Races were on Friday and Sunday, with practice and preparation on Thursday and Saturday. The power boats gather and register at Truman Annex waterfront and race a loop course that begins in Key West harbor and goes south towards Sand Key Light. They used to race eastwards along the south face of Key West but no more. People tell me it was pretty exciting in those days to watch the power boats come around the corner of the island in front of Fort Zachary Taylor, taking a sharp right turn into Key West harbor. Depending on the weather and the roughness of the seas, boats would often flip doing this curve. Someone even told me that a driver had a bad flip one year and the accident decapitated him. I haven't been able to verify this yet.
IF you want to view the Key West power boat races from up close and you want to sit down, you will have to shell out $15 for entrance in the bleachers area near the entrance to Fort Zachary Taylor. To save money, veer left into the park instead of going straight through the gates, where you will have to pay, even if you arrive on foot or by bicycle. Either go into Fort Zachary and pay the usual daily fee, which is about $2 or $4 for a bicycler, or bike over towards Mallory Square and squeeze in for a position at the water's edge against the rail. Few people go to the area between Fort Zachary and Mallory Square, which is where the cruise ships usually board. That's also an option.
The race consists of power boats doing a loop with their helicopters, zooming into the Harbor in front of Mallory Square where viewers can take action shots with their cameras. The noise of the helicopters is the first to arrive and serves as cue to get your camera ready for a picture. That's kind of it in a nutshell. You can't really tell who's winning or how each boat is doing, or whether a boat is having technical or mechanical difficulties. And after a while the thrill of the loud engines kind of wears off, until it's just some noise. After the races end, the helicopters gather in a group just off Sunset Key, and they look like a swarm of hornets hovering over the ocean. Then the crowd dissipates and it's just Mallory Square again.
Some people think part of the fun of Key West power boat races is the scene on Duval Street each night. Drivers and their teams wear their team jerseys and hit the bars or stroll proudly down Duval Street. There's added energy to the Duval Street scene when the Key West Power Boat racers are in town. They love to wear their jerseys everywhere they go, even if they're just going out to eat for lunch. And that, from a newcomer's perspective, is what Key West Power Boat races are all about.
