Scott Free Offshore Racing Team Prepared for Competitive Superboat Vee Season

After getting in a little testing this week in their hometown of Sarasota, Fla., the father-and-son team of Steve and Stephen Kildahl appears to be all set for this weekend’s Super Boat International season opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla.—the eighth annual Space Coast Super Boat Grand Prix. The Scott Free Offshore Racing Team, which runs under the Boatfloater.com moniker in the competitive Superboat Vee class, is looking forward to seeing how the setup changes it implemented over the offseason to its 29-foot Extreme V-bottom work out.

Steve and Stephen Kildahl tested their Superboat Vee-class boat in Sarasota this week. Photo by Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

According to Stephen, Scott Free Racing’s driver and vice president, the team has been focused on getting the boat’s setup just right. The team debuted its new Innovation Marine carbureted engine at the SBI Key West World Championships in November with very little test time. While the boat and engine fared well in the three days of racing, putting the team in position to win the championship, the outdrive gave way on the last day and they finished runner-up overall.

“Our class has a very competitive lineup for the first race of the season with seven boats,” Stephen said. “All of the teams are fast so we have been paying attention to the fine details to get the best advantage we can get. Our boat runs good in rough conditions, so we’re hoping it’s rough. The racing in the Super Boat Vee class is tight—the key is to get out front at the start to avoid fighting traffic and losing ground on the leader.

“Over the offseason, we tested some new propellers and we made some changes inside the boat to help our reliability,” he continued. “We were able to gather a lot of data this offseason to learn from and improve our setup.”

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