If you’re a member of the Offshore Performance Association,
you’re a fan of old-school offshore racing.
By Eric Colby

Show up at an Offshore Performance Association event and you’re likely to see some serious rough-water action spread throughout the fleet as well as some good friendships and camaraderie. What you won’t see is anyone trying to steal the show or thinking he’s better than anyone else. “It’s a lot of regular guys who come out and work on their own boats,” said Louie Giancontieri, an OPA member and the promoter of the Patchogue, N.Y., event on Long Island later this summer. “It’s an attitude where everybody helps each other, there’s no beach racing.” The heart of OPA is the famous, or possibly infamous, core membership of the group, the Jersey Boyz, a band of offshore racers from the Garden State that was formed by Auggie Pensa and Ed “Smitty” Smith, the current president of OPA. They’re known for enjoying themselves and and for welcoming one and all to parties in the pits as much as they’re known for their competitiveness on the water. “The green flag drops and we’re all trying to win,” said Giancontieri, “But we’re all hoping everybody’s OK and afterwards, we all have a good time.” In addition to the fun and camaraderie, the organization’s approach of giving guys a place to race their boats. The classes don’t have engine and boat-length specifications like those found in OSS or SBI. They’re all organized by boat speed. In the X or Extreme class, Superboats and turbine-powered entries are welcome to run and many members of the new Pro Series have participated in this category in OPA. The remaining six classes are separated by 10-mph speed increments. In Class 100 the allowable average lap speed is 115 mph. Class 200 is for boats that average 105 mph, followed by decreasing 10-mph drops for Class 300, 400, 500 and 600. Class 500 limits boat length to 30’ and boats 26’ and under run in Class 600. Class assignment is determined by propeller calculations and speeds are verified by gps units installed by the OPA at the race site. Not only do the GPS units assist the teams with navigation, they show the driver and throttlemen when they break out of the allowable class speeds. If you break out twice in a race, you move up a class. In addition to giving guys who own older, open-cockpit boats a place to race, the OPA keeps the costs reasonable. Teams pay one fee at the start of the year for onshore and riding crew and it covers the expenses for each event. The overall combination is working well because at the Ocean City, Md., race this year, the OPA had 47 boats, more than showed up at what is often considered the Daytona 500 of offshore racing, The Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix in Sarasota, Fla., on July 4th weekend. Giancontieri said the organization expects 60 boats in St Clair, Mich., and 50 in Patchogue. The group’s United States Championship will be decided at Chattanooga, Tenn., an event that will also feature the Pro Series. There were ongoing discussions for joining one of the two world championships at presstime. “We do want to race with the other guys, we just want it to be where it’s all equal,” explained Giancontieri. For TV, some of the events are set up for broadcast on Fox Sports Net including Ocean City, St. Clair and Cambridge. But no matter how big it gets, the core values remain the same for the OPA. “We’re growing,” said Giancontieri. “Smitty and Auggy say even if we get 100 boats, as long as we have fun, that’s what’s most important.”

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