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On The Water News
Published on 03-09-2014 04:42 AMCategories:
by SeriousOffshore
Most knowledgeable people agree with the basic concept, operating high speed powerboats carries a certain amount of danger. Based on recent experiences, the danger involved has been brought even more to the forefront than previously. What this series of articles will try to review, and possibly cause some intelligent thought and discussion about, is what has been the difference causing this increase of terrible consequences during the recent few years? And, more importantly, maybe some ideas of what could be done to improve the situation for the safety of all involved? In this first article we’ll visit the issues involving Offshore Racing because of the proximity to the OPA and SBI World Championships.
Offshore powerboat racing has been around since 1911, and there have been a total of 28 fatalities during its history of over 100 years of organized events.
However, 10 of those deaths have occurred ...Published on 03-08-2014 01:39 PMCategories:
Hello Friends,
More than a year ago I purchased SeriousOffshore.com to keep the site open as a friendly place where all performance boaters could chat with each other as if they were all in one of our living rooms with munchies and drinks. That was the main reason Serious was started, and the main reason it became so popular.
After some rapid growth, many things changed in a very short time. As one of the initial founders, and one of the site moderators, I ...Published on 03-07-2014 11:13 PMCategories:
On The Inside
We had the opportunity to visit with Ian at the Miami Ilmor display and personally tell him thanks for the way their company handled one of our members engine problems. It is no accident that Ilmor has grown at a tremendous rate, and made a reputation for product and service excellence, while others have had issues.
At the Miami show they had their latest V-10 725 which first put them on the performance boat map, their Indy drive system, and some of their new V-8's.
It's ...by Published on 03-02-2014 07:58 PMCategories:
Active Thunder had a presence at the Miami Boat Show this year for the first time in over 4 years. It was nice to chat with the owner Pat Haughey while looking at his latest 37 Xcess. As many of you are aware, our member Mike Sommers has a 37 Active Thunder in bright red with black stripes which he had at the Boyne Thunder Poker Run this past summer.
The boat has also ...Published on 02-08-2014 08:32 PM
by Serious News
Some of the Serious Offshore Sports news team had the opportunity to visit a few of our West Michigan performance boat builders and shops. We started out the day by visiting Precision Power Offshore to see Ben Wiersum at his new location and find out what was interesting there.
http://www.precisionpoweroffshore.com/
Ben had the 43 Checkmate, among others, in the shop being attended to.
Wicked Won was not in the main shop at the time, but it is a sweet boat they are starting to build new engines for.
Our next stop was Douglas Marine, home of Skater and the incomparable ...Published on 07-27-2012 08:56 PM
by SeriousOffshore
After a great lunch at the Weather Vane in Charlevoix, it was time to head back to the marina to run the second half of the course. While getting ready to go, we found out that the 12 boat raft off at the marina was a new record according to the harbor master, (the old record being held by sailboats at one of their events, can’t let that stand!!!!), so another “number one” record for Boyne Thunder 2012!
Anyway, great weather and gorgeous water said it was time to get those sweet Verado’s in gear. Getting away from the docks ended up being easier than first thought. We were boat #2 out of a 6 boat raft off. The ...Published on 05-05-2012 09:15 PMCategories:
by SeriousOffshore
Update Comments
Well, unfortunately Phenomenon burned up a motor, number four, in testing on the Thursday before the Kilo Record Trials I cannot tell you how disappointed the fans were in Biloxi. I can tell you the Phenomenon team was as much, or even more disappointed as the fans. I spent some time chatting with Scott and Al at the dunker test on Friday, we were about the last to go. Scott would not say what speeds he was seeing before the engine went on Thursday, but I can tell you there was a really big smile on his face when he thought about it. Seems like a decent hint of what to expect ...Published on 03-20-2012 11:27 PMCategories:
by Steve David
All too often when someone dies in a boat racing accident, the various websites have several postings of condolences, with many saying “they died doing what they loved”. While there is no doubt that those of us who race do love racing, I don’t believe any of us want to die. Racing in fact, is more a celebration of life and living it fully by our self definition. To others it’s too risky, or simply a waste of time. Just look ...Published on 03-14-2012 11:29 PMCategories:
by Tommy Snyder
While attending the Miami Boat Show last month, I took a break from the crowds and spent a day hitting some spots around Miami. First on my list was the place that seems to be “ground zero” of the South Florida performance powerboating scene, Johnny Tomlinson’s TNT Custom Marine.
Pulling onto the TNT lot, I immediately found myself in a traffic jam, with forklifts buzzing back and forth launching and racking boats. This is not your usual middle America-style boatyard. With the price of land on the water these days, there are ...Published on 03-02-2012 11:33 PMCategories:
by Charlie McCarthy
Win, or Die Trying
When Don and I would talk, we often spoke about becoming the Open Class World Champion. Nothing else mattered. Win, break or die trying. If you didn’t have that attitude you had no business being on the racecourse. It was a man’s sport, where only the strong survived.
Don told me I had everything it took to win a World Championship, except time. He explained that after a certain point, money is the same with every one. But the one’s that could afford to devote an unlimited amount of time to the sport were those that would go on to become world champions. ...Published on 02-28-2012 11:37 PM
by Charlie McCarthy
I am very excited to be working with the people here at Serious and look forward to sharing some great stories of the past with all the members.
I know they had planned on reprinting an article I wrote about Don Aronow a few years ago and maybe that is a good place to start. Tomorrow, March 1st, would have been the 85th birthday of Don, had he lived. It has been 25 years since he was shot to death on the very street he made famous, NE 188th ST, ...Published on 02-21-2012 11:42 PMCategories:
by SeriousOffshore
The cat is out of the bag at Checkmate. The Ohio boat manufacturer, now owned by ex-Baja CEO Doug Smith has now constructed the largest boat they’ve ever produced. This boat, dubbed the Punisher 43, is the first hull out of the original Apache-derived Chief molds. As everyone remembers, Chief was intended to be the progression of the venerable Apache 41. That hull featured some groundbreaking innovations such as a reverse step and a negative chine design that ended up on many a boat soon after the Chief’s introduction.
...Published on 02-20-2012 11:43 PMCategories:
by Serious Offshore
Closing out our 11 from 2011, our number one story is the unprecedented number of mishaps and the tragic loss of three competitors occurring during the Key West World’s. Nothing hits any closer to home nor any harder than the tragic passing of friends. We wish this story wasn’t being written. For now we can only hope it doesn’t have to be written again sometime in the near future.
We’re not qualified to speculate on the root cause or causes ...Published on 02-18-2012 11:46 PMCategories:
by Serious Offshore
Our choice for the number two story of 2011 finds us in the courtroom instead of on the water.
It seems that there’s always some piece of litigation floating around the world of powerboating. Litigation is a fact of life in our present times. No industry or group of people is immune. We’ll leave the discussion of why this trend is curving upward for another time, but for now let’s take a look at some recent events.
Over the last few years we’ve all read about various ...Published on 02-17-2012 11:49 PMCategories:
by Serious Offshore
If one were to be told the story of the last year of the life of Powerboat Magazine, not knowing the story, they would surely think they were being put on. It is hard to believe that a magazine with the history of Powerboat would be purchased, pumped for upgrades and pushed to get more subscriptions, then be terminated, then be reopened with bigger and better plans with fewer issues, pushed for more subscriptions, then after investing in content for the 2012 year be closed once again.
Judging from the disappointment among the magazine’s fans ...
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