Boat Races

I am not a power sports kind of guy, though I did attend a few car races with my father in England in the 1960's, an era so far removed from the modern one I feel embarrassed to mention it, all goggles and leather gauntlets and cars that looked more like water beetles than racers at Goodwood. Later I trailed along behind my friends when we rode to motorcycle races, though I frankly preferred the ride to the destination being as how I am not fond of noise, though the smell of burnt castor oil is more aromatic than it sounds. Thus it was I had no desire to visit the boat races underway this week in Key West, but Fate had other plans:It so happened my instructor at the college had a field trip organized to check out the engine systems on a Marine Sanctuary boat docked at the Eco Discovery center , which it so happens put us in the front row of the warm ups for the races:The boat basin at the Truman Waterfront has long been a Federal preserve used by the Navy and now by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And for the week, high powered race boats:We completed our field trip against a backdrop of wildly revving engines and circling boats being prepped for the races. My young classmates were entranced:The boats zipped back and forth in the distance between Sunset Key and the Key West seawall overflown by helicopters whether for photographic or safety purposes, or both, I know not:The boats were flying across the waters but I don't think it's much of a spectator sport to watch the little colorful boxes splatting their way back and forth in straight lines:I knew a guy who raced to the Bahamas on these kinds of boats. Consider its 200 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau and they covered the distance in a couple of hours, racing across the Gulf Stream, slipping onto the Great Bahama Bank at the Gun Cay cut which I've sailed through and is about 30 yards wide, which seemed narrow at 5 miles per hour, and crossing the bank in less than an hour, a feat that usually took me all night to accomplish on my sailboat. Mark told me the engineer controls the throttles and the helmsman does nothing more than steer, so slight are the margins. All under the cloud of deafening internal combustion noise. Definitely not my cup of tea. The boat races though appeal; to lots of people, of all ages:

Though women are a big part of the appeal I'm told, the camp followers as it were. Not exactly Betty Grable but I suppose it's all a matter of taste:The real live women wandering the paddock (or whatever it's called in boat racing slang) were a small compensation doubtless for the KWPD officer directing traffic, who had been to my certain knowledge up all night already:Times are tough everywhere and off duty work is a much valued source of extra income for police officers, especially in a town with a high cost of living, and off duty details are becoming scarce so officers grab them where they can. It's another way these events help bring cash to Key West. And women, let's not forget the women they bring:Driving and talking simultaneously on a cell phone, just my kind of babe. Even if it is a golf cart it's still wrong. Of course it's not just women that keep the boats racing, it takes men too, including these apparitions in weird Steve Fossett style suits:Some people think riding a motorcycle is dangerous but I can't say that I would feel any too good if I indulged in a sport that needed fire proof clothing. But there again the boat race women don't do much for me either. Add the noise, and this is clearly not my arena. Scooters though always appeal, however riding a scooter that matches your outfit is over the top for me:If however the allure of racing fast boats cannot be resisted there is at least one for sale in Key West:I have no idea no idea what a 46-foot Skater is but I can say with certainty that 179 miles per hour is outside my comfort zone. The fastest I've ridden a motorcycle is 125 miles per hour which is an ample sufficiency. Going 150 miles per hour on the water would require kidneys made of rubber, and mine aren't. However if you haven't got a spare half mill right now (and who does these days?) there are bargains to be had:Cut price too, however I passed. But there was one part of the boat race thing I could enjoy, a cheerful outdoor picnic with friends:Cheapskates. We need them spending money in restaurants.