Mercury Racing was one of many events at the 2025 Miami International Boat Show.
Away from the car and boat traffic of downtown Miami, Mercury Racing takes up residence in Coconut Grove during the 2025 Miami International Boat Show to offer demo rides on high-performance boats featuring its power.
The docks at Harbor Grove Marina were heaven for performance-boating fans as 12 builders participated in the three-day event. The private event gave buyers an opportunity to compare models and power plants while at the boat show.
Potential buyers could test center consoles with the Mercury Racing 400R outboards on the Nor-Tech 392 Super Fish or the AMP 333 CC. A Sunsation 32 CCX center console had Mercury Racing 500R outboards.
Mercury Racing 500R was available for testing on the Nor-Tech 40 Super Cat, Mystic C4000, Performance P420 Powerboat and DCB M-42R. A Tidewater 256 CC with the Mercury Racing 150R was at the docks.
While Mercury Racing and Mercury Marine had a huge presence throughout the Miami show, the private event gave boat manufacturers and potential customers a relaxed environment. Manufacturers could take customers out for rides every 45 minutes in Coconut Grove, compared to the in-show rides that were every two hours because of an extensive no-wake zone.
Mystic Powerboats’ John Cosker said the event at Harbor Grove Marina gave serious buyers an opportunity to compare boats. He was happy to put the C4000 against other boats in the show.
“It’s a great thing because there’s a bunch of catamarans here,” Cosker said. “So, you can ride almost every brand of cat back-to-back in the same water and decide what attributes you like.”
Walt Braithwaite, vice president of sales and marketing for AMP Marine, was excited that the Florida builder was asked to be part of the select group of boat manufacturers for the three-day test event.
“We bring our customers in and it’s an incredible opportunity for them,” Braithwaite said. “They get to test all these different boat brands, whether it’s a catamaran or a center console, in the same location.
“We’ve been booked the past two days, so it tells you the popularity and curiosity of the brand. We’re excited about the response.”
Cocktails & Cigarettes
When the 2025 Miami International Boat Show was finished for the day, Cigarette Racing had a cocktail party for its customers and distributors from across the world. The group came together to celebrate the Cigarette Racing brand, which occupied a substantial portion of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Cigarette Racing had on display a 41 Nighthawk, a 42 Auroris, a 52 Thunder and its sportboats, the 42X and 515. The company also had six models available for demo rides.
“Miami is our hometown, so we always have a large presence for the Miami Boat Show,” said Alex Ruiz, Cigarette Racing’s CEO.
