Panama City Beach Boat Racing is Back!
July 11 2020 will be the second inaugural event (first try was Hurricane Barry) for the BayLoosa Challenge. The primary class is 14 feet and under. As interest builds, classes will be added.
Schedule
Friday – July 10
- Captain’s meeting – Christo’s Sports Bar / 1900
Saturday – July 11
- Muster – St. Andrews State Park / 0900
- Race Start, 1st Leg – St. Andrews Bay West Jetty / Not Before 1000
- Finish, 1st Leg – Destin Pass East Jetty / Stop Race Clock
- Race Start, 2nd Leg – Crab Island, North / Continue Race Clock
- Race clock restarts no later than 30 minutes after end of first leg.
- Finish, 2nd Leg – Shell Island, North / NLT 1500
Rules
This isn’t an officiated race. We’re here to have fun. No rules to speak of unless you do something unsafe or unsportsmanlike.
Boat Classes
Any Hull Under 14 feet, Any Motor
- All the horsepower you want
- LOA excludes non flotation bracket and motor
- No fuel type or quantity limitation
- No minimum weight
Under 26 feet, Any Motor
- If you can’t hit 100mph, keep out of the calcutta
Under 26 feet, Outboard
Under 26 feet, Piston Inboard
JetSki Classes
Naturally Aspirated
Forced Induction
Course Details
Summer weather forecast on an Emerald Coast Saturday is anyone’s guess. It’s not uncommon that time of year to have a north wind in the morning and a southwest wind in the afternoon. It can be slick calm or a washing machine but a late morning change to the south will have the wind blowing from shore on each leg of the race. That’d be as good as we can expect.
Operating a boat within 300 feet from shore is illegal. That time of year there will be jetski and parasail boats nearshore so maintain a wide berth.
The Destin Pass has the only No Wake Zone on the course. There are fuel docks on the north and southern sides of the Destin bridge. Once you past the eastern jetty of the Destin Pass, your time pauses. You have 30 minutes to get to and cross the start line of the second leg before your race time resumes. This is plenty of time for a pit stop and safe passage through the No Wake Zone.
Tracking
The RaceChrono phone app is a convenient way to start and stop your race clock. Once the racecourse is made public on the app, crossing the start line will automatically start your race timer. In lieu of a RaceChrono lap time, a timestamped photograph of each milestone will suffice.
The sum of the first and second leg will be your total race time. The shortest total time wins.