Willoughby, Eastlake boat parade set

A boat parade is set to take place this weekend in conjunction with the offshore powerboat races.

The parade featuring the powerboats is scheduled to take place July 17. Boats will leave from Chagrin Marine, located at 226 E. Island Drive, around 7:15 p.m. and make their way down State Route 91 to 20, and will go by Classic Park, located at 35300 Vine St.

The boats will then come into Downtown Willoughby between 7:30 and 8 p.m. and will be lined up heading north on Erie Street.

“This is the same day as the ArtsFest and the streets will remain closed when the ArtsFest ends

at 7 p.m.,” said Willoughby Mayor Robert Fiala. “The boats will enter our downtown from Euclid Avenue and stay in our downtown from 8 to 11 p.m. Then they will return to the Eastlake marina.”

The Eastlake Offshore Grand Prix will follow on July 18. Spectator viewing will be at Osborne Park, located at 38575 Lakeshore Blvd. The races will start at noon and end at 5 p.m. More than 20 boats of all powers and sizes are expected to be on the waters of Lake Erie.

“Our main headquarters is going to be the Chagrin Tavern marina in Eastlake,” said Kris Mendeszoon, one of the organizers of the powerboat race. “We have a load of boaters in our region that will be out on the lake watching.”

Offshore powerboat racing is considered the most dangerous, yet most exciting forms of motorsports today, according to the Offshore Powerboat Association. Offshore racing draws a wide variety of fans and interest from companies as the boats themselves are high performance works of art designed to race on a course that has an ever changing surface.

“Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, are known for how fast it can churn up,” Mendeszoon said. “It’s not a set pattern. Hopefully, next year, we can shift the course where it could be a little bit more on land, user friendly.”

Over the years, the race course has gotten smaller, according to OPA. Originally, the race was more than 200-mile-long running laps. For spectators, the boats came by once an hour and only three or four times depending upon the race course configurations.

Today, the racecourse is a small, 4-mile oval as close to the beach as possible.