Image of the Week: Key West Turn Classic

No offshore powerboat-racing site is more iconic than Key West, Fla., and for the immediate future at least that fair city to the far south will remain offshore racing’s annual center stage. Say what you will—and there’s plenty to say—about exorbitant airfares, crazy hotel rates and the rest required for a stay in Key West during the Super Boat International Offshore World Championships. You’ll get no argument from us. Key West isn’t the easiest places to get to or the cheapest place to be, and during race week the entire place, especially Duval Street, can be a chocolate mess.

An annual classic—an aerial view of the Mallory Square turn during the Key West Worlds. Photo courtesy/copyright Andy Neumann. (For a bigger picture view, click on the image.)

But talk about the views of the action on the water.

This one, captured by longtime Key West photographer Andy Neumann, is among our favorites. It’s hardly a new angle—Neumann, who works for the Monroe County Tourism Development Council, has been catching this shot high above the Mallory Square turn for years. And yet, it’s captivating. From Neumann’s helicopter-provided vantage point, you can see the boats power-sliding through the turn as they into the long straightaway leading out to sea.

It’s a view you can only get from the air. And it gets us every time.