No classes, otherewise you'd get into rules that govern that class, and the mess starts all over again. Run what you brung, and if you were the first say single v bottom, you can take pleasure in knowing that.

I agree to a certain extent, but a lot more people own boats than airplanes! Granted it will never be as big as Nascar because almost everyone owns a car. But I have a lot of friends that don't own boats that like to watch boat racing.

Furthermore, it could have a MUCH BIGGER following! I used to love wathcing the offshore races 3-4 years ago when they were on speedchannel. Hell I'd get up early on Sunday even with my hangover to watch and tape them. 7-10(or more) boats in the classes and some GOOD deck to deck racing. Now I could care less, there's a race on at 4pm today and I probably won't even watch it.

Edward R. Cozzi is right, multiple sanctioning bodies has ruined it. If done/marketed right I think a long distance race could bring a lot of publicity to the sport!

I would love to see some Factory type racing but that would probably never happen right away. So if you want run what ya brung then just break them into size classes for cats and Vs. That's it, no other "rules". No stepped V seperation, no power or drive limits, nothing but size. Simple and straightforward and no worries of cheating.

I disagree, you need some size classes. Nothing else. Otherwise you have nothing more than a glorified poker run with no cards!

And what's wrong with that? May the best man win.

It doesn't give much incentive for the smaller boats to come out and play. More incentive=more boats=more exposure IMO.

Lots of good thoughts here,, A few of my own,, Mark B talks about Grand Haven to Wis and back,, that needs to be expanded on,,, the on common request here is to get Fans involved and then sponsors ,,, The Poker Runs work because they are simple ,, Bill Taylor has brought the crowds into the Thousand Islands Runs .. Why?? because each town ,, read stop,,, has its own thing going for it ... then the business owners win!!

Maybe the Race needs to take on a three day format with lots of activities in the marinas where they overnight,, with start times for each group and courses that take them close to shore where viewing can be accommodated .. this would work on the Great Lakes ,,, or South Fla. or the Calif coast and it could all be sold to the networks if marketed right ..

RHC

Most of the racers pay their own expences with some small help from sponsers. If they want to race out in the open ocean, that's their choice to make. I don't see how it would help the spectators though. We want to see the boats more than once when they idle out of the harbor. If it's a destination race, we won't even get to see the finish. I think that Key West is the ideal format. The course goes out far enough that racers have to deal with rough water, then they come back in where the fans can see them. The pits are open so we can look at the boats. The racers are accessable, we even see them around the town at night. And of course the town is so much fun. In 04, when all the groups were there, all of the classes had plenty of boats.

Maybe you might want to have the occasional race offshore somewhere, but if you're trying to build a fan base, closer in is necessary.

break it down into length classes, for example an manufacturer may have a great 35 footer but ther 42 footer, has issues. I think thre would have to be limits for HP as well, not on drives or set ups, just top HP. for example a 38 footer with 1000's would be faster than a 38 footer with 525's.

This would be geared more for television, which i think is the way to go for a larger following. Cuda made an excellent point.

Dont you mean" build a bare wood boat" on oln, Which would you rather watch??