smokeybandit

I live in NJ and we no longer have the Benihana/Offshore Grand Prix. There are also no longer any races on Barnegat Bay except for skiffs.

The last race I attended was the Pt. Pleasant race last year. At least I think it was last year. My memory fades as I get older. The crowd was small ( as compared to races way back when) and the course was set up to see which boat could make the sharpest turn.

I did get to spend some time in the dry pits, see some old faces, and meet some new folks. I got to talk to Scotty B. from Geico and he is a true ambassador for the sport. We spoke for a while and he said that he admired the racers from way back that raced "offshore". I told him that racing at close to 200mph took big brass ones and he said that racing a 21' single outboard in the open ocean took some big ones too. We both got a good laugh out of it.

I promise that I am in no way trying to put down anybody that races any type of vehicle. At least they are out there doing it.

By the way, the last good race that I went to was Key West in 1989. I was a guest of Yoshiro Kitami from Super Hawaii and I got to watch from his yacht. That man knew how to treat people like royalty.

smokeybandit

Right on the money. Also a 21' Superboat, a 24' Skater, a 41' Apace, and some others that I can't even remember.

smokeybandit

Great point, and I do apologize for hijacking the thread. I wish somebody would post some quality video of the event. As I stated, it was exciting racing.

Eaton Photos

Regarding Quality Video, once Marty is done editing, I'll see if he will post a small clip, to share here on the boards. Otherwise, all racing footage, can be found here: http://supercatracing.com/video-archive.cfm

The races from 2010 have not been uploaded, as Marty has had some family matters to deal with, which has priority over everything else.

Regarding St. Clair, we shot some great video. I was shooting from the 2nd floor of the St. Clair Inn. I had a straight line of view, from the Inn, to the S/F Line & Turn 4. I also had line of sight, of 95% of the course. Couldn't see Turn 1, due to a rather large tree, that was obstructing my view. And unfortunately do to some problems locally, we had no Audio in the 1st Two Races, however, Marty was able to rig it, so there was some Audio in Races 3 & 4.

To Everyone else, please don't turn this into a p*ssing match about what is considered Offshore or is not Offshore. I started this thread, while the races were going on, to give everyone that could not attend, an idea of the finishes for each class, based upon who I saw/ or was informed that crossed the Finish Line 1st. Smitty has posted the Official Results in his own thread here.

Have a Great Day!!!

smokeybandit

I can't wait to see some clips. Not all of us can make it to the races and that is our only link.

AIR TIME

TRUE its never flat and with the wakes you still get air. look at the cape cod races in 02 boats were breaking and people to like me haha, that race was a 1 off the beach we were in what 5 to 8s and some bigger avg speed in lil boats was 45 and super cat 65 that day and it got better for the big boats in the afternoon, then in 04 it was canceled by cg 05 it was rough the turbine outerlimits spun out in the big water also a friends 42 fountain spun out during testing the day before. we need to make sure people can see the races so sponsors will advertise with teams . back in the 70s 80s it was a hand full of rich guys racing each other and so movie stars jumped into it for a while so they could say look at ME. what Mike A did was good and US offshore too, they came to the lakes and up north to NH. right now OPA is the balls and should just keep running as is, but a mass race and RI race would be nice lots of cruise boats or shuttle boats in the 70 to 110ft range in some areas where if given a nuff time might work as spectator boats so people could see some close ups.