In a way, the 2016 Miami International Boat Show’s new venue at Miami Marine Stadium on Virginia Key is a homecoming for the high-performance segment of the marine industry. After all, everything from hydroplanes and tunnels boats to offshore raceboats competed at the historic venue during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. And come February, a boat show city of temporary tent exhibits and floating dock displays will breathe new life into the place.

While it isn’t a brand-new product, the general public will get its first boat show view of the Mercury Racing ROS outboard engine in Miami. Photo courtesy Mercury Racing.

While it isn’t a brand-new product, the general public will get its first boat show view of the Mercury Racing ROS outboard engine in Miami. Photo courtesy Mercury Racing.



So, what can go-fast boat loving visitors expect to find at this year’s event from the segment’s two best-known companies? Skip Braver of Cigarette Racing Team in Opa-Locka, Fla., never reveals specific details of his company’s typically over-the-top sportboat and center-console releases and displays, but he did confirm that—as it has for the past five years—Cigarette will continue its exotic car-inspired collaboration with Mercedes AMG. Braver even hinted that this time the collaboration might not involve a 50-foot sportboat. On the display side, he confirmed that his company will have its own exceptional exhibit on the docks (with boats in the water) touting, as always, “The Cigarette Difference.”

Will Cigarette Racing Team continue its Mercedes AMG collaboration with another car-inspired 50-footer such as last year’s release, or will the iconic boatbuilder go in another direction? Photo courtesy Cigarette Racing Team.

Will Cigarette Racing Team continue its Mercedes AMG collaboration with another car-inspired 50-footer such as last year’s release, or will the iconic boatbuilder go in another direction? Photo courtesy Cigarette Racing Team.



Equally well-known for its big releases during the Miami event, as well as its dense shroud of secrecy beforehand, high-performance marine engine company Mercury Racing is a sure bet for something new and cool at its exhibit on the docks. But while company representatives say they’ll unveil something significant in Miami, that’s all they’re saying. Without question, the Fond du Lac, Wis., power giant will display something that only those who visited the Florida Powerboat Club’s 2015 Poker Run Village in Key West, Fla., last November have seen—the 400-hp ROS outboard engine. Based off Mercury Racing’s Verado 400R engine platform, the ROS (shorthand for Race Offshore) outboard is the official engine for the 2016 XCAT World Series featuring twin-engine canopied catamarans.

Here’s something you can count on between Cigarette Racing Team and Mercury Racing: a 30-minute window between unveilings on Thursday, the VIP day on which the show opens. Cigarette typically goes first with a 10 a.m. debut, often one that includes a Mercury Racing product such as the 1550/1350 engine unveiled in last year’s AMG-inspired 50’ Marauder GTS. Mercury Racing tends follow with its big news at 10:30 a.m. While the respective displays were a five-minute walk in the Miami Convention Center, they’ll be a lot less than that on the docks this year.

For more on the 2016 Miami Boat Show, see part two of this article.

 

Written by: Matt Trulio
Matt Trulio is the co-publisher and editor in chief of speedonthewater.com, a daily news site with a weekly newsletter and a new bi-monthly digital magazine that covers the high-performance powerboating world. The former editor-in-chief of Sportboat magazine and editor at large of Powerboat magazine, Trulio has covered the go-fast powerboat world since 1995. Since joining boats.com in 2000, he has written more than 200 features and blogs.