VENTURA : City May Back Boat Race With $60,000
In its continuing effort to boost tourism, the Ventura City Council will consider a proposal on Monday to spend $60,000 in seed money to bring a national powerboat race to Ventura next year.
The American Powerboat Assn. Offshore Commission voted in August to award the boat race to Ventura. It would be the first time a nationally sanctioned race has been held on the West Coast in more than a decade, a city report said.
If event organizers do not secure a minimum of $60,000 in sponsorship funds by January, however, they will change the venue, the report said.
Mayor Tom Buford said Friday that city leaders will have to weigh the one-time expense against the potential profits generated by bringing such an event to Ventura.
“I hope we can find a way to support [the race] in a sufficient manner,” he said. “It’s water oriented, it’s sports oriented. If we want to get something like this going, the city is going to have to step in.”
An elite and very expensive sport, offshore powerboat racing has drawn large crowds to Ventura Harbor when races have been held there. Ventura has been the site of nine previous powerboat races.
The national race proposed for next year would be held on Sept. 28 and 29, and would include a weeklong festival, a beach luau, and a parade of powerboats--on trucks--through town.
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