Marlin275
05-26-2006, 08:08 AM
This article is on the front page of the weekend section of
The Wall Street Journal. They seem to have the history of the sport all wrong!
Loud, Fast and Politically Incorrect
It's shaping up to be the summer of the cigarette boat, with numbers rising and a new racing push. Our reporter on waterfront clashes, manatee alerts -- and the battle for quiet on the lake.
By HANNAH KARP
May 26, 2006;*Page*W1
Forget about the Bentley, the Gulfstream jet and the sprawling mansion in the Hamptons. Nothing says conspicuous consumption quite like a cigarette boat. These high-powered watercraft cost as much as $1 million, create giant wakes, consume thousands of dollars in fuel in a single day and can drown out conversations half a mile away.
Cigarette boats are causing clashes among the owners of America's waterfront homes.
Now comes a push that is further stirring the waters. Just as Americans begin hitting the beaches for the season, promoters are bringing cigarette-boat races to lakes and rivers from Toronto and New York to Las Vegas and Heber Springs, Ark. With dollar sales of these aggressive-looking, low-slung boats rising more than 20% in recent years (not to mention a Hollywood remake of TV's "Miami Vice," coming in July), this is shaping up to be the summer of the cigarette boat.
The boats are increasingly coming into contact with everyone from weekend boaters and sailors to fisherman, beachgoers and wildlife conservationists. But perhaps no group is more affected than the owners of America's 4.5 million waterfront homes. They are leading a backlash against cigarette boats that's dividing neighbors in some resort communities and producing heated debates about regulation in state capitols from Alabama to New Hampshire.
This summer, two competing offshore racing circuits will host a record 22 events across North America, with as many as 38 boats -- some piloted by professionals, others by weekend warriors -- completing fast laps on a course that takes them as close as 20 feet to shore. As the sport expands, it has attracted a roster of corporate sponsors ranging from Popeye's Chicken and Hooters to beer titan Anheuser-Busch. "We look at it as Nascar on the water," says a spokesman for one sponsor, the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Fla.
The sight of a few dozen howling boats traveling close to shore at speeds of as much as 170 mph isn't everyone's cup of tea, of course, and the sport has created fault lines that turn on everything from money and politics to the different ways people define "recreation." Critics say these boats, which can churn out more than 100 decibels (just short of the average thunderclap) are an abomination. Race officials say the boats do not exceed 85 decibels during sanctioned events.
The boating industry argues that occasional cigarette-boat races, sanctioned by local authorities, should be allowed. "Boating is an important industry economically, and it's also an important industry socially. The primary reason people go boating is to spend quality time with friends and family," says Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturer's Association. Mr. Dammrich adds that boat technology is becoming more environmentally friendly. At the behest of the EPA, manufacturers are lowering emissions, quieting engines, and making boats more fuel-efficient. Outboard engines, for example, now use half the fuel they did seven years ago. And as for the noise, he says, "It's probably no louder than Nascar racing."
Sailing advocacy groups are calling for a federal-government mandate that every powerboat should be built with a muffler. As races once held far offshore edge into shallow waters, wildlife conservationists are concerned about the welfare of marine mammals such as sea turtles and manatees. Nearly a quarter of the 5,033 manatees that have died since 1979 have been killed in boat collisions, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the death rate is near a high. Though there are few statistics on what types of boats are responsible, some scientists and conservationists are convinced that cigarette boats are fueling the increase.
Miserable Manatees
"You'd think these macho types would want to be out in the waves," says Daryl P. Domning, a manatee expert and professor of anatomy at Howard University's medical school. "The last thing the manatees need is to have cigarette boats racing through shallow waters."
Homeowners say cigarette boats create wakes that test dock tethers and erode shorelines, and make an unbearable noise. This weekend, when marketing executive Mari Mansfield and her husband head up to their country home on Lake Gaston, N.C., they'll be packing earplugs. Though organized cigarette-boat races haven't been held on the lake -- residents strongly protested the prospect several years ago, local officials say -- the local wildlife authority does nothing to restrict pleasure boating. "Each season, there are more and more," says Ms. Mansfield, who likens the sound to a Space Shuttle launch. "We sit on our dock, enjoy the view of the water and the roar of Nascar. I just complain into my cocktail."
