High Risk Reborn

Longtime fans of offshore racing will remember High Risk, a 32-foot Skater catamaran that won multiple national and world titles from 1988—the year it was built—to 2005. Then owned and campaigned by Rick Felsen of noted racing event and race team insurer Hawk Marine Consultants, Ltd., in Westbury, N.Y., the outboard-powered 32-footer was a perennial threat in what was called the Pro Stock class.

High Risk reborn. Says Felsen, “It looks like the brand-new P-1 boat.” Photos courtesy Kinetic Animation

Now owned by Super Boat International (SBI) Stock-class racer Scott Porta, High Risk received a complete graphics makeover yesterday from Kinetic Animation in Bradenton, Fla. The company, which is owned by fellow Stock-class competitor Ryan Beckley of DoublEdge Motor Sports, used a vinyl wrap to restore the catamaran’s classic logo-and-color scheme.

A lifelong offshore racing fan and dedicated student of the sport, Beckley was more than a little familiar with the High Risk cat. Still, when it came to getting its new graphics just right he had to find photos of the original design, which was done by Grafik EFX and applied in paint.

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For a complete look at High Risk’s new graphics package check out the slideshow above.

“Ryan tells me it was one of the first big ‘cool’ paint jobs of its time,” says Isaiah Blount, another Stock-class competitor, who works with Beckley at Kinetic Animation. “Ryan had to re-draw the whole thing from a few pictures he had of it. Scott also wanted to have the original names put back on the boat, which we thought was pretty cool.”

“I am very impressed—it looks like the brand-new P1 boat,” Felsen said. “Ryan really knows his stuff. We’re going to use it as one of the pace boats in Key West this year.”

Fans who’d like to get a look at the catamaran before the SBI world championships in November will be able to catch it next week in Missouri, as Porta reportedly plans to bring it the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.