While the Offshore Powerboat Association’s second race of the 2014 season was slated to kick off on New Jersey’s Lake Hopatcong yesteday, high water on the lake forced the organization to cancel the event. A strong showing of 30 offshore raceboats turned out for the OPA season-opener.
Offered by Pier 57 Marine, this 2014 Skater Powerboats 388 catamaran has 10 dynamometer hours—the cat hasn’t been run on the water—on its twin supercharged…
In my last column for offshoreonly.com, I touched on floor-plan financing for high-performance powerboat dealers. In this one, I’d like to elaborate on that topic because when it comes to this industry making a comeback, I do not believe it will ever come back to what it once was unless we get a rebound in floor-plan financing.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, floor-plan financing is the money banks used to lend to performance boat dealers so they can stock their inventory, new and used. The boat dealers, in turn, repays those loans with interest and pay boats off in full once the transaction is closed. The key words here are “used to,” because with a few exceptions—and none at the national lending institution level—floor-plan financing is not available to the high performance sector of our industry.
What happened? The simple explanation is that when dealerships and boat companies began failing at a horrific pace several years ago, the banks that floor-planned the dealers were stuck with inventory that wasn’t selling. There were other reasons, of course, most notably that many dealers didn’t see the obvious signs of the impending high performance boat market crash, and a number of them kept ordering boats at levels that were sustainable in the past rather than the present and unforseen crash of the overall economy. This is the new economy and businesses need to learn to operate in the “black” now so if/when it does turn, it will only be better.
It seemed obvious after the incident last Saturday on the St. Lawrence River, but our friends at LakeExpo.com confirmed with Bill Tomlinson that he won’t be participating in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout next week in My Way, his 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran.
My Way will not be returning to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout to defend its Top Gun title. Photo by Robert Brown
Editor J.B. Simpson spoke with Tomlinson on Monday and the Canadian expressed his disappointment in not being able to defend his 2011 Top Gun title, but vows to return to the event in 2013 to try to break the Shootout record.
As the parent of a physically challenged young man, I fully appreciate the yeoman’s job done by the volunteer crew at New Jersey’s “Shore Dreams for Kids”. Held in mid July each year, the 2012 version was the 10th annual event held under the auspices of the New Jersey Performance Powerboat Club, one of the leading Poker Run clubs in the nation.
Started in 1974 by two local Offshore racers, Bud Crisp and John “The Crazy Greek” Bochis—both parents of handicapped children—the event had modest beginnings with two race boats available for rides to a handful of children. It grew into an annual gathering of New Jersey-area racers for the purpose of giving exciting boat rides, under the name “Day on the Bay” and reached out to local organizations benefiting children with various mental and physical health problems.
After a number of years it seemed to have run its course and was cancelled in 2000. It was resurrected in 2003, as “Shore Dreams for Kids” by Peter Mazzo, Rob Cline, and Brian Meade who quickly approached NJPPC impresario, Dave Patnaude—with outstanding results.
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New Models Along with offering a selection of clean, pre-owned center console models and sport boats, BoatsDirectUSA.com is the factory outlet arm of Deep Impact Custom Boats and Black…
New Models Along with offering a huge selection of clean, pre-owned performance boats, Shogren Performance Marine is the nation’s top dealer for Mystic Powerboats’ highly…
Regadless of generation, powerboat racers form a brotherhood.
For the past three years, powerboat racing icons, relics, fans and genuine racing heroes have gathered each October in and around Jupiter, Fla. The resulting melee of parties, race team shop tours, parties, go-fast pleasure boat and race boat fly-bys, parties, story-telling, parties, laughter, parties, memorabilia auctions, parties, and camaraderie of epic proportions have resulted in an event that defies description. It also represents the best opportunity to meet and understand the guys who built the sport we all love.
Welcome to Old Farts Forever, 2011. (Did I mention that parties are a key component of this yearly event?)
Where else can you meet people who tested, designed, raced and conceived not only the boats and equipment that support the sport today, but also the very backbone of racing? Where else do you find people like Alan Brown, who worked side by side with Don Aronow and Clive Curtis to bring Donzi, Magnum, Cigarette, and Cougar to the Offshore racecourse?
Rich Luhrs interviews Billy Frenz.
Some years ago I wrote an article titled “Triumph and Tragedy at Key West” for a boating magazine. The subject was a tremendous racing show punctuated by the tragic accident which left Tom Gentry in a vegetative state ending in his death many months later. Maybe this one should be titled “Tragedy and Tragedy at Key West”.
First, let me start by saying that Joey Gratton was a respected friend of mine and I have great affection for his family. I admire only a handful of people and Joey was one of those, for he combined true racing skills with a friendly, classy, and professional point of view. He was also a wonderful family man and my prayers and condolences go out to Priscilla, Brock and Blake. I did not know Bob Morgan or J.T. Tillman nearly as well as Joey and my comments in no way are meant to single out his death over theirs. All three represent unspeakable losses and unending sadness for their loved ones.
That said, I am both saddened and wearily frustrated by the tragic week at the World Championships.
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