Brick, NJ — After a year and a half of negotiations its Official, Resorts World Bimini (
www.rwbimini.com) will be hosting the first OPA/APBA race outside of US waters on Saturday April 29th 2017.
This race is the brainchild of Roger Berkon Productions. Roger (
www.rogerberkon.com) has been putting on events throughout the Bahamas and around the globe for the past twenty years and sees this as a perfect match between OPA and Resorts World.
"They built this spectacular hotel/casino/marina on the tiny island of Bimini and it needs to get exposure. Bringing the OPA/APBA Offshore Racing Series to this world class resort just makes sense. We'll televise this race nationally across the United States with an hour long show on a major network that will give the resort the exposure that it needs. There's just no better way to show off their marina, guest and banquet facilities to a national audience of boating enthusiasts. Hopefully this will become an annual event for the next few years." Said Roger Berkon when asked to comment on the race event.
Ed "Smitty" Smith, President of OPA is excited about this new race venue. When asked he replied... "Oh man, I gotta get my passport renewed. We've been working with Roger on this event for a long time and everything just came together today. The big obstacle with a race outside the USA is the transportation of the race teams, the insurance, customs and other unknowns. Fortunately, Bimini is only fifty miles from Florida and Roger has access to a ferry boat that can hold about twenty teams per trip. The size of the teams rigs will determine exactly how many boats can make the trip. We are hoping to bring roughly forty boats, so if you want to go, register now and get on the list. This is huge for OPA, we race between the US and Canada when we race in St Clair and Port Huron Michigan and now we are going to the Bahamas. And the best part is that our friends from the Chesapeake Powerboat Club (
www.cbpba.com) just happen to be holding a Poker Run from Ft Lauderdale to Resorts World Bimini on the exact same weekend, so we partnered with them as our support fleet. They've worked with us many times at our races in Ocean City and Solomans Island MD so they know what to do and how to do it. I really couldn't have planned this any better, it all just came together and I can't wait till April."
Focus TV Productions has been contracted to film and televise the event. With over thirty years of experience filming Offshore Races, Focus TV Productions will use six cameras, aerial drones, and onboard cameras to cover all the action. The race will air on a national channel about a month after the race.
Teams that want to attend will meet the Roll on - Roll Off ferry in Ft Lauderdale before and after the race. All boats will leave Ft Lauderdale a week before the race and then return as early as two days after the race so there's plenty of time to get ready for the next race.
For more details, stay tuned to
www.oparacing.org and send an email to
[email protected] to let them know that you want to race in Bimini on Saturday April 29th.
