One of the last true offshore powerboat racing competitions, the Trinidad and Tobago Great Race marks its 50th anniversary next year. Photo courtesy/copyright Marcus G Productions.
To borrow from an old expression, the chances of offshore powerboat racing returning to its halcyon days when competitors disappeared into the horizon and returned some time later are slim and none—and slim just left the building. Best described as near-shore offshore racing, what we have now is what we will have for the foreseeable future of the sport. Whether that fact causes you to wring your hands or clap them, it’s reality.
There is at least one exception: the Trinidad and Tobago Great Race put on by the Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat Association, which covers 115 miles—85- to 90-something of which are in the open Atlantic Ocean—between the twin islands off the coast of Venezuela. And come August 18, 2018, the event will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
“In the Great Race, we run in proper, six- to 10-foot swells in the Atlantic Ocean,” said Joey Sabeeney, who co-owns Total Monster, a 46-foot Skater catamaran that formerly ran in the United States as Planetman, with Trinidad and Tobago Powerboat Association president Peter Peake.
and then