No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Looking toward the future with interactive ways to communicate with its readers, Powerboat magazine is also making the most of its 42-year heritage — all part of a new Web site from the “World’s Leading Performance Boating Magazine.”

Loaded with resourceful and entertaining features, Powerboatmag.com is now the ultimate complement to the print publication that has informed readers since 1968. From videos to blogs and breaking news, the site provides enthusiasts with their daily performance-boating fix.

In addition to a variety of stories and advice columns to read, users can check out more than 40 years of Powerboat covers, watch user-generated videos in the “Your View” video section and enjoy pictures from past and recent events in the Photo Gallery.

Perhaps the most resourceful tool on the new site for someone looking to purchase a boat (or for those interested in reading about past models), is the downloadable boat tests component. Visitors can search through more than 1,300 reviews from Powerboat’s Test Team from 1990-present.

Various industry leaders will regularly provide blogs looking at the changing industry. Along with the Powerboat editors, contributors include Steve David, driver of the world champion Oh Boy! Oberto hydroplane; Marc Granet, driver of the world champion Miss GEICO catamaran; Scott Shogren, owner of Shogren Performance Marine in Illinois; and John Tomlinson, Powerboat Test Team driver and TNT Custom Marine owner.

“Not only does the new site showcase the history of the sport, it gives our site visitors a look at the future of boating,” said Jason Johnson, Powerboat’s managing editor. “It’s a perfect companion to the print product.”

Powerboatmag.com will offer more exciting components in the near future, such as classic race photos provided by the Historic Offshore Race Boat Association, tips on what to look for when obtaining boat insurance and much more.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Bio-Kleen Parked @ Captian Rons

Finally, the day had come to witness the largest unsanctioned racing event of the season. What started as a friendly battle among lake residents to see who had the fastest machine on the water has become known by many as the fourth holiday weekend of the summer. Today, professionals and amateurs compete against each other and clock their speeds for the Top Gun honor. Boats more than 22 feet in length are allowed to run in classes by length, hull design, size of motors and number of motors. Proceeds from the Shootout benefit the Lake-area rescue teams, Habitat for Humanity and other charitable organizations.

Mikes Thunder Marine @ Dock

The temperatures are the highest we’ve seen yet since heading into Missouri and the day looks like it should shape up to be beautiful, calm and sunny. The day is sure to be action packed. A majority of the buzz around the lake is of course centered around last years Top Gun winner; David Scott and his 50ft Mystic racer with throttle man John Tomlinson (then sponsored by Bud Light). The crowd is also quite intrigued to see if the Miss Geico boat will be on the list of competitors this year. The boat passed up the Shootout last year for another race, but up to this point has been seen as Scott and Tomlinson’s biggest competition.

Other Characters @ Shootout 2009

There’s also a lot of hype about a brand new addition to the Shootout, a head-on-head drag race; two boats running down the course at one time. One world class racer and well known lake member, Bob Morgan, is an advocate for the drag style boat race for the shootout. He’s finally gotten his wish for 2009 as race officials have approved the head-on-head competition. Bob Morgan himself in the Bad Moon Risin boat will go nose to nose with Bob Bull in the CMS boat. The talk is they’re scheduled for the best of three races.

Nauti Marine's Saturday Shootout Run

Dave Scott and Nauti Marine, 2008 Top Gun, holder of multiple world speed records, nearly a dozen national titles and almost as many world titles, is the team to try and beat this year at the Shootout. For the past eight years, Scott and all the Nauti Marine boats have raced under Anheuser Busch sponsorship. About this time last year InBev, the new owners of Anheuser Busch, announced they were no longer interested in sponsoring powerboat racing; which left the team looking for sponsorship elsewhere. Instead, Scott decided to race under his own Nauti Marine banner.

Last year Scott intended to race the Mystic fueled with methanol, but on the Thursday before race weekend a motor broke. So they spent the night changing the out the methanol motors back to gasoline. Obviously things did work out for them, still holding onto Top Gun status. They’ve still been testing methanol motors and plan on running the two 2,400-hp New Century alcohol-fueled engines for the Shootout this year.

