's going to be worth seeing and taking pics of.
As Pink Taco began setting into Photography mode I spent sometime with Phil listening to the story on the boat. Phil, like myself, had fallen in love with the Rush hull from the first time he saw one. He had first seen a Rush at some circle races, and the boat that won the heat happened to be a 21' Rush. He decided right then and there that he had to have one, and the long journey of acquiring one began.
Unlike most boat builders, in the ultra custom v-drive world the boat manufacturers are as picky about their customers, as the customers are about their boats. This along side the fact that all the parts are custom made and expensive, is part of the reason the whole segment of boating has more or less fallen off the face of the earth with the exception of very few exotics in modern days.
Phil went and talked to Grier about building the boat, and it ended up taking him several years to talk Grier into building it for him! Grier would mutter things like "You don't want that boat" when Phil would go into the shop. When he finally convinced Grier that he wasn't going away, and wasn't going to substitute for anything else, the tone at a pace that makes glaciers look fast finally changed to "Ok we will build the boat."