THE DON ARONOW MEMORIAL RACE AROUND LONG ISLAND
2010

271 miles of real open ocean racing on the same weekend that
Hurricane Igor hits the northeast coast...

The 2010 Don Aronow Memorial Race...
From behind the bolsters
— Charlie McCarthy
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A tale of heroes today and yesterday...
The little Sonic that could -- where racing heroes really come from
— Rich Luhrs
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Top 11 in 2011- #10 The Don Aronow Memorial Around Long Island Marathon
— seriousadmin
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HORBA presents...
THE DON ARONOW MEMORIAL RACE JUNE 2008

Offshore racing has changed since the very beginning. When the sport began it was usually a course that would run over open ocean waters from one point to another. The old races were long distance events, Miami to Nassau, 185 miles, Miami to Key West, 185 miles, Around Long Island, 254 miles, Long Beach to San Francisco 439 miles, and the old Bahamas 500 race, 539 miles. The contestants were usually people from the marine industry who not only enjoyed the racing itself but also the opportunity to use the races as a way to prove their product, whether it be boat, motor, pump, oil, cable, etc. etc. was better than the competitions.

The races grew over the decades to the point that in New Jersey during the 70's, the Coast Guard wouldn't allow the Benihana race, to be held on a weekend because they felt the crowds would be too large for effective control. So for many years, the race was held on a Wednesday in July and it still attracted an estimated 400,000 spectators, spread out over the course on boats and along the beaches.

But then someone thought that if they brought the races closer to the beach and shorten the distance, it could attract even more spectators to a particular locale and hopefully the sponsors would like that……and the world of offshore racing was forever changed. Today the world of "Offshore Racing" is a course that is approximately 6 to 10 miles long, up and down the beach, or no further out than a half mile and the distances run are around 60 to 90 miles in laps over the course.

Now an important point here is the racers themselves hadn't changed, just the courses they were given to race on by the sanctioning bodies. A racer will race anything anywhere, if given the opportunity. The opportunity for the racers is just what HORBA did in June of 2008, we gave them the opportunity to go out into the open ocean again with a course that ran from Miami to Bimini and back 106 open miles.

With the assistance of OSS, the Offshore Super Series, on the same weekend that they had a regu lar race scheduled HORBA was able to stage for the first time in more than 20 years a real open ocean race. We had 18 boats make it to the starting line and 14 finished. Our intention was to create a place for the older restored race boats to have a place to compete again, but also leave it open so that modern boats could also have an opportunity to safely try this open ocean racing.

The ocean water in Miami in June is usually very calm and this proved to be the case in 2008. Although the boats and crews weren't challenged by the water conditions, they still had to navigate and strategically plan their run for the 106 miles. Some of the fastest boats were unable to make the start due to damages suffered in a race event the previous week, but the boats that did make the starting line made up in attitude whatever they lacked in speed.

HORBA put on the race to honor Don Aronow, one of the pioneers of the sport. The very first race boat that Don ever built for himself from one of his own boat companies had been restored and was entered in the race. The boat was a Formula 233 that Don had raced in the 1963 Miami to Key West race. It was the first of the three race boats that Don called "The Cigarette" after a famous Brooklyn rum runner of the 30's. It was powered by a single 409 cu in engine with a Mercruiser sterndrive. The engine and drive had been totally restored by Innovation Marine of Sarasota, the top people in the marine engine world today. The boat had been restored by the present owner, Bob Di Nisco with help from his brother Scott and his dad, Bob Sr.

The Classes:

1. HISTORIC BOATS
        Historic Open
        Historic Production
    
2. MODERN DEEP VEES
        Vee Open
        Vee Factory
        Vee Light
    
3. MODERN CATAMARANS
        Cat Open
        Cat Light

The Results:

	1. HISTORIC BOATS		CLICK ON PHOTO FOR LARGER VIEW
	Historic Open
	1st place Premier Performance Marine, Frank Areces and Albert Echemendia
	Historic Production
	1st Place The Cigarette, Formula, Bob DeNisco, Mark Peroni and Charlie McCarthy
	2. MODERN DEEP VEES
	Vee Open
	1st place Miccosukee, Fountain, Brett Furshman and Billy Glick
	2nd Place, XXX, Outerlimits Jim Wiley and Nick Boyse
	3rd Place Maximus, Cigarette, Tom Abraham and Jim Mc Intyre
	Vee Factory
	1st Place Bad Girl, Cigarette, Rob Freeman and Dave Sikorski
	Vee Light
	1st Place Extreme Vortec, Adib Mastry and Steve Miklos
	2nd Place, LaveyCraft, Kevin Cooper and Brandy Willie
	3. MODERN CATAMARANS
	Cat Open
	1st Place Mercedes, MTI, Gino Gargulio and Larry Goldman
	2nd Place Rachel's, MTI, Keith Johnson and Todd Werner
	3rd Place Time Flies, MTI, George Kovacs and Mike Seebold
	Cat Light
	1st Place Amsoil, Skater, Paul Whittier and Bob Teague
	2nd Place Peppers, Skater, George and Michael Stancombe
	3rd Place Popeye, Skater, Stan Ware and Will Ross