Commentary—Gratitude For Joey Gratton

Created: November 11, 2025

One of the most beloved offshore racers out of Sarasota, Fla., ever to don a helmet, Joey Gratton died 14 years ago today when his raceboat rolled during the 2011 Super Boat International Key West World Championships. Gratton survived the incident. He did not survive the bungled extraction.

Gratton drowned in the cockpit of the overturned catamaran owned by teammate Steve Page.

Offshore racer Joey Gratton died during the 2011 Super Boat International Key West World Championships.

Filed against SBI, the wrongful death lawsuit that followed took more than three years to reach court. Just seven days later, the case closed with an undisclosed settlement for Gratton’s widow, Priscilla.

From the day Gratton died until the day the lawsuit was settled, I covered the story. Simply put, it was a tale of inexcusable and ultimately tragic incompetence on the part of would-be lifesavers. It was a systemic failure, where one thing going wrong after the next cost a man his life. Gratton’s death was needless.

But it wasn’t pointless. It left his fellow offshore racers a little stunned and a lot pissed off. Safety and rescue team standards, practices and professionalism in the sport improved dramatically. As Race World Offshore head Larry Bleil said in a recent video, they’ve never been higher.

Gratton’s death drove that progress.

That’s hardly comfort for Priscilla Gratton. She lost the love of her life. Her sons, Blake and Brock Gratton, who lost their father. There are less-tragic ways to affect change.

But what came it of it has value and meaning.