We just wanted to take a moment to say hello to new visitors and any old friends who may have dropped in at our old site, BigBadBoat [B3] in past years. While we have maintained a strong Twitter presence since we stopped posting regularly on our old site, and maintained our weekly online newsletters--we felt it was time to update our branding. We also needed to create a new platform for some new projects and publications that we are currently working on.
High performance boating--and offshore powerboating and racing--have changed over the past 10 years, and even more so over the last five or six. The Great Recession has taken a toll, along with other factors...and while the upper end of the sport remains strong, there seems to be less in the sport at the entry-level. This becomes more evident when you take a look at the activity on many of the forums that used to be central to the offshore powerboating community.
Coverage of performance boating--at least in print--is not what it used to be, though the excellent work maintained online by Speedonthewater and Powerboatnation help fill that gap. They do a great job covering the day-to-day industry news, on-site poker run and race coverage, and reviewing new boats. There's no need for duplication there.
Our mission will be slightly different--and though I won't go into too much detail just yet, one of our primary goals is to renew interest in the sport and provide some resources to enthusiasts at the entry-level. To find out more, keep in touch, check back often, and follow SWELL on Twitter, at Twitter.com/bigbadboat