2026 Clearwater Offshore Nationals — Race-Day Photos, Video & Notes From the Dry Pits
We spent the weekend at Clearwater Beach with a camera and a pair of sunburned arms.
What follows is a walk through the dry pits at Sand Key Park, the video, and the numbers behind the biggest free-to-watch offshore race in the country.
The Video
Straight from the pits and the beach.
Turn the sound up.
The Numbers
- September 25–27, 2026 — three days at Clearwater Beach, Florida.
- Roughly 90 teams entered across 14 classes, from the bracket classes up to Super Cat and Class 1.
- Super Stock alone drew 16 entries — one of the deepest fields of the weekend.
- Top speeds around 150 mph in the fastest classes.
- A 5.0-mile course run parallel to the beach, with Turn 1 sitting right off Pier 60.
- Dry pits at Sand Key Park, open to the public and free to walk.
- Free to watch from the sand or the pier — no ticket, no gate.
The event is Round 3 of the Race World Offshore / APBA National Championship Series, and it also counts toward the UIM XINSURANCE World Championship Tour.
Clearwater is a qualifier for the Key West World Championships on November 1–8, 2026 — teams have to run at least two of the four series events to be eligible for the season finale.
Race World Offshore also filmed a one-hour television special from this event, scheduled to air on the ESPN Network in the first quarter of 2027.
For scale: past editions of the Clearwater race have drawn crowd estimates near 50,000 people on the beach and a spectator fleet of 2,500-plus boats anchored along the course.
Those are historical estimates, not an official 2026 count — but stand on the sand on Sunday and they feel about right.
Notes From the Dry Pits
The dry pits are the part most people skip, and they should not.
At Clearwater the whole paddock sits out in the open at Sand Key Park — haulers, coaches, canopies, boats up on trailers with the cowlings off and the crews working.
You can walk up to a Class 1 catamaran that runs 150 mph and stand close enough to read the plumbing.
Nobody chases you off.
A few things that stood out this year.
- The rigs are the show before the show. Matched haulers, wrapped coaches and team awnings turn a public park into a trade floor.
- Outboard power keeps climbing the classes. Multi-engine outboard transoms are everywhere in the pits now, not just in the small brackets.
- Launching is its own event. The big hulls go in by crane, and the ramp draws a crowd of its own.
- The sponsor row is real money. XINSURANCE on the title, plus fuel, insurance, marine service and consumer brands all working the pits.
- It is a family crowd. Kids, coolers, dogs, and a lot of people who drove in just for Sunday.
The Photos
All shot by us at Sand Key Park and the launch ramp.
Racing, Crew & Rides — Free Board
If you were in those pits looking for a ride, a throttleman, a crew spot, a hauler or a sponsor, put a card up on the Racing Network.
It is free, it stays up, and it is open to every class of boat that races — not just offshore.
The full pre-race rundown for this event — schedule, viewing spots, host hotels and the sponsor lineup — is here: Clearwater Offshore Nationals 2026 — Schedule, Where to Watch & Sponsors.
The event hub with the class list lives at the Clearwater event page.
Sources
- Race World Offshore — Clearwater
- Powerboat.news — XINSURANCE Clearwater Offshore Nationals 2026, everything you need to know
- St. Pete Catalyst — Clearwater Offshore Nationals returns this weekend
- Visit St. Pete/Clearwater — Clearwater Offshore Nationals
Related: Clearwater Offshore Nationals 2026 Preview · Racing Network · The Weekender · St. Pete Powerboat Grand Prix
