Offshore Endurance Racing: Making a Comeback?

Joe Cibellis and Joe Sgro used this 43-foot Outerlimits to set a new around Long Island record of 3 hours and 5 minutes. Photo by Tim Sharkey/Copyright Sharkey ImagesJoe Cibellis and Joe Sgro used this 43-foot Outerlimits to set a new around Long Island record of 3 hours and 5 minutes. Photo by Tim Sharkey/Copyright Sharkey Images

The first time I met Joe Cibellis was at the 2011 Desert Storm Poker Run on Lake Havasu in Arizona. Cibellis, who owns a 43-foot-long Outerlimits V-bottom with twin 725-hp Ilmor Marine V-10 engines, was a long way from his Hampton Bays, Long Island, N.Y. home, but he’d always wanted to do a little high-performance boating west of the Mississippi. Save for his getting rear-ended by a gravel truck somewhere in Alabama as he towed his boat across the country, he had a great time.

Earlier in the year, I’d seen Cibellis’ elegant 43-footer at the Miami Boat Show Poker Run, and frankly I was blown away. I’ve seen dozens of Outerlimits over the years—company owner Mike Fiore and his crew always do a fine job with their custom creations—but this one was special. It was a simple, white-and-gray sit-down model with twin naturally aspirated engines color-matched in the same understated hues.

“I had it built to be reliable, first and foremost,” Cibellis told me when I finally met him at Desert Storm. “I do a lot of boating, like 250 hours a year, and I don’t want any problems. I don’t have to do anything to this boat.”

Cibellis got a chance to show exactly how reliable—and efficient—his boat is when he entered the second Don Aronow Around Long Island Memorial Race in 2011.

Joe Cibellis and Joe Sgro used this 43-foot Outerlimits to set a new around Long Island record of 3 hours and 5 minutes. Photo by Tim Sharkey

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