Some steps are being taken to curb the effects of these boats. Already, 32 states have some noise regulations for recreational boaters, and some lawmakers are working to add enforcement. And during major races, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service watch from helicopters and occasionally stop the race if a sea turtle or manatee is spotted near the course. "Miami Vice" director Michael Mann says filming of the movie was held up for two hours when a manatee showed up while they were shooting a race scene. The start of a race in Fort Myers, Fla., last weekend was delayed by a half-hour when endangered sea cows were spotted.
The '05 Key West World Championship.
Cigarette boats are a small subset of the overall $9 billion powerboat business, which has suffered from flat or declining sales for much of the decade. But manufacturers say these upscale models are selling well and produce higher profit margins than fishing boats or other types of pleasurecraft. Offshore racing boats, which range from 30 to 50 feet in length, typically cost at least several hundred thousand dollars -- and can run up to $1 million. Though the company sold fewer of the boats last year, Fountain Powerboat Industries of Washington, N.C., which accounts for about half the cigarette-boat market, says it sold $33.8 million of these models in 2005, up about 4% from 2004 and 27% from 2003.
Offshore racing isn't new -- it first popped up overseas in the 1960s. The sport made its way to the U.S. in 1973 when boat builder Don Aronow started a racing circuit to test designs for his company, "Cigarette Racing Team." Longtime racer John Kenyon says that back then, the sport was a test of endurance fought out in the deep waters miles from shore.
But in the 1980s, "Miami Vice" exposed cigarette-style boats to a national audience that saw them as the epitome of reckless cool. As the boats were snapped up by everyone from celebrities to drug-enforcement agents, manufacturers raised the horsepower, and race organizers focused on shorter courses where the boats race at higher speeds close to land.
While the aura may have faded a bit and gas prices are putting something of a damper on recreational powerboating, the activity has been growing. Last year, the National Sporting Goods Association says, 27.5 million Americans reported going powerboating, the largest number in 10 years and a 20% increase since 2004.
Luring Fans
In the meantime, the two major offshore racing leagues are working hard to build the sport into the waterborne equivalent of Nascar. Though the events produce tiny TV ratings and there's very little prize money, organizers are finding new ways to lure fans -- whether it's piggybacking races onto existing water festivals, adding more amateur races, bringing in helicopters to provide aerial shots for TV, or hiring models to parade around in swimsuits. Boat manufacturer Reggie Fountain, a major sponsor of the Superboat International racing league, says his organization's races offer "the biggest boats, the prettiest girls and drivers wearing so much gold they'd sink if they fell off."
The most controversial change: swapping the out-a-ways courses of the past for routes that bring the boats close enough to shore to give the corporate sponsors in the VIP tents a better look at their investments in action. "The boats are moving billboards," says Tony Ponturo, vice president of sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch, which made its Budweiser Select brand the official brew of the Offshore Super Series racing circuit and spends about $4 million to sponsor a racing team, according to industry estimates. (Mr. Ponturo declined to give an exact figure, but says it's about 10% as much as the company's Nascar sponsorship.) "The longer the boat, the stronger the identification," Mr. Ponturo adds, "and the more likely we are to get caught on TV."
Each racing circuit holds about 10 races during the season, which runs from May to November. One of the circuits -- an alliance between Superboat International and the American Power Boat Association -- is made up of mostly weekend warriors. Earlier this month at the Marathon Grand Prix in Marathon, Fla., the scene felt more like a music festival than a boat race. There was a rock concert and fireworks on Saturday night. Before the races, teams sold toys and clothes from their trailers. Every few minutes, there was an earsplitting roar of engines (organizers changed the course so boats made 15 passes near the viewing tents, up from six a few years ago).
At the Sunday awards ceremony, Mr. Fountain, the boat builder, was flanked by four Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders (he'd flown down the entire squad to parade around the night before). As racers drank piña coladas, the ceremony took a back seat. After the names of the first winners of the evening were called three times, someone had to retrieve them from the bar just 10 feet away. One driver, Frank Sarro, said the party was "a little mellow," compared with the usual atmosphere. "Things are still getting going."
The rival group, the Offshore Super Series Powerboat Racing Association (OSS), was formed three years ago by a group of boat owners. Sobriety tests are required on race mornings, all pilots fix their boats with hard tops to make them safer, and there's always some prize money on the line (typically about $10,000 for first place). The series has landed sponsors including Budweiser, has a TV arrangement with Outdoor Life Network, and has added more cameras to the boats to jazz up the telecasts. The series is planning a new race in Puerto Rico next week; organizers expect 100,000 fans.
