Commentary: If You Build It / Speed on the Water

This month, we were fortunate to attend two Northeast performance boating events in two weeks. The first, the National Powerboat Association's New York City Poker Run—dormant for four years—showed a bit of hope for the future as a truly high-quality fleet turned out for the resurrected event.

(Photo courtesy/copyright Tim Sharkey/Sharkey Images.)

What the event lacked in quantity—back in the day fleets of more than 150 boats packed the Hudson River two deep from shore to shore—it made up for in eye-catching quality. More than 30 extraordinary high-end cats and V-bottoms gave notice that the sport may be re-emerging as a viable nationwide series, either because of or in spite of local economic conditions. The weather sparkled, the boats were spectacular as they ran on the Hudson and NPBA's Billy Frenz and his team are certainly on to something. We came away thinking that there was at least some hope spinning around us.  More; Commentary: If You Build It