2010 Super Boat Parade
Every year in November, the Super Boats come to town to race, show their boats, and generally have a powerfully good time. To kick off the week long roster of events, there was a Super Boat parade on Sunday afternoon. This is a great way to see the boats up close, and to see the accompanying owners, navigators and friends.
The parade was promptly at four pm, and lasted ten or fifteen minutes. Owners has to pay a few hundred bucks to be in the parade, so not all boats were represented. It was a low key parade with thin crowds, with everyone in a mellow good mood, some throwing leftover beads from Fantasy Fest. One boat in particular stood out, almost literally: it was an orange boat so wide it had to be placed on its side to fit on the trailor and to be able to fit into traffic. But the angle of the tipped boat actually allowed us to see it better, and appreciate the scale of these monstrous machines.
It’s kind of like a monster truck rally, only with boats. Some of the Super Boat engines have I think upwards of 3000 hp in their combined engines! The Super Boat in the picture, CMS, actually lost function of one of its engines during the race. That was especially unfortunate for them, since they were favored to possibly win the event. The winner, by the way, was a boat called Twisted Metal.
One thing we noticed this year, different from previous years, was the absence of helicopters. At least we didn’t see any the whole week, and usually it’s hard not to notice them. We think they are for taking pictures and video.
