Skater At 50—The High Risk 32

Longtime fans of offshore racing will remember High Risk, a 32-foot Skater Powerboats catamaran that won multiple national and world titles from 1988—the year it was built—to 2005. Then owned and campaigned by Rick Felsen of race-event and race-team insurer Hawk Marine Consultants, Ltd., in Westbury, N.Y., the outboard-powered 32-footer was a perennial threat in what was called the Pro Stock class.

Thanks to superb graphics recreation by Kinetic Animation, the 32-foot High Risk Skater cat was reborn in 2012. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

One of offshore powerboating’s most colorful characters, Felsen died in 2023 at age 76. But 11 years before he passed, he sold the boat to Scott Porta of Porta Products. A former Super Stock-class offshore races, Porta brought the cat to Ryan Beckley of Kinetic Animation in Bradenton, Fla., for a complete rewrap.

The boat was dressed in a paint job designed and executed by Chris Dilling of Grafik EFX when Beckley took delivery of it at his shop. As a diehard offshore racing fan before he even entered the sport, Beckley was familiar with the High Risk Skater. But to get the graphics just right, he studied photos of the original design. And Porta had him recreate and integrate some of the cat’s original sponsor names and logos in his design.

The results were impressive.

 “It looks like the brand-new Pro Stock boat,” Felsen said of his former Skater Powerboats raceboat. “Ryan really knows his stuff.”

Where is High Risk now? North of the border. “It changed hands a few times before going to Canada,” said Beckley.

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