The Nauti Marine boat seemed to be off to a great start on their first run on Saturday; but 2/3 of the way down the course something goes wrong. There’s a noticeable change in the sound of the motors and the output of the boat. They seem to blow another motor, but still finish the run with an impressive speed somewhere in the 160′s I believe.

CMS & Bad Moon Risin Drag

There was much more action for the day from the racers and the crowds. We captured video not only of the Nauti Marine first run, but impressive runs from Flight Club, the Mercedes Boat, D&M Motorsports, Mikes Thunder Marine, Shogren, Bob Bull and the CMS boat in a single run and the first drag between CMS and Bob Morgan in the Bad Moon Risin boat. CMS starts the head-to-head race out in front, but about mid way Bad Moon Risin easily coasts by. From our view it looks as if Morgan leaves Bull deep in his wake. Turns out it was close to a photo finish. The final details are debatable, but the word is this first race goes to Bob Morgan and Bad Moon Risin.

It was a great start to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009. Beautiful weather, hot enough for the passengers of the hundreds of rafting boats to enjoy the water. Great speeds and action from the racers along with a few new twists. The opening day was not without its challenges though. There were multiple runs tainted with radar issues; forcing the racers to possibly fore-fit a great speed and run again later. There were also some staging issues, not allowing them to pack in all the desired runs for the day and sometimes moving at a slow pace in between runs.

Fire Rescue Team Lends a Hand

Then there’s the broken, wavy line of rafting boats that zig-zags the border of the entire course and then some. It’s really the only way to stay put safely with all those boats, but the number of boats with 30ft anchor lines in 75ft+ water definitely outweighed those that were prepared. Put that amount of boats and weight on not enough anchor and your bound to drag. And drag they did… into the course enough times the police and fire patrols had to discipline and assist the boats back out of the course boundaries or the race would not go on. Thankfully they do their jobs well and the spectators were very receptive. After all, everybody’s there to watch the boats and have a good time and if the boats can’t run there’s no race, and it’s all over for everyone.

Saturday had some smooth runs and good speeds, but there’s still a lot more in store for the final day of the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009.

• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Wednesday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Thursday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Friday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Saturday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Sunday
• Bio-Kleen Shootout YouTube Videos
• Bio-Kleen Shootout Flickr Pictures
• Bio-Kleen Facebook Pictures
• Bio-Kleen MySpace Pictures

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The sunshine and clear skies came out just in time to view the expansive wind power project south of Joliet, IL. The project must still be in the early stages as none of the massive turbines that were scattered across acres of soybean and corn fields were not yet turning. There must have been nearly 60+ already erected and more on the way. You could see large cranes in the distance piecing together these green energy giants. They seemed so small and fragile in the distance across the farm lands. That was until we bore witness to a single blade being hauled in on an extra long semi tractor trailer, the longest I’ve ever seen. That really put the size of the turbines and the project into perspective.

Down the freeway we learned just how skilled a crop dusting pilot must be. We first saw a small, single engine plane flying very close to the horizon. About a mile later the plane was just over the freeway, facing oncoming traffic. The plane then quickly pulled up and sharply cut back down to the left hand side of the road; making a pass across the length of the soybean field at speeds well over ours and at heights that wouldn’t allow a large truck to pass under.

When that row was finished, the pilot again cut over the freeway, making a large loop over the road, as if all the motorists came to a traveling aerobatics show; then on to the next row. The plane and it’s pilot continued to dance in the sky amidst the highway travelers, as if they were stuck to the pavement with glue and he was making up his own free flowing paths as he goes. Though the skies filled our excitement for the time being, we still had a very long road ahead of us and at the end of it is what’s really on our mind; the green waters of the Lake of the Ozarks.

We made it down just in time for a late dinner at Captian Ron’s where the Shootout is hosted for the second year in a row. Our goal for the next day was to set up our vendor booth, service some local dealers around the Lake of the Ozarks and get the biokleen boat launched to be ready for Friday’s pokerrun.

• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Wednesday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Thursday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Friday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Saturday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Sunday
• Bio-Kleen Shootout YouTube Videos
• Bio-Kleen Shootout Flickr Pictures
• Bio-Kleen Facebook Pictures
• Bio-Kleen MySpace Pictures

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It did clear up a little for the day, but there was also a batch or two of slight sprinkles. The pokerrun had six stops: 1.Big Dicks, 2.The Fish & Co., 3.Dog Days, 4.Captain’s Galley, 5.Captain Ron’s and last and final stop 6.Franky & Louie’s where they would announce the winners. Each team received a card to be punched at each stop. Once everybody is back at Franky & Louie’s, contestants will draw seven cards, playing the best five card hand. Pokerrun committee chair Don Sylva said last years pokerrun attracted 105 boats. Sylva and co-chair Connie Weyer, who along with her husband Dave owns Advantage Marine in Sunrise Beach, hope to have 150-175 boats at the 2009 Shootout Pokerrun.

Biokleen had the honor of a special passenger for the Poker Run, Tamara, Miss Missouri. She was also kind enough to visit us back at the booth and give a helping hand. Be sure to vote for Tamara for Miss America.

Joy Schou and the crew from the Platinum Powerboat Club shacked up with us in the biokleen booth to sell T shirts for the Platinum Shootout Beach Bash that evening. Proceeds from the event support the areas local boy scouts. There’s also live music and free food and drink for attendees. The booth went extremely well for us to get the weekend started. After getting the booth closed up, it’s time to head to Franky & Louie’s to get our last cards and see who the winners are. Then back to Captain Ron’s for the Platinum Beach Bash. Tomorrow: everyone fires up their engines pursuing Top Gun status.

• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Wednesday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Thursday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Friday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Saturday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Sunday
• Bio-Kleen Shootout YouTube Videos
• Bio-Kleen Shootout Flickr Pictures
• Bio-Kleen Facebook Pictures
• Bio-Kleen MySpace Pictures

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The first goal for the second day at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009 was to put up the Bio-Kleen vendor booth at Captain Ron’s. This is the second year the Shootout is put on by Captain Ron’s and spearheaded by the owner, Ron Duggan. Last year was great, so we knew this year would be even better and well organized (always a huge plus). It was easy to find the biokleen booth space, as we’re in the same spot as last year, F21; a cozy spot nestled in front of a large tree, right in front of dock 3, just on the corner of Cannonball Beach.

We got the tent and booth all set up and after some lunch, we’re off to several marinas around lake of the ozarks selling bio-kleen marine & rv products. We took the winding, narrow, down-sloping roads from high ground of highway 54 to the marinas at the lake. We made deliveries to Millers Landing, Bidgeview Marine and Village Marina. We also had some time to demo some new products with Village.  Then we dropped the Biokleen Toter off at Excess Detailin’ for a wash. By the time we picked the toter up it has been a very long day and the evening is fast approaching. We had to first pick up the biokleen boat from Bob Morgan’s shop, then get it in the water.

We proceeded down the even windier, extra narrow and slightly steeper “road” to the launch ramp by the Niagara Bridge.  We knew it may prove to be a difficult landing with the toter and much to our surprise we had some extra help when we arrived. Bob Morgan and the entire crew was there launching the Bad Moon Risin boat. It also started to rain at this point and by the time we got the boat in the water… it was a torrential down pour, with cracks of lightening and high gust winds. It was difficult enough driving a motorhome down a paved road back to the rv park; I was just imagining Tim on the lake, getting the boat to the docks at Captain Rons.

We made it by land, and by water, safely back to Captain Rons. It continued to rain, blowing down branches, washing out roads and pushing all the fresh sand at Captain Ron’s beaches back into the lake. We were all soaked… completely, and were only interested in getting out of our wet clothes, drying out and starting fresh tomorrow. The biokleen boat is a pace boat for the pokerrun and the vendor booths open up as well. The official start of the Lake of the Ozarks 2009 Shootout is finally here.

View more blog posts, video and pictures from the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009:

• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Wednesday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Thursday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Friday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Saturday
• Lake of the Ozarks Shootout 2009, Sunday
• Bio-Kleen Shootout YouTube Videos
• Bio-Kleen Shootout Flickr Pictures
• Bio-Kleen Facebook Pictures
• Bio-Kleen MySpace Pictures

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Photo by Jamie Russell

The AMSOIL Offshore Racing Team set the Official Endurance Record sanctioned by OSS in 2008 in the Cat Lite Class from Miami, Florida to Bimini, Bahamas and back. This year, the team returned with a mission of defending and beating its own record in the 106 mile long race. On Friday, June 12th, Team AMSOIL #77 did just that by running the endurance event in 59 minutes and 40 seconds, which was a little over 5 minutes faster than last year’s record. The official average speed of the Team was recorded at 106.8174 MPH.

