In Arizona, California, and Florida, three of the hottest states in the nation for high-performance powerboating, you can take to the water year-round. Of course, that doesn’t mean you won’t have to brave a few frosty mornings—I’ve scraped ice of the deck of a go-fast boat before running it on the Colorado River in Parker, Ariz., in February. But for the most part, the boating season never ends.

The rest of the United States has this quaint and intriguing season, at least from my perspective about 20 miles south of San Francisco, called “winter.” I know it not just because I see it on television, but because I have go-fast boating friends all over the country — make that all over the world — and they complain to me about it. Not because it’s cold (OK maybe because it’s cold) but because they can’t get on the water.

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(Photo courtesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image.)