Sports

For the uninitiated, criticism of American NASCAR racing tends to center around the fact that it resembles little more than cars driving round and around an oval track. ‘Go straight, turn left,’ critics may complain, lacks the necessary skills that, say, F1 requires. And I have to admit; I am one of those people. However, imagine if NASCAR was on the water. Now that would be a spectacle, wouldn’t it? About Boat Racing at Gamagori Kyōtei, or BOAT RACE as sponsors have dubbed it, is an exhilarating competition that is, in this form, virtually unheard of outside of Japan. On a 600-meter oval course, competitors on six small hydroplane boats (looking for all the world like suped-up jet skis) fly around at high speed, all vying to take the checkered flag. Unusual to Kyotei is how much of the action takes place in the build-up to the two-minute race. Using the ‘flying start’ system, boats are signaled to leave their docks to find a starting position, with a one-minute countdown before ‘go time.’ Then, at around 12 seconds before the clock hits zero, the boats hammer towards the start line at full speed, jockeying (pun very much intended) for position,…