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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of year again and we are quickly approaching Boat Week 2007 and the Emerald Coast Poker Run. We had a fun time on the water yesterday collecting up a few more pictures for our Poker Run map available at EarthNC. The map includes this year’s stops, the new Poker-Run related no-wake zones, and photos of local bridges and ramps. Look for us to be out photographing on the 18th in our Regal 2760 ‘Southern Comfort’ and check back for our photo gallery to see if we photographed your boat.

It was great to get back on the water after a months down-time due to engine problems. Today’s weather was ideal with light winds and a cool start to the morning. We made a fast drive to Navarre Beach running with a steady stream of traffic headed to the Pensacola Beach Blue Angels Airshow. Returning eastbound made for more sporty driving while crossing wakes large and small. The family enjoyed a leisurely swim and snack at Spectre Island prior to coming home. Click on the image to see our photo gallery of some of the boats we met along the way.

Posting has been a bit slow on DestinSharks due to our continued development of our EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth project and some down time on our Regal 2760. Our Regal is powered by twin Mercruiser 4.3L engines which have the distinction of being the only engines in the Mercruiser line with electric fuel pumps.

Anyone who has owned boats can tell you that mechanical problems are a fact of life (unless your boat is a canoe or kayak) and our Regal is no different. This time, it was the starboard engine which quit and would not restart during our last outing in early July. Fortunately, we were only a 1/2 mile from our slip (rather than the 20 miles away we had been earlier in the day) so we didn’t have far to go before the troubleshooting began.

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Great weather prevailed this weekend as we explored east into Choctawhatchee Bay to Hogtown Bayou and then relaxed at Crab Island on the return to Fort Walton Beach. Besides stretching the legs on our Regal 2760, we were also collecting up a host of a new waterway photos to use with our EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth.

Click on the photo at left to see highlights from our day.

The 2007 Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival winds down with the torchlight parade in Fort Walton Beach on Monday night at 8pm. Friday night saw a good crowd in spite of high winds early in the evening. The finale seemed a bit short, but you can play it back with our video coverage below.

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