My wife and I are having dinner tonight with Dean Gibbs and his wife. Dean is the British team owner with the 52 foot Outerlimits that raced last weekend Around Long Island. We met for a short time today and he said that he already has texts and e-mails from other owners in Europe and the UK, that he feels they will be coming back next year with at least four teams, to get that trophy and bring it back to Europe.
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The dinner was quite enlightening. The Brits are very serious about getting a real offshore world circuit going again. They were very impressed with Billy Frenz and his satellite beacons on each boat. They use a similar system but said this one was much better. They loved the location that Guy La Motta provided.
They loved the fact that this is so close to NYC and could be used by many potential sponsors, to really make an impact with their marketing promotions, and showcase their products to a major part of the US population and center of influence.
They in short would like to make this
Don Aronow Memorial Around Long Island Race as one of their races on the world circuit. The others would be, Cowes - Torquay and the London to Monte Carlo. They are unearthing many of the old trophies they have over there and will be using them for victories in various classes.
And don't forget, they are putting on the Around Britain Race in 2011.
We of course, would not have many competitors who would travel the world like that, but at least we would know that we are competiting agsinst the very best that Europe has to offer when they race here in the States.
For our own circuit, we would want to limit it, to no more than four races spread over a year. The New York race, one in the Great Lakes, we already have an offer to help with that one. One in California....hopefully we can work with a group out there. And last but not least, Florida.
Any offshore racers out there that like this idea???