Alex And Ani Out For Key West, In For Englewood Beach

The good news for the Alex And Ani offshore racing team’s legion of fans is that they will get to see—and sign—the 42-foot Platinum raceboat in action two more times this season during the Offshore Powerboat Association National and World Championships Nov. 16-20 at Waterfest in Englewood Beach, Fla. The bad news—at least for supporters of the team headed to Key West, Fla., for the Super Boat International’s Offshore World Championships Nov. 6-13—is that the silver canopied catamaran owned and throttled Jimmy Cazzani won’t compete at SBI’s final event of the season in the famed venue.

After a challenging season, Alex And Ani’s team members are looking forward to finishing up the year at the OPA Nationals and Worlds in Englewood Beach. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

With the exception of the Sarasota (Fla.) Powerboat Grand Prix in July, where Alex And Ani raced hard against Miss GEICO for the third time this year, the team kept its race schedule to three local OPA events—Cazzani is based in Rhode Island—in the Northeast. Cazzani explained his decision to forego the SBI Key West Worlds in favor of the OPA event the following weekend came down to budget, which is limited.

“Unfortunately this year we’ve broken 1.5 stern drives per event,” he said. “This expense strained my 2016 budget, and much to my chagrin sidelined me for the Key West World Championships.

“We’ve decided instead to compete at Englewood Beach in November,” he continued. “It’s only two races instead of three and almost every related expense is much less. On the bright side our Stotler/Cazzani turbo engines are over achievers—they just work and I can convert to a surface drive system over the winter.”

Despite that he’ll miss the “history, competition and exposure” of competing in Key West, the 57-year-old Cazzani said he’s looking forward to competing against Miss GEICO and American Ethanol/Cat Can Do in Englewood Beach.

“By their (the Miss GEICO team’s) own admission I had the fastest lap speeds in snotty Sarasota conditions,” he said. “We just couldn’t get it around the turns consistently with steering issues—but that has been upgraded—and then on lap 10 or something like that we blew another stern drive. As for the American Ethanol/Cat Can Do Skater, they are fast so I’ll need to get ahead of them quickly and dole out a good old-fashioned hose-down—maybe share paint just so they know I acknowledge, respect and love them.

Also missing from Key West will be the good-natured verbal jousting between Cazzani and Envy team owner Chris Cox, who is planning to compete at the SBI Worlds.

“I like to be a silly goofball sometimes but I’m actually a stone cold racer,” said Cazzani. “I’m very competitive and show up ready to run. I’ll miss everyone but I’m not gone forever.”

Alex And Ani Out For Key West, In For Englewood Beach

Address

Quick Links