Top Ten Go-Fast Boat Stories of 2014: Part II
More stories from 2014 -- an amazing year in the high-performance powerboat world.
In the first part of this admittedly subjective list, here's what made the cut: Outerlimits’ kilo record, Mystic’s new center-console and catamaran models, the Spirit of Qatar team’s highs and lows, the booming Boyne Thunder and Buffalo Poker Runs, and Cigarette’s new stern-drive center-console—in that order. Big stories all, no doubt about it.
But a lot more than that happened in the performance boat world last year. What follows is the second part of my Top Ten story list.
A record-breaking 244-mph run in their 50-foot Mystic earned the Qatar Team the 2014 Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Top Gun award. Photo by Jay Nichols/Naples Image.
6. Qatar Team Destroys Shootout Record
Smart money said the 224-mph Top Gun record set in 2013 at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout by Bill Tomlinson’s 50-foot Mystic Powerboats catamaran dubbed My Way was safe in 2014. But it turned out the 50-foot Mystic speed party was just getting started as the Spirit of Qatar Team brought its new raceboat to the annual liquid-mile top speed contest in Central Missouri. Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, president of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation, and Steve Curtis destroyed the previous top speed record by 20 mph with a 244-mph speed along the one-mile course.
7. Pirates of Lanier Poker Run Sets New Standards
What’s more impressive, a 300-boat poker run or a poker run that raises more than $400,000 for local charities? Call it happy tie—and exactly what the Pirates of Lanier Poker Run pulled off in July. The Lanier Partners of North Georgia board members delivered another off-the-charts event with a few new wrinkles for the sixth annual poker run, which was held at the Lake Lanier Islands Resort in Buford, Ga.
Dozens of boats enjoyed the cheeseburger in paradise raft-up the day before the Pirates of Lanier Poker Run. Photo by Jeff Gerardi/Freeze Frame Video.
8. Epic Battles In Key West
With a 39-boat field, the 2014 Super Boat International Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla., didn’t exactly draw a huge fleet. In fact, relative to years in which the fleet size topped 100 offshore raceboats, the turnout for the 2014 SBI finale in the nation’s southernmost city was pretty weak. And yet thanks to great competition in several classes—including nine boats in the Unlimited category—the racing was as good as it’s been in Key West in the past 20 years. For good reason, meaning a full season of tight competition among four to six entries per race, the Superboat class captured most of the pre-event buzz. And the class didn’t disappoint with deck-to-deck action in race one, blistering course speeds in race two, and high-flying near catastrophes in the final race. In the end, Chuck Broaddus and Grant Bruggemann took home the world championship in Broadco, a 40-foot Marine Technology, Inc., catamaran with twin 750-hp Ilmor Marine engines.
The Broadco team proved it had what it took to win the Superboat class world championships in its 40-foot MTI catamaran. Photo by Rodrick Cox.
9. Center-Consoles Still Drive Sales
Marine Technology, Inc., has built a dozen of its 42-foot stylish center-consoles since the model was introduced a few years ago. Sunsation is adding a 32-footer CCX to its “Center Console Extreme” line. Mystic Powerboats and Cigarette Racing Team, as noted in the Part I of this feature, took on new center-console projects in 2014. The list goes on and on, and is likely to continue that way with Outerlimits releasing a 44-foot center-console later this year and Deep Impact, under new ownership, rekindling its own center-console line. Nor-Tech’s center-console sales continue to outpace its V-bottom sportboat and catamaran sales by a huge margin. Need I say more? Among custom go-fast boat builders, the center-console movement is here to stay.
Sunsation started with its 34 CCX (pictured), added a 29 CCX, and will have its new 32 CCX finished in 2015. Photo courtesy of Sunsation Boats.
10. Fountain Crowned ‘King of Offshore’
OK, the truth is that most “documentaries” today have a distinct point of view and “King of Offshore: The Reggie Fountain Story,” which aired on NBC Sports two days before Christmas, is no exception. Still, the hour-long program was eminently entertaining. Sure, it was great for Reggie Fountain—currently out of the performance-boat business and estranged from Fountain Powerboats, the company he founded—and his legacy, but it was great for the industry, too. Whether viewers believe Fountain to be “the King of Offshore” or just another joker, his contributions to the industry and the impression he made on it is unquestionable. Equally important, the documentary presented the high-performance powerboat world in a positive light to a mainstream audience, and that’s not something that happens too often.
Whether or not he’s the true “King of Offshore,” the documentary on Reggie Fountain was entertaining and enlightening.
