Howe Out For Cowes, Pratt Still In—Cowgirl And Alien In For Shootout, Szolack Out

More than 4,000 miles—some 3,400 of them Atlantic Ocean—separate Sunrise Beach, Mo., from the town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom. And yet both are hubs of powerboat racing action this weekend with the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout top-speed contest on a closed three-quarter-mile course and the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes endurance race on a 200-plus-mile open-water course.

Both events kick off Saturday morning. Here are a few quick notes ahead of the trans-Atlantic competitions.

Alex Pratt and Rob Lockyer will pilot the Good Boy Vodka Outerlimits V-bottom in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes offshore endurance race this weekend. Photo courtesy Sarah Howe

• After taking first place in the Solent 80 endurance race last month in the U.K. alongside fellow American Tim Linden in a 52-foot Good Boy Vodka Outerlimits V-bottom owned by Britain’ Rob Lockyer, American inventor/entrepreneur/YouTube rock-star Michael Howe was eager to come back and compete in the Cowes event. But Howe, who lives in Maine, is out. Not only did his planned ride not materialize, the guy has a significant hip injury. So he is officially out.

The good news for U.S. powerboat racing fans? Class 1 driver and Good Boy Vodka founder Alex Pratt of Michigan is still very much in and will share the cockpit of the 52-footer with owner Rob Lockyer. They will be joined in the cockpit by Pratt’s friend and fellow Michigander Shane Franks, the owner of the popular 42-foot Statement Marine V-bottom Saddle Up.

This weekend’s cockpit-crew for the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout inspired a name change for a well-known DCB Performance Marine catamaran. Photo by Pete Boden Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

• Sitting at Kiran Pinisetti’s breakfast table in Bloomington, Ind., earlier this week, Pinisetti and Kelly O’Hara, his DCB Performance Marine Cowboy & Indian M37R catamaran co-owner, had a stroke of genius. In honor of Pinisetti’s wife, Jessica, and world champion tunnel-boat racer Shaun Torrente, who will run the 37-footer in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, the cat will run as Cowgirl & Alien. (Ryan Beckley at Kinetic Animation of Bradenton, Fla., even made a new sticker for them.) The “Cowgirl,” of course, is Jessica Pinisetti.

As for the “Alien,” that is Torrente’s lesser-known handle and longtime racing logo.

Ron Szolack had hoped to run the 51-foot Mystic Powerboats Low Altitude catamaran with Mystic founder John Cosker this weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout, but it isn’t going to happen. Photo courtesy Ron Szolack

• Ever the showman, well-known performance boat owner Ron Szolack had planned to run five different boats from five different builders with representatives of each brand at the Shootout this weekend. For one reason or another, only Mystic’s John Cosker remained on the list as of mid-week and the turbine-engine-powered 51-footer Szolack had planned to run with him simply isn’t ready. Disappointing, for sure, but you can’t fault Szolack for ambition.

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