Sunny 105.7 is indeed, the voice of paradise. During a warm summer day, you lounge by the pool, catch some rays at the beach or cruise around Gulf Shores and Orange Beach listening to your favorite tunes.

On Sunday nights, you can tune in and listen to music from your favorite local artists.

Friday nights, the station becomes the voice of the Gulf Shores Dolphins football team.

During the past weekend, however, everyone’s favorite radio station in these parts became a beacon of audio information for the thousands of fans gathered along the Gulf watching Thunder on the Gulf 2010.

When I got the call asking if I wanted to participate in calling the boat races, I had to actually stop and think about how long it had been since I had even seen a boat race. Outside of the little tugboat I played with in the bathtub as a child, and those “long canoes” in the Olympic games, I couldn’t really remember.

But as a broadcaster and a sports fan, I am always up for a challenge, so I said, “Sure, I’ll do it.”

Keep in mind, I had no idea of the difference between a Vee Lite (a boat with one engine and a top speed of about 92 mph) and a Super Cat (a 33- to 44-foot boat with 510 cubic inch V8 engines that create up to 750 horsepower).  Then there was the Super Vee, the Cat Lite the Super Stock, and, of course, the Extreme Class featuring boats that can reach speeds of 180 mph.

Two of the boats that were seen speeding down the Gulf Coast waters on Friday and Sunday were from Qatar, both featuring 12-cylinder Lamborghini engines and windshields normally used on fighter jets.

Needless to say, I had a crash coarse in the sport of offshore powerboat racing, but had lots of help from the likes of Mike Yowaiski, the voice of the Offshore Powerboat Association, and his sidekick Val Fiorillo. Both of these fine broadcasters are also powerboat racers as well, and were extremely knowledgeable about calling what the spectators were watching.

What the casual observer might not have realized as they ventured to the beach on Sunday was that this was not just another stop of the OPA tour. Orange Beach, Ala., was hosting the World Championship Title races.

Earlier this season racers competed in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., Harrison Township and St. Clair, Mich., Patchogue Long Island, N.Y. and Atlantic City, N.J. 

At each of the previous races, each team earned points based on their finishing order.

Just two weeks ago Solomon’s Island, Md., hosted the National Championships and then the best teams in the world converged on Orange Beach to battle it out for the world title.

I learned quite a bit during my two days of powerboat broadcasting. I learned that these boats go so fast, they often don’t stay in the water, and coming around one of the four turns on the track can be a dangerous thing.  I learned that it takes two people to drive one of these million-dollar watercrafts.  There is the guy or gal who steers the boat around the buoys, making sure they don’t crash into anyone else, and the throttle man who operates the throttle and the trim. This person can move weight around inside the boat and is there to make sure that the boats goes as fast as it can.

There are emergency boats available in case of a crash, tugboats in case of a breakdown, and helicopters, some carrying camera’s and others carrying jump paramedics should a boat flip over.

As the boats sped around the track in front of the thousands of fans lined up and down our sandy white beaches, I couldn’t help but think that I was a part of history.

Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t know much about offshore powerboat racing, but what I do know is that during the weekend, Sunny 105.7 had one of the biggest listening audiences of the year, thousands upon thousands had their feet in our sand, there was traffic in the streets, there were crowds at the restaurants, and most of all, there was excitement. Three months ago, who would have thought this day would happen? But it did, and I, for one, was happy to be part of it.