If “real offshore racing” is defined as powerboats disappearing into the open ocean, turning around at a distant spot on the horizon and then heading back to their starting point, then real offshore racing is dead and not coming back anytime soon. But if real offshore racing is defined as powerboats battling one another in abusively rough water, then last yesteday’s Offshore Powerboat Association season-opener in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., and Super Boat International season-opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla.,—and you can read about both on speedonthewater.com—proved the sport is alive and well. (Or at least it was last weekend.)

Hangin’ N Bangin’ kissed the sky during last weekend’s OPA Point Pleasant Beach season-opener (click image to enlarge). Photo courtesy/copyright Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images.

Thanks to veteran photographers Pete Boden and Tim Sharkey, we were treated to plenty of dramatic big-air shots from the weekend’s offshore racing action. But none made us more grateful that we weren’t actually in any of the boats than this image of Hangin’ N Bangin,’ a 21-foot Redline V-bottom that competes in OPA’s Class 7 category and is manned by John Hughes and P.J. Kennedy.

We have no idea how Hughes and Kennedy felt when they landed. But thanks to this Image of the week, we do know we’re glad we weren’t with them.

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