The Top 20 Speed On The Water Stories Of 2023, Part II

The last 364 days—otherwise known as 99.7 percent of 2023—delivered another remarkable stretch of newsworthy announcements, events, products and so much more. And, as my partner, Matt Trulio, wrote in the first part of our traditional lookback at the top stories of the year yesterday, speedonthewater.com produced a lot of stories, some of which were better received than others.

Amongst the top stories from 2023 was the debut of Mercury Racing’s new 500R engine. Photos courtesy Tom Leigh, Pete Boden, Jeff Helmkamp and David Dilks/copyright speedonthewater.com

Of course, there were some sad ones to report, including accidents at races and the passing of industry legends such as Rick Felsen, Chris Reindl and Gregg Rosen as well as accidents at offshore races. And while a few of those untimely or “memorial” stories were some of our most read, we’re not including those in our top 20. Instead we’re focused on the “good news.” Following my partner’s lead, I’m starting with a story related to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri, which celebrated its 35th anniversary in fine fashion and ended up with 30 percent of the stories on my list.

Torrente Drives Vision Marine-Powered S2 To New Electric Shootout Record
The talented folks at Montreal, Canada-based Vision Marine Technologies teamed up again with world champion boat racer Shaun Torrente of Florida to try to break the electric boat speed record the team set in 2022 on the three-quarter-mile course at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri. But this time around, Torrente drove a 32-foot catamaran of his own creation—the first 32-foot catamaran from S2 Power Boats, a business he started with his Super Stock-class offshore racing teammate Sean Conner—to an impressive 116 mph, which bested the team’s 109-mph mark from the previous year.

The Vision Marine Technologies-powered 32-foot S2 Power Boats catamaran set a new electric-powered boat record at 116 mph during the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout.

Mercury Racing Debuts Two New Engines

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Cigarette Racing Team Debuts 52 Thunder Center Console
Powered by six of the new Mercury Racing 500R outboard engines, Cigarette Racing Team unveiled its first new model since the Ruiz family took over the famed sportboat and center console brand in 2021—the 52 Thunder luxury performance center console. The latest addition to the Opa-locka, Fla., company’s center console series, the 52-foot-long, 14-foot-wide 52 Thunder is an all-purpose, sporty dayboat that’s loaded with amenities.

The latest addition to Cigarette’s luxury center console series, the 52 Thunder fits between the 59 Tirranna and the 42 Auroris models.

M CON Builds First New Class 1 Skater In Decades
One of the most anticipated raceboats in decades, the new Monster Energy/M CON Class 1-spec Skater Powerboats 438 catamaran powered by twin Mercury Racing 1100 Comp engines was completed and hit the water just in time for M CON Racing Team owners Tyler and Lindsey Miller to debut the boat at the season-opening race in Cocoa Beach, Fla., in May. Not only was the new canopied cat finished just in time for the race thanks to the hard work by the teams at Skater Powerboats and Performance Boat Center, the boat made its debut with a complete 30-plus-minute documentary about the build produced by Speed On The Water and Scrapyard Media.

The Monster Energy/M CON Class 1 team of owner/throttleman Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil was completed in time for the P1 Offshore season opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

Waves and Wheels Delivers Its First Doug Wright
It’s unclear who was happier—Jerry Olsen or Justin Wagner—in early August when the first Doug Wright 36 Carbon Waves and Wheels Edition catamaran was delivered to Southern California performance boaters Jerry and Andrea Olsen. That’s because Jerry Olsen was beyond thrilled with the 36-footer from the Melbourne, Fla., boatbuilder and its Missouri-based dealer Waves and Wheels, which is owned by Wagner, who was ecstatic to put his company’s mark on its first new model in terms of in-house paint, interior and rigging.

Jerry Olsen’s family and friends enjoyed the maiden voyage of Olsen’s 36-foot Doug Wright on the Colorado River in early August.

CTS Trailers Makes Significant Strides
Good luck finding a business that experienced as much growth as the Iowa-based CTS Custom Trailers did this year. Not only did the company, which is owned by Jason Curry, start manufacturing tilt trailers, it made significant inroads with high-performance boat builders from the likes of DCB, Fountain, MTI, Nor-Tech and many others after it added two marine industry veterans, Ronnie Moran and Jon Smiley. And, thanks to Curry’s new MTI 390X catamaran, CTS received added exposure at events in the Midwest.

CTS Custom Trailers’ Jon Smiley, left, and Jason Curry did some serious promotion for the brand throughout the summer with help from Curry’s MTI 390X.

Dirty Duck Skater Hits 194 At Shootout
Although Performance Boat Center’s Myrick Coil and Rusty Williams had an inkling that the latest Dirty Duck, a Skater Powerboats 438 catamaran owned by Slug Hefner and powered by a pair of 2,000-plus-hp engines from Brummett Marine, would run rather fast at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri, neither of them would have predicted that they’d blast through the radar trap at the end of the three-quarter-mile course at 194 mph. Yet that’s exactly what they did to the delight of the Shootout spectators, broadcasters and the veteran boat racer himself, the loveable Slug Hefner.

The Dirty Duck Skater is the only boat not named American Ethanol to eclipse the 190-mph mark on the three-quarter-mile course that the Shootout switched to in 2017.

RWO’s Largest Offshore Key West World Championship
Not only do the sponsorships and parties surrounding the Key West World Championship continue to increase, but this year the Race World Offshore-produced, American Power Boat Association-sanctioned event had 75 boats register—a record for the Key West-based race production company that took over the event in 2019. The positive momentum was apparent, especially at the Duval Street Parade that serves as an opening ceremony of sorts.

Race World Offshore head Larry Bleil and his family enjoyed the Key West Offshore World Championship boat parade on Duval Street.

Performance Powerboats Introduces New Cats
That team at Performance Boat Center in Osage Beach, Mo., took a couple of huge strides this year with the introduction of two new boats—the P-360 and P-420—from its newly established Performance Powerboats brand. Powered by a pair of Mercury Racing 500R outboard engines, the first P-420 model competed in the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and made the trek to from Miami to Key West, Fla., for the Florida Powerboat Club Key West Poker Run.

Performance Boat Center co-owner Brett Manire ran the new Performance Powerboats P420 catamaran in the Key West Poker Run in November.

Shootout Donates Record-Setting $675,000
The board of directors behind the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout in Central Missouri was once again proud to announce a record-setting donation during the annual Presentation of Checks in late-November as the 35th annual event raised an incredible $675,000, which was distributed amongst 39 different organizations in and around the popular Midwest waterway. Ron Duggan, the board president and owner of Captain Ron’s in Sunrise Beach, where the Shootout takes place, said during the announcement that the event would love to hit three quarters of a million dollars in 2024.