Last weekend’s Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix demonstrated what really matters in offshore racing. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
Watching Sunday’s online broadcast of the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix, grabbing telephone interviews immediately after the races with a few of the winners and then writing a recap of the 32nd annual event on Florida’s Gold Coast left me in a philosophically state of mind about the current state of the Sarasota happening and the sport itself. And I don’t mean going either going the nostalgic, “It used to be a lot better” or the wistful, “It could be a lot better” route. As a longtime reporter covering offshore racing, I find those mental exercises pointless and tedious.
Yes, it’s been better. Yes, it could be better than it is now. The sanctioning bodies have been part of the problem. The racers have been part of the problem. No rational, informed observer of the sport could argue otherwise.
So what? Focus on that and you’ll miss what’s happening right now. And while offshore racing has been better and could be better still—to once again belabor the simple and obvious—there’s a lot to like about what’s happening now in Sarasota.
and then