Whatever you think about the 2026 offshore racing season so far—I’m going with wacky, zany and not entirely unpredictable—it doesn’t much matter if you’re an offshore racing fan itching for more action from your favorite sport. But to borrow from a classic scene in Mrs. Doubtfire, “Help is on the way, dear” in the form of the American Power Boat Association-sanctioned Roar Offshore Fort Myers Beach set for September 11–13 at the Southwest Florida venue.
Though this year’s event is limited to the Super Stock class, Roar Offshore Fort Myers Beach owners/organizer Cole Leibel and Shaun Torrente are expecting 17 to 18 teams to compete.
Super Stock-class offshore racing action is coming to Fort Myers Beach next weekend. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
“Pretty much everyone is coming,” Leibel said. “The support from our class, as well as the sponsors, has been excellent.
“It’s going to be incredible,” he added.
APBA Offshore Racing Commission chairman Ryan Beckley will take on the chief referee duties for the Fort Myers Beach affair. Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats dealer manager Geoff Tomlinson, who has a solid behind-the-scenes background in the sport, will handle the race director role.
The action starts Friday with practice in the late morning and qualifying in the mid-afternoon. According to Leibel. Two heat races are scheduled for Saturday. They’ll be followed by Speed Cat Runs, which are “high-speed exhibition passes” according to the Roar Offshore website.
The championship round is slated for Sunday at 2 p.m.—but with a distinctive wrinkle borrowed from the X-Cat catamaran racing series overseas.
“The boats are going to start running toward the beach,” Leibel explained. “It’s been used in X-Cat and it has worked in X-Cat. We’ve always wanted to try it.
“And the course will have left-hand and right-hand turns,” he continued. “It’s basically a full ‘road course.’ It will be more of a driver’s course.”
And it’s all just eight days away.