There’s edge-of-your-seat excitement. It’s drop-your-drink thrilling. And yet for many, it’s just another day on the water. The Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) came into Solomons, MD, September 13-15 and with it came the big guns. The Solomons stop was the seventh of eight stops on the 2013 schedule, hitting up venues in New Jersey, Michigan, and New York as well (Ocean City is the last stop on the tour, for the OPA World Championships October 4-6). Boats were dropped via crane into the water before rendezvousing at the mouth of the Potomac River. There were a total of 11 classes racing in three starts, ranging from the Class 700s to the Extremes and Turbines. Class restrictions are the deciding factor of who can race against whom. Some classes have open cockpits, while others stipulate enclosed canopies. There are engine restrictions (single outboard, twin stock outboards, unlimited piston power, and more), and then there are the top speed restrictions.

 

Now, let’s talk about boat speed. For the casual boater, 35 mph might be more than enough to get you over to Red Eye’s in time for docktails. But for these boats , topping out at 200 mph isn’t out of the question. Just go ahead and let that sink in for a second. When you see them on the water, you can actually hear the wind get sucked out of your lungs. The real heroes of the Solomons Offshore race were the boys on Team Tug It, a single-stepped Phantom 30 speedster with sealed Mercury 525-fuel injected engines running in the Super Vee Lite class. Tug It is owned by Kevin Smith of Smith Shipyard in Baltimore, MD. Together with Scott Glockner, Tug It is in its second highly successful season of OPA racing. Perhaps just as importantly, Tug It is a fan favorite, as noted by the throngs of orange-tee shirt wearing friends and family packing the boardwalk at Solomons. “For the first start, we had 11 boats in one class, with six boats in our class. With 17 boats on the water at once, you create a lot of wake,” says Scott Glockner, the driver for Tug It who has been acting as shore support since breaking his back earlier this year (Wil Ros was behind the wheel for Solomons, and will be out with the boat for Ocean City as well). “So our track was always changing. You have to know when to take a turn, but you also have to continuously watch the wake because the waves will lift you right up.” And as far as strategy on the course goes, the devil was in the turns. While the course itself lay perfect for knock-down drag racing, four sharp corners proved the demise for several boats.

“It was definitely beneficial to be out in front,” says Glockner. “If you have a lot of power, you can usually keep the boat in the water and plow through whatever. But when you don’t have a lot of power, you really have to push the boat to its edge, keeping max speed up for the turns. Boats spin out very easily. The bow just goes nose down and spins you 360 degrees, very violently and very quickly.”

Keeping the boat moving at top speeds and on the edge of its capabilities is therefore a two-man job. A throttle man gives the boat the gas it needs while the driver keeps his head out of the boat and on the course. An intercom system keeps both operators in communication with each other, and in Tug It’s case, the shore team can weigh in on the overall look of the course. “Wil and Kevin have become very good together,” says Glockner. “They anticipate each others’ moves. Wil knows that boat like the back of his hand.”

We certainly hope so, because we are all pulling for Team Tug It to win the OPA National Championships on October 6 in Ocean City.

This year only one boat showed up to race in the Turbine class. Miss Mary Mac, a 48-foot MTI races in what is considered the most extreme class in offshore racing. Her fuel capacity is a whopping 400 gallons, and the engine is a TM 1850 Offshore Extreme Package developed recently by the Florida company Turbine Marine, Inc. Watching her on the water, the crowds onshore were silenced by the vacuum-esque hum of her turbines. You could say that she stopped traffic, but considering the other big boats sharing the course with her, there wasn’t a chance. The Ocean City stop of the OPA Tour will have happened as PropTalk’s November issue sits at the printer, but you can bet we’ll be checking the stats and news reports. This is racing you don’t want to miss. Results: Solomons Offshore Grand Prix National Race TURBINE:                    Miss Mary Mac                                   Richard Chaney EXTREME:                   Phoenix Parts                                     Ray Contreras and Anthony Smith SUPER STOCK:           Lighthouse Racing                            Joseph Radecki and Michael Demeno SUPER VEE LITE:    Tug It                                                       Wil Ros and Kevin Smith CLASS 100:                Cleveland Construction                   Ed and Shawn Smith CLASS 300:                Wazzup                                                   Ed and Anthony Smith CLASS 400:                Saris Racing                                          Johnny and Jason Saris, Verne French CLASS 500:                Cisco                                                        Kevin Congdon, Eddie Simmons CLASS 600:                Wazzup II                                              Nick and Anthony Smith, Ryan Grauer CLASS 700:                Molson Muscle                                   Mike Mironyk and Dante Napoli