Racers and fans in Englewood Beach, Fla., this weekend for the Offshore Powerboat Association Englewood Beach Waterfest World Championships will have brand-new-and at this point unique-engines to ogle before and after races. WMF Watercraft and Marine, an Avalon/Tahoe pontoon dealer that is based in Delaware but opened a new location in Cape Coral, Fla., a couple of months ago, has the twin Mercury Marine Verado V-10 outboard engines on display in the dry pits.

An Avalon 2585 Catalina Windshield Quad-Lounge Platinum Tritoon model, the 25-footer pulled demo duty earlier this week at Lake X in St. Cloud, Fla., where Mercury Marine introduced the 400-hp V-10 outboard and its 350-hp sibling to members of the media. WMF Watercraft owner Bill Forenski and his team spent a full day taking out reporters on the boat.

"Avalon sent me as their dealer representative to Lake X and it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Forenski said. "And I think that the press people really liked that I was a dealer, which gave them a different perspective than, say, a manufacturer taking them for a boat ride might.

"We started giving rides at 9 a.m. and never stopped," he continued. "The Avalon was the most popular demo boat there. Some of the writers came back two and three times for rides."