Let’s start this one with a disclaimer. In boiling down more than 1,000 stories published between speedonthewater.com and poweboatnation.com to a top-five list, I know I missed something important. The odds of omitting something are great, and I have no doubt that a devoted reader will remind me—within moments of this story going live—of something I missed.
And that reader will be correct. And I will respond in the only appropriate way.
You’re right. I did. Damn.
With that in my mind, here are my top-five high-performance-boating stories of 2025.
The International Hot Rod Association Goes Offshore
Can the International Hot Rod Association “buy” offshore racing? By the events—from making good on its promise of a $250,000 prize purse for competitors in the Key West World Championships to its acquisition of Powerboat P1— of late 2025 it certainly looks that way. Still, entry is one thing. Execution is another. IHRA president Leah Martin, who was hired for the role in November, and her team have their work cut out for them as they move to take ownership of a sport that was deeply fractured this season. No one who cares about the sport is rooting for failure. But there remains much to be proven.
The owner of South Florida-based Deep Impact Custom Boats, Mark Fischer was supposed to be retired. He had a very successful career in another business. But despite its solid center-console line-up, the Deep Impact sales weren’t performing up to his expectations. So Fischer became more personally involved. Near the end of 2024 at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the builder introduced the 499, a brawny model built to tackle true offshore water and capable of handling six outboard engines. A year later at the same event, the company unveiled a 45-footer with the same open-water and a power-package capabilities—and brought sales in house. Deep Impact rolls into the New Year not just with an impressive pair of new models, but with significant momentum.
DCB Completes New-Model Trifecta
Near the end of 2024, DCB Performance Marine debuted its outboard-powered M42R catamaran, the second full-tunnel offering in the Phoenix company’s line-up. Near the end of 2025 DCB added two more full-tunnel models—a 35-footer with outboard power and a 45-footer of the stern-drive catamaran kind. During that process, the builder also relocated to another new facility. Managing partners Craig and Kim Hargreaves and their devoted team haven’t just invested in the operation. They’ve breathed new life into it.
The owner Doug Wright Powerboats/DWR since June, Waves And Wheels founder Justin Wagner knows the difference between dreaming and making dreams come true. To that end, he’s added new team members Gary Stray and Andrew Imhof and taken control of a superb—but foundering at the time he bought it—catamaran brand while adding/planning new models. Wagner doesn’t plan on building much more than a dozen new Doug Wright Powerboats/DWR a year and doesn’t want to. But the brand is in fine hands and well-positioned for a successful future.
Florida Powerboat Club Reinvention
Stu Jones didn’t “want” to abandon the Florida Powerboat Club’s time-proven poker-run format. But liability concerns forced his hand. So for his latter 2025 events, the club founder and owner pivoted, dropped the poker-run structure and went with something more akin to rallies. Jones and his crew continued to arrange land-based activities such as lunches during events and parties with poker-run aspects—meaning card-play—after them. But now the responsibility for “getting there” rests solely with each club member. It’s a seismic change for Jones and his club members.
