HORBAS ' tenative plans to run several OFFSHORE RACES in 2015 was a breath of fresh salt air ! My APBA license expired 20 years ago , but I always said I'd be back out there one more time . Now that my son is a teenager , I think the time is here. I see some classes that can be run on a moderate budget ( I build /rig / restore boats for a living ), but the B/S I see posted about the races and orginazations makes me think twice. If HORBA can put something together that resembles the" classic days " of offshore ,I hope some of you guys that have been away awhile will give it a shot. Remember , you dont have to have the fastest , lightest , most high tech thing out there , you just have to build a solid boat , remember how to navigate ,and make it to the end safely. PS What the F is prize money ? I still have checks from the APBA I thought looked to cool to cash!!! Good Luck Bill D.

Take a pic of them and enjoy the money

TENATIVE........is a key word here.

HORBA has been trying to do this for several years now. Started with the Miami to Bimini run a few years ago .....that was really a timed event from here to there and back about 105 miles.

Then we tried to bring back a real classic... The Around Long Island Marathon of 271 miles.

That ran for a couple of years, but we couldn't seem to get a large fleet turnout. We even announced a date a long time ahead so racers could try it.

So this time we are trying something a bit different.
We are making classes based on the size of the boat and the number of engines.
Broadly based two major classes will be used. Open and Production for lack of better terms at this point.

Open boats will be larger and will run a course of 200 miles
Production boats will be smaller and will run a course of 100 miles

We want to open up the opportunity also to poker run boats and will set an individual course of 50 miles for them.

The two races we hope to run in 2015 will be one in June and the second in September.

The first race in June will be on Long Island Sound and will be run in a four or five checkpoint course.
Poker run boats will start,after the other classes and run on a different, more sheltered course.

The second race in September will again be the Around Long Island Marathon of 271 miles. This will be run by the Open boats and anyone who wishes to step up and enter. Additional fuel tanks may be added to those boats or they may stop for fuel along the way.

However, both the production boats and the poker run boats will still run on their 100 and 50 mile courses.

The idea is to have one major race each season, which will be the September race. The other races during the season will be all the same length of 200 for Open, 100 for Production and 50 for Poker run boats.

Being former racers who also held down jobs we realize,that the way to schedule the races would be to give a breather period between the race dates.

Here is the schedule that we hope eventually to have:

February ........Florida
April ..........Florida
June...........New York
August........Great Lakes
September .........Around Long Island
November........Florida

We tried to give at least one month free between race dates, so people can get back to work.

The date for the August race would be the very first of August and the September race,would be the third weeknd in September. That would give 6 weeks for the racers to prepare or repair their boats between races.

Ideally, we would like to work with another race organization so we just fit our races in their schedule. Old school offshore races usually ran on a Saturday, leaving Sunday a travel day so people could get back home. The exception was the July BENIHANA race which was held on a Wednesday. That was because the crowds were so big, the Coast Guard didn't think they could control them if the race was held on a weekend.

Oh sorry, I forgot the old style racing didn't draw spectators, except the 400,000 plus at the BENIHANA RACE.

great lakes! . . . . I'm in! Had a fantastic time doing the Bimini race, on the way out i kept looking back waiting to lose sight of land . . . . that was cool.

GLOPRA used to run a race in the early days. From Mentor Harbor to Kelley's Island and back. about 140 miles. That could be an awesome event.

Hulls to be measured from bow to transom. No bustles, swim platforms count in length to determine class.

Production boats: 100 mile course
Maximum length .....25 feet maximum. / 18 feet minimum / single engine / outboard or inboard or sterndrive.

Maximum length ....30 feet maximum / 26 feet minimum / twin engine / outboard or inboard or sterndrive.

Open Boats: 200 mile course
Maximum length ....36 feet maximum. / 31 feet minimum / twin engine / outboard or inboard or sterndrive.

Maximum length .....42 feet maximum / 37 feet minimum / twin engine / outboard or inboard or sterndrive.

Maximum length......50 feet maximum. / 43 feet minimum / twin engine / outboard or inboard or sterndrive.

These are,what we are working with for now.

Poker run boats. maximum length 50 feet. / minimum length 30 feet
maximum engines 2 no turbines, All poker run boats run together for the 50 miles.

That is the rough outline of what we are thinking and what we are working toward.

Anybody interested in getting off the beach and doing some navigating?

Any organizations interested in helping us get this under way in either Florida or Great Lakes?

Dig out all those old 27 and 28 foot Cigarettes and Magnums and make sure they have enough fuel for 100 miles.
Sutphens in the 30 foot range would make a great race boat for the few races each year. Old 35 Cigarette with non step bottoms would be another good contender.

Competitive race boats under $100,000 should be the bulk of these fields regardless of class run. Remember I was on a twenty year old 31 footer, with a non step bottom, small blocks and Alpha drives and we won the 271 mile Don Aronow Around Long Island Marathon back in 08.

I may be interested, what do we have to do to join? How old does the boat have to be?