Father gifts brand-new Razorcraft to his boys for Christmas
Shark attack survivor rewards his young sons with their own personalised Razorcraft Little RamA Queensland man who survived a savage shark attack has given his two young sons the best Christmas gift they could ask for – a brand new Razorcraft boat.
Mission Beach-based Rick Bettua suffered a terrifying near-death experience last year when he was attacked by a 3.5-metre bull shark while spearfishing on the Great Barrier Reef.
Even though his leg was shredded in the attack, he survived thanks to his diving partner but faced five surgeries and months of recovery.
Bettua’s two sons, 11-year-old Troy and seven-year-old Derek, stayed at his hospital bedside for an entire month as he recovered.
As a thank-you, Bettua decided he wanted to give his sons a boat as a Christmas present. He has owned three Cootacraft – a Coldfront, a Little Ram tiller steer and his current boat, a 300hp Mercury V8 Verado-powered Villian used for spearfishing.
Bettua settled on a used Cootacraft-built Little Ram as the perfect boat for his sons, and set about trying to source one.
Hard to find
However, no used Little Rams were for sale, build times for an alternative boat wouldn’t allow it to be delivered before Christmas, and Queensland was constantly threatening to re-close its borders as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to sweep throughout Australia.
This is where the true spirit of Christmas comes to the fore.
Bettua was eventually put in touch with Melbourne-based Razorcraft owner Hary Bakkr, who has taken over the production of the Little Ram hull.
Bakkr had a Little Ram in build – his own boat, a centre console version that would be ready for Christmas and kitted out with all the kit needed to make it a great little fishing rig.
He agreed to sacrifice his own boat so that Bettua could take delivery of it.
"I heard about what Rick was trying to do for his boys and I didn't want them to miss out on a special Christmas after all they'd been through,” Bakkr said.
The rest, as they say, is history, with Bettua taking delivery of the boat in Melbourne last week ahead of a long drive home to far north Queensland.
Full fishing package
What his two boys now have is a 3.9-metre fibreglass centre console equipped with a Lone Star anchor winch, underfloor kill tank, a deck wash, a live well in the transom, a casting deck up front and a floor finished off with Deck Armour flooring that bears both boys’ names.
Powering the boat is a 70hp Yamaha four-stroke outboard engine fed via a huge 120-litre underfloor fuel tank.
The boys did not even have to wait until Christmas Day before receiving their gift of a lifetime – and the smile on their faces says it all.
Model:
Length: 3.9m
Beam: 1.9m
Weight: 300-320kg (dry)
Deadrise: 24 degs
Engines: 50hp (max), 70hp (custom)
Fuel: 50L (std), 80L (opt), 120L (custom)
Price: $34,000 (tiller steer), $42,000 (centre console), $48,000 (runabout with wavebreaker)
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