It's Day Zero here in St. Pete. Tomorrow, Thursday, is Day One of the festivities, with the big OSS race on Sunday as the crowning event.

Things are still quiet in Vinoy Park. Most teams are still on the road, or are testing elsewhere, mostly in the Sarasota area. Tomorrow, the big rigs will pull in here. And Vinoy Park will be Race Village.

This is where they will sell the tickets for fan access to the dry pits.

They are setting up Florida's (some say the World's) biggest waterslide, which should be pretty popular with the chillens. And possibly with some adults too, as it is already mighty hot in St. Petersburg. It will be a very hot race on Sunday.

All kinds of booths are springing up. I nearly said they even have a special booth for the few racers who have not chosen to come to St. Pete ... but nooo ... I promised to behave.

There is a massive cabling effort underway at the Vinoy Marina, to provide connectivity and power for the onslaught of the media.

This fan has already claimed his viewing spot for Sunday. The very best seats in the house though will be at the pier.

Volunteer meeting in the eve. Full house! Brittany Wild and Charlie Bass up front.

Randy Hegwood, briefing his troops.

One other reason why the race had to happen this weekend: Miss Florida contestants are in the house ....