Phantom1

SUNCOAST OFFSHORE GRAND PRIX

It may look easy, but it's not
Just staying on the course can be a challenge.

By TOM BALOG
[email protected]

SARASOTA -- The neophyte racers such as Dennis Delatorre in the production classes of today's 22nd annual Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix take comfort in having been briefed by the event's organizers. But they have no idea what they are in for if they think navigating the Gulf of Mexico waters will be a cinch based on course maps and the inboard global positioning system.

"It's one of the easiest things in the world," said Delatorre, a Bradenton native who will be driving the P3 No. 41 Predator, a 41-foot Apache. "They make it easy for me to understand what they're trying to do."

He ought to listen to veterans such as Nigel Hook, a four-time champion who will be driving in his 17th straight Offshore Grand Prix today in the Super Vee class in a 37-foot Skater.

Hook twice had checkered flags stripped from him after he apparently won in the Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix in 1995 ('A' class) and 2004 (Super Vee), only to be notified a week later that he had been disqualified.

"Myself and the eight boats behind us all missed one buoy on one lap," Hook said, recalling his first misadventure.

Even though the course has been condensed to four turns for a second straight year, down from the nine-turn course it used to be, there is still ample opportunity for confusion based purely on race conditions.

Race chairman Kevin Brown said that there are nothing but left turns on the 6.5-mile course and said that anybody who makes a wrong turn has only himself to blame.

"You have GPS. You can see the buoys," Delatorre said. "It's up to you to make it happen."

"This may be the first year I'll make it without an infraction," Hook deadpanned.

He painted a different portrait of his world inside the cockpit.

"It's difficult to navigate, especially if you're in the front of the pack," said Hook, 50, a native of North Hampton, England, who lives in San Diego. "You've got a dozen boats breathing down your neck and you can't make one bad move. So you're focused on the water, you're looking at a lot of spectator boats, probably more than any other race. You have to pick out which side are the spectator boats, which side are the medical boats, looking for the buoy.

"Bear in mind, this orange (turn) buoy is only 6-foot tall. If you get 3- or 4-foot seas, that means at one point, it goes invisible. You're coming down over 100 mph, so it's sometime very treacherous to pick out the buoy."

Above all, racers take a physical pounding.

"The ride you actually get inside the boat is a complete contrast from what you see from shore," Hook said. "You're getting hammered in there, literally hammered when the boat lands on the side. The G-forces throwing you from left to right are very significant.

"My seatback brackets broke in the first race in Miami. With all the engine noises and the G-forces tearing you from left to right, that's what makes it hard for you to focus on exactly where you're going."

Rear-view vision is another problem for him.

"V-bottoms don't track like a car. You don't get a good view in the mirror of who is behind you," Hook said.

Frank Sarro, the driver-throttleman for Team Extreme's Sunasalon.com 30-foot Extreme powerboat in the F-1 class, pointed out another reason racers get confused -- racing.

"It's a total concentration, really, on who's around you, more than the race course," Sarro said. "You don't see anything. Sometimes we come in, we don't know how many laps it is we're running.

"You're so concentrating on what's around you that if the lead boat makes a bad turn, we just all follow him, especially if you're in a heated battle."

"You add all those together, it's very difficult," Hook said. "Now the course is a lot easier."

David Denham of Chattanooga, Tenn., running the P5 No.21 Captain Morgan's Pirates, said the slower boats can get distracted by the faster, bigger boats.

"It's dangerous any time you mix this kind of horsepower and open-water racing," Denham said. "Our bracket boat is doing 70 mph while big boats are doing 70-100 mph around us."

Brown said that organizers have taken great care to eliminate as much confusion as possible.

He noted that the first leg is only 11/2 miles (down from 3 miles). There will be a 110-foot turn boat in turn one and the spectator fleet has been moved as well.

"Racers will be able to visually pick up a 110-foot boat and we've made the turn more of a sweeping turn. Then we've shortened up the spectator fleet so when they come out of the turn, the spectator fleet doesn't begin until further up between (turns) one and two."

MANITIE

Phantom...

Thanks again for posting all the positive publisity about the race....this is great for sponsors to see.....

Phantom1

Sarasota has a special place in my heart. My first race in 1995 was there, and my last in 2001 was there. Lots of great memories................

SHARKEY-IMAGES

If anyone has pictures from Sarasota and want them placed in a photo album on my site, let me know...

Thanks!

Thanks for the updates Mike!

SHARKEY-IMAGES

Pics ?

Phantom1

3 pages of them here.

http://www.suncoastoffshore.org/photos.htm

Xtremeracing

What a great job Sarasota does getting the Media out to their event. What a first class act.

SHARKEY-IMAGES

Thanks!

That's at least a start..... I hope I can add more links and photos for the event to this page: APBA/SBI Photo Album


I heard nothing more about this link: http://www.apba-offshore.com/default.cfm My assumption is they are not going to renew it....
Looks like I have a lot of work to do to update the links on my site......

Thanks for the link Mike!

KiloKat

Andrew - I thought TNT Custom Marine, AMF Offshore Racing, Reliable Carriers and Budweiser Select Offshore Racing were also sponsors of Talk Offshore.

Xtremeracing

We thank ALL the Sponsor of Talk Offshore...