In most cases, towns that host races seem willing to take the noise and traffic, if it brings tourism. But earlier this year, a proposal to bring an OSS race to Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas touched off a bitter battle between neighbors. Supporters, who pitched the idea as a "wonderful family event," say they were surprised by the opposition. "Their biggest issue was that the races would scare off the eagles, erode the shoreline and break the peace and tranquility on the lake," says Kitty Gray, a hair-salon owner in Heber Springs, Ark., who was chairwoman of the committee to bring the race to town. "But we got our special-event permit, so they're irrelevant now."
The Big Boat Battle
The fight over recreational boating is heating up, too. Regulators in New York and New Hampshire have stepped up law enforcement, while Alabama lawmakers passed a bill last month banning big boats from three lakes there. Homeowners on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas, were so bothered by cigarette boats that they lobbied for (and won) property-tax breaks based on their assessment that the boats lowered their property values. Cigarette-boat manufacturers are lobbying against local noise and wake restrictions.
Another blow for cigarette-boat owners and racers: rising fuel costs. Owners say gasoline for a single day of racing can cost as much as $5,000 -- not including the cost of the fuel it takes to tow the craft to the boat launch. "Gas is really hurting us right now," says Herbott Racing driver Keith Herbott. There's also some evidence that the resale market is weakening. "People that own performance boats are looking to get rid of them -- they're having to knock down their asking price and they're eating a lot of loss," says Robert House, a broker at Freshwatermarine.com.
Nonetheless, most owners say gas prices aren't much of a factor for people who can afford these boats. And when it comes to the noise, they say, it's just something people need to come to terms with. Daren Schwartz, a driver for the Miccosukee Racing team, says one of his team's boats was recently pulled over by the Miami Beach police during a practice. The officer, Mr. Schwartz says, wanted to know why the boat didn't have a muffler. "He was just being a jerk," Mr. Schwartz says. "These aren't boats you put mufflers on."
Write to Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@dowjones.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114861287553163983.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_jo urnal
The Wall Street Journal. They seem to have the history of the sport all wrong!
Loud, Fast and Politically Incorrect
It's shaping up to be the summer of the cigarette boat, with numbers rising and a new racing push. Our reporter on waterfront clashes, manatee alerts -- and the battle for quiet on the lake.
By HANNAH KARP
May 26, 2006;*Page*W1
Forget about the Bentley, the Gulfstream jet and the sprawling mansion in the Hamptons. Nothing says conspicuous consumption quite like a cigarette boat. These high-powered watercraft cost as much as $1 million, create giant wakes, consume thousands of dollars in fuel in a single day and can drown out conversations half a mile away.
Cigarette boats are causing clashes among the owners of America's waterfront homes.
Now comes a push that is further stirring the waters. Just as Americans begin hitting the beaches for the season, promoters are bringing cigarette-boat races to lakes and rivers from Toronto and New York to Las Vegas and Heber Springs, Ark. With dollar sales of these aggressive-looking, low-slung boats rising more than 20% in recent years (not to mention a Hollywood remake of TV's "Miami Vice," coming in July), this is shaping up to be the summer of the cigarette boat.
The boats are increasingly coming into contact with everyone from weekend boaters and sailors to fisherman, beachgoers and wildlife conservationists. But perhaps no group is more affected than the owners of America's 4.5 million waterfront homes. They are leading a backlash against cigarette boats that's dividing neighbors in some resort communities and producing heated debates about regulation in state capitols from Alabama to New Hampshire.
This summer, two competing offshore racing circuits will host a record 22 events across North America, with as many as 38 boats -- some piloted by professionals, others by weekend warriors -- completing fast laps on a course that takes them as close as 20 feet to shore. As the sport expands, it has attracted a roster of corporate sponsors ranging from Popeye's Chicken and Hooters to beer titan Anheuser-Busch. "We look at it as Nascar on the water," says a spokesman for one sponsor, the Hard Rock Hotel in Hollywood, Fla.
The sight of a few dozen howling boats traveling close to shore at speeds of as much as 170 mph isn't everyone's cup of tea, of course, and the sport has created fault lines that turn on everything from money and politics to the different ways people define "recreation." Critics say these boats, which can churn out more than 100 decibels (just short of the average thunderclap) are an abomination. Race officials say the boats do not exceed 85 decibels during sanctioned events.
