It’s Monday. The morning after three big days—and nights—in Miami. The Miami International Boat Show is the “unofficial” trade show for powerboaters with builders and racers from around the world showing up to confirm plans for the upcoming season and check out new offerings from the world’s top performance companies.

My show began with Steve Curtis (Qatar Team) and Gary Stray (AMF Offshore Rigging) on a busy Friday as we checked out the new hardware and caught up with colleagues and clients. The wealth of knowledge between the two of these Brits is phenomenal, and if you can understand the British banter between them, it’s like hanging out with a Monte Python group.

Saturday morning things got a little more serious as Mystic Powerboats’ John Cosker scheduled a canopy safety meeting at the Miami Convention Center to discuss the Dubai Victory Team accident and Mystic’s commitment and design details of its canopy system. A scheduled 2-hour briefing became a 3 ½-hour working session and huge step forward in our goal of a complete safety system for race boats backed up by solid “dynamic” data.

Back to the show. While a little chilly outside, the show was positive and true to form with manufacturers touting sales of performance boats. Skip Braver’s AMG Cigarette was amazing—I truly appreciate what Cigarette has done here. You have to physically understand the time, effort and passion it takes to develop a precision motor vehicle. Ask the right questions and you will uncover what I’m talking about.

The Statement Marine boats from Todd Werner and Nick Buis had a tremendous presence and were definitely the center of attention at the show. Hey, if you can put a hot tub in an offshore catamaran with bikini models, you deserve it. Good job boys and congrats on the sale of your boats.

The new Mercury Racing turbocharged motors were impressive and the M8 drives really got my attention. I’m looking forward to testing a pair out on one of Randy Scism’s carbon 48 MTIs. Kudos to Mercury for continuing to develop new products in the midst of the economic challenges boating faces.

OK, onto the parties. As you would expect, Miami did not disappoint. The annual Florida Powerboat Club party had my phone ringing off the hook on Friday as I met with my pillow. Stu Jones, you know what offshore is about! Saturday night’s festivities included the Mystic Proof party where JBS Racing’s Jeff Stevenson and his crew sported their Mystic front and center along with the JBS girls. The party at Mangos was a madhouse—appropriate for the SeriousOffshore.com gang. And capping the evening off at the Cameo nightclub for the Cigarette after party … just awesome!

The big news for Miss GEICO Racing was the debut of AMF Offshore Rigging—a complete rigging shop that utilizes the lessons we have learned running high-speed performance boats with Stray’s knowledge of aesthetics, precision rigging and performance. We believe building the ultimate boat should be a partnership that an owner will look back on as the expression of their achievements in life and one they won’t forget.

So much more to share … keep checking back.