Performance Boat Center and Jimmy John’s ‘Freaky Fast’ Superboat Skater Ready for Key West

As part of the speedonthewater.com Key West preview coverage last week, Matt Trulio wrote a story focusing on the poker run side of the game for Missouri-based Performance Boat Center (read the story). Upon his arrival in South Florida today for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (Nov. 5-9), Brett Manire of Performance Boat Center sent us a handful of images showcasing the other side of the company’s involvement in next week’s festivities in Key West, Fla.—offshore racing.

Performance Boat Center’s new 388 Skater is all set for next week’s SBI world championships. Photos courtesy Brad Glidewell Photography

And while I only got a few minutes of Manire’s time this afternoon, the images and the details he provided regarding Freaky Fast—the new Skater Powerboats 388 raceboat sponsored by PBC and Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches—were too good not to share immediately.

Manire said testing on the 38-foot Skater catamaran has gone very well and that the team, including throttleman Myrick Coil and driver Lance Sutton, can’t wait to get it down to Key West to race against what’s expected to be a very competitive Superboat-class field in the 2015 Super Boat International Offshore World Championships.

“The thing is fast, obviously, and it turns extremely well,” Manire said. “Skater did a remarkable job getting the boat together and our team, led by Myrick Coil and Andy Sanders, did a fantastic job with the rigging. We’ve got our extra set of motors from Sterling Performance, our extra set of No. 6 drives from Mercury Racing and all of the props we need from Hering Propellers so we’re all set. We didn’t have time to paint the boat so our friends at ProDeZigns wrapped it for us.

“We’re excited about the racing debut and about our team’s national sponsorship deal with Jimmy John’s,” he continued, adding that Jimmy John Liautaud, who founded Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches in Illinois in 1983, is a friend and customer of PBC. “Jimmy John has such a love for performance boats and racing, plus he’s right in our backyard, so it’s really a home run for all of us. We’re expecting this to be a long-term partnership.”

Check out the slideshow above for more images of the new 388 Skater catamaran Freaky Fast.

Manire said the No. 21 Skater—along with its matching support truck—will be in the race pits alongside Randy Kent’s Superboat Unlimited class Speed Racer/Performance Boat Center MTI catamaran, which has been sponsored by PBC for a couple of seasons. (You can read about Kent’s Key West plans here.)

“Mechanically the boat is running flawless,” said Coil, who is planning to do more testing on Thursday before the boat leaves town on Friday. “It’s tough to tell how fast it is because I don’t know what the other Superboats are running, but I’ll tell you what, the thing turns unbelievably. It’s so comfortable, too. I mean it is easy to see out of and the seats, which Skater built, feel like I’m sitting in a recliner. We’ve logged more than 150 miles on it and, knock on wood, everything is right on the money and working like it should.

“Come ask me on Wednesday how it’s running,” he added. “I’m sure you’ll know how I’m feeling based on the results.”

Performance Boat Center and Jimmy John’s ‘Freaky Fast’ Superboat Skater Ready for Key West

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