The boating industry argues that occasional cigarette-boat races, sanctioned by local authorities, should be allowed. "Boating is an important industry economically, and it's also an important industry socially. The primary reason people go boating is to spend quality time with friends and family," says Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturer's Association. Mr. Dammrich adds that boat technology is becoming more environmentally friendly. At the behest of the EPA, manufacturers are lowering emissions, quieting engines, and making boats more fuel-efficient. Outboard engines, for example, now use half the fuel they did seven years ago. And as for the noise, he says, "It's probably no louder than Nascar racing."
Sailing advocacy groups are calling for a federal-government mandate that every powerboat should be built with a muffler. As races once held far offshore edge into shallow waters, wildlife conservationists are concerned about the welfare of marine mammals such as sea turtles and manatees. Nearly a quarter of the 5,033 manatees that have died since 1979 have been killed in boat collisions, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the death rate is near a high. Though there are few statistics on what types of boats are responsible, some scientists and conservationists are convinced that cigarette boats are fueling the increase.
Miserable Manatees
"You'd think these macho types would want to be out in the waves," says Daryl P. Domning, a manatee expert and professor of anatomy at Howard University's medical school. "The last thing the manatees need is to have cigarette boats racing through shallow waters."
Homeowners say cigarette boats create wakes that test dock tethers and erode shorelines, and make an unbearable noise. This weekend, when marketing executive Mari Mansfield and her husband head up to their country home on Lake Gaston, N.C., they'll be packing earplugs. Though organized cigarette-boat races haven't been held on the lake -- residents strongly protested the prospect several years ago, local officials say -- the local wildlife authority does nothing to restrict pleasure boating. "Each season, there are more and more," says Ms. Mansfield, who likens the sound to a Space Shuttle launch. "We sit on our dock, enjoy the view of the water and the roar of Nascar. I just complain into my cocktail."
Some steps are being taken to curb the effects of these boats. Already, 32 states have some noise regulations for recreational boaters, and some lawmakers are working to add enforcement. And during major races, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service watch from helicopters and occasionally stop the race if a sea turtle or manatee is spotted near the course. "Miami Vice" director Michael Mann says filming of the movie was held up for two hours when a manatee showed up while they were shooting a race scene. The start of a race in Fort Myers, Fla., last weekend was delayed by a half-hour when endangered sea cows were spotted.
The '05 Key West World Championship.
Cigarette boats are a small subset of the overall $9 billion powerboat business, which has suffered from flat or declining sales for much of the decade. But manufacturers say these upscale models are selling well and produce higher profit margins than fishing boats or other types of pleasurecraft. Offshore racing boats, which range from 30 to 50 feet in length, typically cost at least several hundred thousand dollars -- and can run up to $1 million. Though the company sold fewer of the boats last year, Fountain Powerboat Industries of Washington, N.C., which accounts for about half the cigarette-boat market, says it sold $33.8 million of these models in 2005, up about 4% from 2004 and 27% from 2003.
Offshore racing isn't new -- it first popped up overseas in the 1960s. The sport made its way to the U.S. in 1973 when boat builder Don Aronow started a racing circuit to test designs for his company, "Cigarette Racing Team." Longtime racer John Kenyon says that back then, the sport was a test of endurance fought out in the deep waters miles from shore.
But in the 1980s, "Miami Vice" exposed cigarette-style boats to a national audience that saw them as the epitome of reckless cool. As the boats were snapped up by everyone from celebrities to drug-enforcement agents, manufacturers raised the horsepower, and race organizers focused on shorter courses where the boats race at higher speeds close to land.
While the aura may have faded a bit and gas prices are putting something of a damper on recreational powerboating, the activity has been growing. Last year, the National Sporting Goods Association says, 27.5 million Americans reported going powerboating, the largest number in 10 years and a 20% increase since 2004.
Luring Fans
In the meantime, the two major offshore racing leagues are working hard to build the sport into the waterborne equivalent of Nascar. Though the events produce tiny TV ratings and there's very little prize money, organizers are finding new ways to lure fans -- whether it's piggybacking races onto existing water festivals, adding more amateur races, bringing in helicopters to provide aerial shots for TV, or hiring models to parade around in swimsuits. Boat manufacturer Reggie Fountain, a major sponsor of the Superboat International racing league, says his organization's races offer "the biggest boats, the prettiest girls and drivers wearing so much gold they'd sink if they fell off."
