Today’s testing of the Miss GEICO offshore racing catamaran near the team’s shop in Riviera Beach, Fla., was the first of three on-water test sessions the outfit will run between now and the Super Boat International season-opener May 15-17 in Cocoa Beach, Fla. According to Miss GEICO driver Marc Granet, today’s session lasted a few hours and and validated “all the work” team manager Gary Stray and the rest of his crew have done in the off season since the Miss GEICO team won its second consecutive world title last November in SBI Unlimited class.

Said Granet: “We examine everything from communication systems to seat belts—all the little things you don’t want to have to deal with on race day.”

“The crew is just incredible,” said Granet. “Everything we asked for, they gave us.”

Granet described today’s testing as the first step in a methodical process in preparation for the Cocoa Beach event. The same process will continue between races throughout the season.

“We do all of our testing in steps,” he explained. ” Today was running the boat, putting an hour on it, then coming back and going through it. You come back and go through everything from seat belts to engines, then go back out, bump it up to another level and come back and look through everything again. It’s a very methodical process where every time you go out you come back and go through everything from fittings to engines.

Granet, who ran the boat today with longtime throttleman Scott Begovich, declined to provide specific performance numbers. Today’s test session was not about top speed and acceleration, he said.

“We examine everything from communication systems to seat belts—all the little things you don’t want to have to deal with on race day,” said Granet. “We ran today to certain levels then went back to the shop. Next week, we’ll go out again and take it to the next level. Then we’ll test again on Saturday in Cocoa Beach, and be ready to go Sunday. Today was very rewarding. The crew has worked so hard to give us this boat, and we’re so excited to race her in Cocoa.”

Today’s view from inside Miss GEICO’s cockpit was the first of what will be many for Granet and Begovich during the 2015 SBI offshore racing season.

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