Light winds and cool weather combined for a great day of racing during today’s Destin World Championship Offshore races. After a 2 hour delay to replace our port engine raw water pump, we motored out to Turn 5 south of Henderson Beach State Park to watch the races and act as a volunteer Patrol Boat guarding the race course from spectator encroachment. Please click on the photo thumbnail to browse our photos from today. Besides the race boats, we captured quite a few spectator boats and of course the Angel Flight helicopters.

The Offshore Super Series returns to Destin for their 2nd annual Destin World Cup races on October 29th. The Race Village this year will be at the Destin Commons with racing to occur along the Destin waterfront east of the pass similar to last year. Official Race information can be found at DestinWorldCup.com. We’ve put together a simple map to show the various venues below.

Offshore racing is exciting to watch, whether from land or sea. We invite you to browse our past coverage, videos, and photos from last year’s Destin Championship and this year’s Thunder on the Gulf races in Orange Beach.

We put together a short video clip from the Sunday afternoon Offshore Super Series race at Orange Beach. The sound doesn’t really do the race justice, but it does give a good sense of the action as boats got plenty of air time in the 2-4′ seas. Be sure to check out our Offshore Racing Category for more photos and video.

Sunday’s races were anything but boring as the competitive spirit and choppy seas combined for great action. DestinSharks had a front-row seat at Turn 4 thanks to Rod Koberg from SouthCoastSegway on his 42′ Trawler ‘Antares’. It will take us a few days to go completely through the 650+ photos from yesterday’s race and the more than 1000 photos for the weekend, but in the mean time, please click on the photo at left to enjoy our ‘Sunday Race Highlights’ album. These photos have not been cropped, so click on the thumbnails to see the full pictures. (more…)

Thanks to the wonders of cell-phone data plans, we’re able to offer highlights from today’s opening of Thunder on the Gulf 2007 - Offshore Super Series at Orange Beach, Alabama. Spectators braved the heat and sun in large numbers and parking was scarce along the waterfront. (more…)

It’s a busy weekend for boating from Orange Beach to Destin along the Gulf Coast. We’re heading over to Big Lagoon State park for the weekend to camp and cover the Offshore Super Series Thunder on the Gulf Races. Look for race photos and coverage on DestinSharks early next week.

This weekend is also the weekend for the Emerald Coast Poker Run - one of the largest such events in the world. If history is any guide, over 400 boats will ply the waters between Destin and Pensacola to get their cards.

We wish everyone a great time on the water - boat safe, sober, and hydrated!

The Offshore Super Series comes to Orange Beach this month from the 16th to the 19th. Dry pits are open at the Wharf Marina on Friday, followed by on-water tests and racing on Saturday and Sunday in the Gulf. We’ve put together a map of the race course over at EarthNC including the spectator line if you’re planning to take your own boat out to watch.

For official event information and schedules, please visit the Thunder on the Gulf Website. For more OSS race action, visit our coverage of the 2006 Championships in Destin. (more…)

Race action for the 2006 Offshore Super Series Merrick World Championships ended on a high note with calm seas, light winds, and fast action on Sunday. Unofficial race results are posted at OffShoreSuperSeries.com . We took another 500 or so photographs on Sunday and will be working through the week to get them organized and posted. We also have some video highlights from the hot pits and the races on Sunday that are in production so check back soon!

Today marked the start of official racing for the 2006 OSS / OPA / POPRA World Championships. Wake conditions at the final turn provided great conditions (from a photographer’s standpoint) for dramatic photos of these powerful boats. OPA and POPRA were kind enough to share the race course with OSS boats which had missed practice runs due to Tuesday’s inclement weather. Click on the photo to go to our OPA / POPRA race day album. We have many more pictures to post, but these are a few of the highlights.

OSS racing starts tomorrow at 11am. You can watch the race live via internet at www.offshoreonly.com or tune into 103.1 WMXZ or www.talkoffshore.com to listen. Better yet, buy a ticket for a spectator boat (they leave AJ’s Marina in Destin Harbor around 10am) or watch from the beach. You can download our Google Earth Race Map to see the course.

Offshore race boats see a lot of air during a race, but nothing quite as high as their ride from trailer to water and back via construction crane. DestinSharks.com photographer Sarah Zetterlind spent some time at the Hot Pits Wednesday afternoon to capture the launch and recovery process. Click on the photo to visit our hot pit album.