Sitting in the airport on the morning of Memorial Day, the dread creeps in from a weekend of not living up to our potential. I reflect on silly mistakes that turned into bigger challenges and the leadership that was lacking—responsibility I take on my shoulders.

Boat racing is no different than any professional motorsport in the fact that it is unbelievably complex and infinitely challenging. The variables are endless and the price you pay for losing focus can be costly. Balancing budgets, strong personalities, performance, fatigue, excitement and competition with very little room for mistakes leads to very high “highs” and the lowest of “lows.”

This past weekend, my team—Miss GEICO Racing—was culminating the Herculean effort of bringing an entirely new boat to the racecourse. The team had put in thousands of hard hours to create a fast, reliable, perfectly balanced machine that will perform as good as she looks.

Pulling Miss GEICO out of the shop, we were in awe of the sleek Mystic lines coupled with ferocious carbon scoops that feed ice-cold air into Whispering Turbines’ perfectly tuned and balanced engines. The anticipation was as thick as the damp cool breeze coming off the Atlantic. It’s going to be a good weekend we tell ourselves … this was not to be. Simple mistakes and loss of focus would spell defeat for my team this Memorial Weekend. We are crushed at disappointing our fans, sponsor and owner.

The airport is busy—I’m early, more time to think … great. The same words repeat in my head over and over: “We are so much better than we performed.” Reliving the weekend’s events makes me nauseous. An ooh comes from the table next to me and I look up to a TV monitor in the airport as the pictures flash. The Indy 500—the almighty Penske team falls to blunder after silly blunder, Mike Conway’s horrific airborne crash destroys a million dollar piece of equipment, top NASCAR drivers fist fighting in the pits, wheels falling off and Greg Biffle’s crew member run over on pit row.

I’m not alone. There will be countless crew chiefs and racers modifying their plans, adapting to their weaknesses and double-checking their strategy. There is no simple solution—to be the best takes innovation and personal strength, and there will be failures along the way. The weak fall by the wayside in doubt and self pity and the strong persevere.

The feeling of loneliness in the fight for perfection subsides a little, the guilt remains … my horse is standing in front of me motioning for me to get on.

Thank goodness the end of silly season is upon us. Silly season is the affectionate name racers give the period between the world championships and the first race of the year.

It’s next to impossible to turn off the direct feed of testosterone and adrenaline that pours into most offshore racers’ veins. What was taken out on the racecourse gets taken out on Web forums, magazines, holiday parties and local waterways in the form of smack talk and rumors and gossip.

I’m glad it’s behind us for another season and we can get back to business. Scotty (Begovich) and I attended the Poker Runs America poker run in Miami a couple of weeks ago and were reminded of how much fun it is to run a boat without being strapped in at 150-plus mph. We had a great time—the Mercury Racing/GEICO Cigarette performed flawlessly. The twin Mercury 525EFI engines burned 73 gallons all day at full throttle … amazing.

With our season opener coming up at the end of this month in Ocean City, Md., the Miss GEICO project is coming along beautifully. This year you will see a completely new boat built by Gary Stray and the rest of the Miss GEICO racing team.

We placed a huge emphasis on safety and stability, which is immediately noticeable. Tracy (Bratvold) at Whispering Turbines is at the dyno as I type, putting the final touches on this year’s new engines.

John Cosker of Mystic Powerboats was at the Riviera Beach race shop yesterday checking out his old girl, and he was amazed at the transformation of the C5001. She’ll be fast.

I expect the Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) series sponsored by GEICO to be the hot ticket this year in powerboat circles, with 50-plus race boats expected to attend the events around the country. I’ve heard we’ll see upward of 10 Super Cat boats at the Sunny Isles Beach (Miami) race in June.

I’ve had the unique opportunity to watch the Qatar team work over the past several months, and I can honestly say it is an honor to have them in our shop. They are a true race team—always friendly and very focused. It is easy to see why they are such a successful race crew (Robbie and Emmy are the ones in the picture above lowering a Lamborghini engine in place).

