• 11 in 2011- #7, Drama in Super Vee Lite

    by Serious Offshore



    In the world of racing, one of the most anticipated stories at the beginning of 2011 was coming from the Super Vee Light class. A large group of SVL owners had pulled together in 2010 and joined forces, assembling unofficial association of like-minded SVL owners. At the beginning of that season it looked like they just might have a shot at pulling it off, with 9 boats participating in the season opener and large turnouts through the first half of the year. But putting something like this together is easier than keeping it together.

    It’s of no surprise that when you fill a room full of Type-A personalities for the sole purpose of assembling an ongoing agreement about a topic they’re passionate enough to spend big money and loads of time on, that you might just hear a few raised voices. What you wouldn’t expect is that one player could cause so much strife. In this case, one team seemed determined to make their way to the podium at every race. A strong competitive instinct is something you’d expect to find in any racer. But you also expect it to be a fair fight, both in the pits and on the course. Unfortunately for the group, one team found itself on the podium despite a string of technical violations stemming from equipment modifications as well as a few unprofessional on-water incidents.



    Word from long-time fans of the class was that they needed no technical inspection to know what was going on. More than once was the comment overheard, “I know what a 525 sounds like. Theirs doesn’t”. While a comment like that could easily be dismissed as sour grapes, it starts to make sense when one competitor is far in front of a fairly closely matched pack running some distance behind. Frustration grew within the class. The standing joke quickly became “How about four trophies? First, real first, second and third?”



    As the season wore on and a lack of rules enforcement by sanctioning bodies continued, frustration grew. The results of these events were one top team broke up at the beginning the year and the boat was never able to challenge for the podium after that and was eventually sold by the owner. Three additional teams decided they would get out altogether, and sold their boats. Yet another team said they would never race one of the organizations again due to lack of rules enforcement and kept that promise through the entire season.



    2011 had held great promise for the class coming off the 2010 season. At many of the 2010 races attended it was the largest class with the greatest following and most anticipation. But 2011’s overall result did not exactly hold up to that lofty vision with several races having minimal participation by the boats within the class.



    That this could happen in one of the closest knit groups of racers in all of Offshore seems incredible. This is a group of teams who have loaned each other parts when needed, and even been beaten by their own parts in other boats. We’ve seen boats break some of their major components in races to where they couldn’t compete, and then loan key parts of what is left to other boats at the same event so they would not fall into the same demise. The SVL teams take great pride in the overall class, most putting the well-being of the class ahead of their own success. Talk around offshore racing was mostly incredulous of the issues.



    Other classes which have had these types of issues with rules violations by teams have sometimes resulted in the total destruction of the class. So, at least that didn’t happen. Maybe the result of the boats gaining new owners speaks more about the class than is first thought of when witnessing the overall events at first glance. Every boat pulled from competition was able to find new owners. These new owners are currently discussing the future of the class with the owners of the boats which were not sold. The end result could be stronger, more easily monitored, rules with stiffer penalties for cheating, enforced by the team owners themselves if the organizations turn another blind eye.



    There are whispers being heard these days of boats which did not race at all in 2011 will show up in 2012 if the issues can be addressed. The current assumption is that this will somewhat hinge on the standardization of rules for the class amongst the different organizations, all the organizations willingness to enforce those rules, and all of the organizations willingness to severely penalize those who purposefully break those rules to generate a competitive advantage. 2012 should be a very interesting year once again for SVL. One thing you’ve got to hand to the SVL guys- they’re a tough bunch. They are for the most part holding together and fighting to hold on to their vision. That vision is to be the class that puts on the biggest, most anticipated and most exciting show at every race. If anyone can do it, it’s these guys.

    As of this writing there are fourteen teams poised to challenge each other for the SVL championship. We can only hope that these battles are contested on a level playing field and that each competitor leaves the course knowing they had a fair shot at victory.

    IMCO – Just Sold, New Team
    Wild Card – Just Sold, New Team
    Way 2 Crazy – Just Sold, New Team
    Tug It – Sold late 2011. One race with new team.
    Octane - Sold Early 2011, One season with new team.
    Phantom 9 - Sold Early 2011, One Season with new team.
    Absolutely Not - One Season in SVL with new team (Was running P4).
    Watch Your Back – 2 Seasons with new boat/team.
    Time Bandit – Seasoned Owner
    Typhoon – Seasoned Owner
    Bucaneer Pawn – Seasoned Team
    Pirate Racing – Seasoned Team
    Sun Print Racing – Seasoned Team
    Pig Iron Racing – Seasoned Team