To further show the endurance and reliability afforded by using AMSOIL lubricants, Team AMSOIL participated in Saturday’s Thunderboat Rally from Sunny Isles Beach to Key Largo and back. The Team received a lot of recognition from other participants and fans as a front runner in the long range event. The boat was entered in the Sunny Isles Offshore Challenge on Sunday.

Team AMSOIL won the Cat Lite class easily in the wind blown Atlantic Ocean waters in front of fans on Beach and in the row of mega hotels along the front straightaway. The start-finish line was located at the famous Trump International Beach Resort Hotel. During the 3 day event, over 350 race miles were logged on the Team AMSOIL Skater with no problems of any kind.

Photo by Daton O. Fullard, HOA Digital Images

Joining Team AMSOIL for the weekend as an honorary team member was the current Miss Florida USA, Anastagia Pierre. We are grateful for Anastagia’s support of the AMSOIL Offshore Racing Team and for the sport of offshore racing.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

PB has now forged a strategic partnership with Fox Sports Network to produce two episodes on offshore boat racing. These segments will highlight the season-opening race in Biloxi, Mississippi, as well as recent race in Lake Cumberland, Kentucky.

Each exciting half-hour show will focus on the race and be enhanced with in depth interviews with the teams. In addition, viewers will get a unique perspective by getting a racer’s eye view from behind the wheel of these powerful machines.

The Biloxi race will air on Fox Sports Network on June 15. This will be followed by coverage of the Lake Cumberland race, set to air on June 22. Although air times were tentative at press time, they are expected to be broadcast between 3 and 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Viewership is expected to reach a minimum of 50 million homes and a potential of 80 million.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Sunsation Powerboats is unleashing a secret weapon…sooner than planned. The Sunsation XRT, Extreme Race Technology, model will be released ahead of schedule. Originally slated for 2010, XRT will now be unveiled in Miami, February 12, 2009.

Development started over a year ago keeping ideas and concepts in the future model file.  The project has remained confidential within the factory and McLeod Design Group.

The purpose for the new model is to give customers more of what they want…2010 styling, technology and performance.

View More Sunsation XRT sneak peek Photos

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One thing the lake has to offer is the annual Lake Cumberland Poker Run, which has become a premier event. It’s ranked in the top 10 poker runs in the country by Extreme Boats Magazine. The lake is known as the Houseboat Capital of the World, but on Saturday, September 6th thousands of spectators lined up along the 110 mile course to watch the offshore boats roar by. The run started at the State Dock and was to run to Conley Bottom Marina, Burnside Marina, Camp Earl Wallace, Grider Hill Marina, 76 Falls and back to the State Dock.

Unfortunately it was the poker run that never transpired. Ten of the boats that signed up for the fastest grouping left the milling area outside the State Docks and headed to pick up the first card. The rest of the groups waited only to discover that there had been a serious accident with the “Pammy” boat, a 36 foot Skater. We listened to the ship to shore radio in the bay as the rescue boats roared by to the Jamestown Marina. We found out shortly that the owner of the boat, Kevin Sellers, was killed and his passenger was in critical condition. The Poker Run was canceled and all the poker runners straggled back to the docks.

We were asked to stay off the lake so the accident area could be cleared. Some people loaded up and left, some hung out at the docks and later that day groups went out to Hansen Bay, the Lake Cumberland party cove, to raft off. Forty six houseboats were at the State docks all weekend for the Poker Run festivities, which included vendors, parties, and a live band, “Caught Red Handed”. The mood was understandably somber on Saturday evening as all the boaters gathered for dinner and for the awards to the winning poker hands. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of Kevin Sellers.

In spite of the tragedy, Bill Jasper and the whole Poker Run crew put on a well organized event. The State Docks staff was so helpful and hospitable. We will be returning for the event next year. (DK)

View all the Photos from the Lake Cumberland Poker Run 2008 on Flickr or MySpace

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.