See you in Ocean City!

To “us” the offshore world is a family—we fight (forums), we mourn, we laugh and we look forward to new innovations and interesting happenings in our community. We also long for the perfect sunny day with a light chop and good (boating) friends on board.

To the outside world we are daredevils, egomaniacs and extreme thrill seekers with little regard for the environment or our neighbors. Have you ever noticed how the conversation always turns toward your boat and what it’s like to cruise the waterways with big engines and the sun on your face in search of a good time? Then the next question: “How much gas does it burn?”

Interestingly, your boating family will want to know how the boat ran on the outside, what speed you hit with full tanks and five people and if the new paint job was a hit at the sandbar, island or dock. While your nonboating friends don’t understand why you’d possibly want to run around at the speeds you do all weekend, pouring ungodly amounts of money and gas into that “big, loud, gaudy boat.”

Ever try and mix your boating friends with your nonboating friends? Yeah, I’ve done it enough to know it generally doesn’t turn out the way you envision it. Nonboaters get bored within an hour conversation about MTI vs. Skater or Fountain vs. Cigarette or the latest article in Powerboat magazine.

Most of us have learned to leave them at the dock on big boating days or weekends as this stuff isn’t for the light-hearted or those with weak stomachs. We’ve all learned to break them in on a day that you won’t be tempted to mix it up with a fellow offshore boater … you guys know what I’m talking about.

The point is, we are a unique bunch—lots of successful, strong personalities who find common ground on the high seas testing Mother Nature and pushing our equipment to the limit. Hey, we’re not a perfect crowd but I like my boating friends and I like the language we speak in the common quest for more speed and reliability.

So next time you’re at a company cocktail party, kids birthday or family gathering look around for the other disconnected guy with that glazed-over look in his eye (no doubt he is wondering if he’ll have his new labbed props back for the weekend) and introduce yourself as a fellow boater. Your girlfriend or wife may hassle you for talking about boats all day/night, but hey you’re just keeping with the brotherhood. And hot damn, you’re going boating this weekend. Life is good.

Powerboat racing is not unique that when a team wins there is a swirl of excuses and accusations as to why a boat won or lost. It happens in every motorsport.

The fact of the matter is that 90 percent of the teams competing do not test smart. The great race teams of our era understand one of the fundamental rules of winning—test smart. Sadly, most teams have no idea how one setup compares to another, aside from a pitch stamped on a propeller or a GPS number flashing on a screen.

They show up to an event and furiously begin testing the day before the race. I’m looked at with wide eyes as I explain that little can be accomplished the day before to truly learn the capabilities of one’s race boat.

I believe that testing the day before the race should be used for nothing more than ensuring the drivers are comfortable with the course, bringing their eyes up to speed on the water and as a final systems check that the boat is prepared to perform up to its potential. A team should sleep confidently the night before knowing exactly how the boat will perform.

It’s not a difficult concept—learn your boat’s capabilities and improve on them one area at a time, well before the boat needs to compete. After each run/test, analyze the performance with your teammates and, most importantly, document the results so you can return to it when the need arises.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time. A half-second improvement in acceleration out of a turn in a four-turn, 10-lap race translates to a 20-second improvement in position. Many people ask why the teams like Oh Boy! Oberto, Miss Elam and Miss GEICO seem to run effortlessly on the course. These teams are prepared and, in all honesty, won their race a month prior with many hours of testing and improving to maximize potential.

I say “teams” because assigning crew members a task and discussing responsibilities and practicing those responsibilities is all part of the equation of creating a winning team. The start of the 2010 season is three months out—do yourself a favor and schedule several serious test days for your team.

Plan the test day out before you arrive. Have your propellers, movable ballast, boat weight dry and CG all organized before you begin. Test seriously and smart. Come race day, you will be happy you did and you will understand clearly why racing greats John Tomlinson, Jerry Gilbreath, Randy Scism, Art Lilly, Al Copeland, Bernie Little, Reggie Fountain, Bob Teague and Bill Seebold own the championships they do.