The most controversial change: swapping the out-a-ways courses of the past for routes that bring the boats close enough to shore to give the corporate sponsors in the VIP tents a better look at their investments in action. "The boats are moving billboards," says Tony Ponturo, vice president of sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch, which made its Budweiser Select brand the official brew of the Offshore Super Series racing circuit and spends about $4 million to sponsor a racing team, according to industry estimates. (Mr. Ponturo declined to give an exact figure, but says it's about 10% as much as the company's Nascar sponsorship.) "The longer the boat, the stronger the identification," Mr. Ponturo adds, "and the more likely we are to get caught on TV."
Each racing circuit holds about 10 races during the season, which runs from May to November. One of the circuits -- an alliance between Superboat International and the American Power Boat Association -- is made up of mostly weekend warriors. Earlier this month at the Marathon Grand Prix in Marathon, Fla., the scene felt more like a music festival than a boat race. There was a rock concert and fireworks on Saturday night. Before the races, teams sold toys and clothes from their trailers. Every few minutes, there was an earsplitting roar of engines (organizers changed the course so boats made 15 passes near the viewing tents, up from six a few years ago).
At the Sunday awards ceremony, Mr. Fountain, the boat builder, was flanked by four Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders (he'd flown down the entire squad to parade around the night before). As racers drank piña coladas, the ceremony took a back seat. After the names of the first winners of the evening were called three times, someone had to retrieve them from the bar just 10 feet away. One driver, Frank Sarro, said the party was "a little mellow," compared with the usual atmosphere. "Things are still getting going."
The rival group, the Offshore Super Series Powerboat Racing Association (OSS), was formed three years ago by a group of boat owners. Sobriety tests are required on race mornings, all pilots fix their boats with hard tops to make them safer, and there's always some prize money on the line (typically about $10,000 for first place). The series has landed sponsors including Budweiser, has a TV arrangement with Outdoor Life Network, and has added more cameras to the boats to jazz up the telecasts. The series is planning a new race in Puerto Rico next week; organizers expect 100,000 fans.
In most cases, towns that host races seem willing to take the noise and traffic, if it brings tourism. But earlier this year, a proposal to bring an OSS race to Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas touched off a bitter battle between neighbors. Supporters, who pitched the idea as a "wonderful family event," say they were surprised by the opposition. "Their biggest issue was that the races would scare off the eagles, erode the shoreline and break the peace and tranquility on the lake," says Kitty Gray, a hair-salon owner in Heber Springs, Ark., who was chairwoman of the committee to bring the race to town. "But we got our special-event permit, so they're irrelevant now."
The Big Boat Battle
The fight over recreational boating is heating up, too. Regulators in New York and New Hampshire have stepped up law enforcement, while Alabama lawmakers passed a bill last month banning big boats from three lakes there. Homeowners on Lake Travis, near Austin, Texas, were so bothered by cigarette boats that they lobbied for (and won) property-tax breaks based on their assessment that the boats lowered their property values. Cigarette-boat manufacturers are lobbying against local noise and wake restrictions.
Another blow for cigarette-boat owners and racers: rising fuel costs. Owners say gasoline for a single day of racing can cost as much as $5,000 -- not including the cost of the fuel it takes to tow the craft to the boat launch. "Gas is really hurting us right now," says Herbott Racing driver Keith Herbott. There's also some evidence that the resale market is weakening. "People that own performance boats are looking to get rid of them -- they're having to knock down their asking price and they're eating a lot of loss," says Robert House, a broker at Freshwatermarine.com.
Nonetheless, most owners say gas prices aren't much of a factor for people who can afford these boats. And when it comes to the noise, they say, it's just something people need to come to terms with. Daren Schwartz, a driver for the Miccosukee Racing team, says one of his team's boats was recently pulled over by the Miami Beach police during a practice. The officer, Mr. Schwartz says, wanted to know why the boat didn't have a muffler. "He was just being a jerk," Mr. Schwartz says. "These aren't boats you put mufflers on."
Write to Hannah Karp at hannah.karp@dowjones.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114861287553163983.html?mod=todays_us_weekend_jo urnal