Between the preliminary and formal award ceremonies yesterday after the 64th annual GoGPS Cowes-Torquay-Cowes powerboat endurance race off the Isle of Wight, a dozen or so mostly American revelers took over the sidewalk tables at the Smoking Lobster restaurant. All were in town to support the Team 25/Good Boy Vodka team of owner/throttleman Rob Lockyer and driver/Good Boy brand founder Alex Pratt
The group included Lockyer’s wife, Christine, Pratt’s parent Bill and Sally, offshore racer Anthony Smith and his wife, Carmella, and his teammate Christian McCauley and his wife, Andrea Fournier, offshore racers Tim Linden and Joey Olivieri and significant other Karleigh Alday, Simon Williams of GoGPS and his partner-in-crime Dee Babcock and a few others.
They were ready to party. And they wasted no time getting after it.
And why not? Just a couple of hours earlier, Lockyer and Pratt—with racers Linden and Kirk Britto along for rugged the ride in the team’s 52-foot Outerlimits V-bottom—had taken top honors in the 220-mile Atlantic Ocean contest.
While Smith explained how trim tabs work and nuances of bump-starting a boat—yes, it can be done but it’s insanely difficult—to my daughter, Anna, and her fiancé David Rowe, Williams and I discussed plans for the upcoming St. Petersburg Grand Prix in Southwest Florida. Seated next to Babcock, Carmella Smith pulled off a miraculous, New York Yankees outfielder-style drink-save that led to applause.
Pratt’s parents laughed and grinned as the proud parents they deserved to be. Lockyer couldn’t stop smiling.
“I just want to hug everybody,” she said after the race was complete and the Team 25/Good Boy boat was back at the Cowes docks. “I can’t help it.”
Now she was sitting with friends at the end of long outdoor table created by pushing together four or five small ones and enjoying the moment. The party went on for a couple of hours before breaking up so those heading to the formal awards ceremony could dress appropriately for the event.
But I don’t think anyone wanted the spontaneous celebration to end. At least I know I didn’t. It was a perfect moment in the tiny seaside town of Cowes with the coolest crew on the planet.
And nobody there will ever forget it.