Preparing for Fired Up to… get fired up at the 2008 Catalina Ski Race. Photo by Ryan ZumMallen

Three of the most popular events of the entire summer-long Long Beach Sea Festival will take place this weekend, as powerboats reign supreme in the Catalina Ski Race, PWC Offshore National Championship and the Pacific Offshore Power Boat Race on Saturday and Sunday.

About fifty brave – and slightly nuts – skiers will strap themselves in and hold tight onto the back of massive powerboats as they speed across the Pacific Ocean in the 62nd annual Long Beach to Catalina Ski Race this Saturday from 7:00am-12:00pm. Much of the race is out of sight, but you can see the boats up close and personal as they prepare to start near the docks of the Hotel Maya at the mouth of the Los Angeles River. Get there early, because the race will likely start around 8:15am and should last about an hour.

Sunday will host two offshore powerboat races to Catalina and back, again, some of the more popular events of the entire summer due to the expensive machinery and massive horsepower figures.

The APBA PWC Offshore National Championship will start around 8:00am and is a great chance to see more impressive engineering at work. The big boys come in later with the Pacific Offshore Powerboat Race dropping the flag around 9:00am. Both events launch from Marina Green in the Long Beach Harbor and you should be able to get pretty close to the pits and those massive powerhouses. Check LongBeachSeaFestival.com for more information.

Happy sailing!

Disclosure: The Long Beach Sea Festival is an advertiser of the staging-live.lbpost.com.