Old school offshore racing was the best. Real racing! V-bottoms are best in real offshore. Cats can’t handle the rough. Today’s racing just sucks.. Offshore racing will bring back the sport!

people say that all the time, but they have not been out there in those situations. The people that actually raced back in the real offshore days will tell you there is no way a v can run with a cat. The only way a v could ever have a chance against a cat in any condition would be in a low speed limited class. A perfect example of this is since the first race that the first 40’ Skater entered, a v-bottom has never had the fastest lap speed. So for over 25 years in every condition a v has never beat the cats.

most people say that an Apache would beat the skaters in the rough, but when you ask the guy that was driving the Apache race boats back then he will tell you that in any condition from the roughest you have ever seen to the smoothest that a cat will always beat the v.

Too true!

And we had much more horsepower.

I’m trying to find the Argentina race from 1997 but I haven’t had any luck yet, that will be arguably the roughest race in modern times. It also had arguably the biggest baddest V-bottom for rough water that has ever raced, Buzzi’s 50’ with quad 1,100 hp diesels. There was also a 46 Skater cat in the race. Needless to say the Skater won. Both boats ran without breaking and in 12-14’ seas according to the noaa the Skater blew away everyone.

Just like Apache pete above can probably confirm, there is definitely not a single v-bottom in the world that could beat any one of the top 80-100 cats in any condition.

This is has been a long running myth that has been passed down through generations of v-bottom owners, but is just not true.

Nothing against v-bottoms, I have a cigarette gladiator and I think it rides awesome and handles the rough awesome. After driving a gladiator in the rough, and other v-bottoms in the rough I think I would put the gladiator against most similar sized but heavier v-bottoms 38 top guns, 42 fountains, ect. Most people would think the heavier v would run faster in the rough, but in reality the gladiator runs more like a cat from it being light and staying on top of the waves, but it would not hold a candle to any cat near its size with similar or a little less power.

The supercat class boat can hold around 160-210 miles worth of fuel. I think a good race would be government cut (south beach, Fl) to Rivera beach Fl, and back. That would be around 70 miles each way of continuous large city beach viewing. Course could be no closer then 1/8mile from shore for safety but no farther then 1/2 mile from shore for good viewing. Have a 10 min “mill” after first boat arrives in riviera beach To bunch boats back up then race back to Miami. Could be a two race point system between the two directions. Would be good viewing for a lot of spectators and a fun race for the racers.