I have to agree with most all of what you said, but is proven in Baseball 2 out of 3 years that money buys championships. Just For Kicks, we could bet on the 2004 World Series now, say $2500... I take the Yankees and you can take the entire NL, or all of baseball for that matter.

Anything could happen, and I for one am a Boston and Cincy fan, but money sure can buy one heck of a team. I almost always rout for the underdog or small market team, just because they typically have more heart if they made to the finals then some All Star Team.

Could not agree more or mention all the times he has helped us and asked for nothing in return. Look for him and Steve to put on a great show in SCL this year.

Since we're all just "brainstorming" before the "Spinning Koolaid" is passed out..................................... Please consider the following:

1. Super Cat is a great premier class but needs some tweaking. Specifically the reduction in speed from the old Open class (150 +) to today (115-120) was an over correction. The class is now too slow, and, more importantly, has no throttle response. This needs to be an 850 hp class with some punch in the mid range.
And before the whining starts....it'll be safer too....at least you can power AWAY from an accident.

2. One of the biggest attractions in the wet and dry pits at offshore races is the engines, both in and out of the boats. Let's face it, the spectator/fan (AKA potential customer of a "real" sponsor's products) would rather see a variety of full race Sterling/Mercruiser/Eickhert/Pfaff/Pro Marine products than some sterile (boring)500-525 HP/Vortec corporate "package". In fact many of these engine builders have their own fans who would be more motivated to follow the sport if they identified with the powerplant.

3. Contrary to current spin.....engines can, in fact, be sexy, varied, competitive and dependable....all at the same time. For instance a 600+ cu.in.-carbureted-850 hp " built to spec" engine from any of the recognized builders will live quite a while..... (certainly longer than a Bravo drive)..... and will cost little more than some dreadful sponsor/vendor "package".

4. Rather than repowering the entire fleet and dumbing down racing in general......spend 10% of that ill conceived cost (member funded) and UPGRADE the inspection process and tech rules. Potentially that approach would eliminate some of the (supposedly) "unfair" characterizations of greed and ruthlessness.

5. The challenge to Offshore continues to be twofold (a) a lack of identifiable, marketable "stars" and (b) a bewildering array of classes............ neither of which is solved by "franchising" racing equipment.

The above might defeat the concept of the "racer/customer" ...........Sigh!

But somehow the world will survive.

T2x......... The original obsolete voice of Offshore

On further review....I could be persuaded to race you in a "real " Super Cat............see below

Any takers??????

T2x

P.S. Check out the shaft height, the dihedral and the tunnel width, then think........ 1969.

There is VERY little new under the performance sun.

Right on.

Not to mention the different sounds during the race.

How long will it take to also require specific vendor/sponsor headers and exhaust so that all of the boats not only look the same (including the similar sponsor/vendor decals), but sound the same. Which would it be--the wye/ferrari pipes or the straight pipes?

While we're at it.........why not simply have a minimum weight for the boats - no dimensional requirements....encourage innovation in boat design as well.

Speaking of innovation, what was the last significant innovation the sport has seen? Certainly, canopies are important. The surface drive (Kaama & Arneson), the dry sump drive (Weismann's....not Mercury's forgery). The dry sump drive is more optimization than disruptive technology. The multi-speed transmission??....again optimization....Laith & JT may argue disruptive......politically that is.

Innovation, whether an optimization or a truely disruptive technology are continually legislated against in this sport. As it becomes more vanilla the entertainment value for racers ans fans goes down. Imagine if the zoo were only filled with Mercury elephants...

Will innovative technology in offshore racing become obsolete??? Other things have......T2x.....just ask him:) :) ......other things have and then were resuscitated....the Concorde....is sailing this much fun??? with all their technology they couldn't sail last night....the wind was too "shifty"....go figure...

I think we need to encourage a variety of engine manufactures and boat manufactures,this will only raise the bar as far as the level of competition in the supercat class.Its neat to see the difference with the boats the last two years between pete and randy.Skater vs Marine tech etc.

From what I am hearing there will be a New Spectre from the Zipp express Team and a a few teams are putting together 36' Nortechs also. Should be a really good year

is zipp express doing supercat light or supercat?

I heard Supercat Lite but stories can change. They are getting a full canopied Spectre from what I hear.