It happens to me every year that I cover the Key West World Championships. For the days following the final race, the powerboats just don't stop running through my head.

Beyond my head still ringing during the aftermath, every engine on a motorcycle or semi truck that is within an ear shot, makes me turn looking to look for a passing high speed watercraft. It's as if I were a dog with its ears perked up after hearing another barking K-9.

At night, instead of counting sheep, during my dreams I recall the boats in the order they were running during the week: Oh, there goes the Miss Geico, followed by the Aqua Mania. Here come the WHM and CMS. Oh, look the Saratoga Stampeded and Panasonic boat are side by side once again. And those are just the final heats of the day. It certainly goes on from there. Either I'm so exhausted from the day or it is somehow strangely soothing that I always seem to fall asleep early and wake up refreshed.

Despite the after-effects, each year brings a set full of interesting stories and this year was no different. With a list bursting of international squads to record breaking boats to locals back at the top, the 29th annual World Championships might have been the most intriguing since I began covering the races.

Without a doubt, to me, the most fascinating portion of the races was on Saturday night when Al Copeland Jr. unveiled the monstrously-gorgeous "Phenomenon," which was his father's dream that was fulfilled five years in the making. The 56-foot long, 13-and-a half-foot wide, 2,600-pound, half airplane-half boat, 11,000-horse power, four-turbine engine, appropriately named vessel, was truly phenomenal. Just standing by the boat, the paint job alone -- which glistened with holographic images of his father's initials, which now represent the Al Copeland Foundation -- was magnificent. If that weren't enough, I felt dwarfed by the prototypical boat and was privileged to be standing there as history was being revealed to the public. I hope it's a safe voyage when the crew attempts to break the propelled speedboat world record of 227 mph in January. The Phenomenon will be gunning for an average speed of 240 mph.

Beyond that phenomenal night, there was still lots to remember for this year. I shook hands with royalty as a Sheik of Qatar brought his Spirit of Qatar teams to Key West and left with a world title. I had an encounter with the Swedish Lucas Oil team that had an English throttleman, along with an Italian-American-New Zealand crew and the rest of the international teams, which helped make this a true world championship.

There were the ups and downs of seeing national championship teams falter over the week, while others claimed their first world title. There were spinouts that left certain teams being towed back into the docks and out of the race. However, all of those incidents, which are common during boat races, went without injury and no damage was sustained by the crafts that are beyond repair. And of course, last but certainly not least, the local Rum Runners team of Big Pine Key, returning a championship to the Keys, winning the Production-5 class for the first time since 1999.

Congratulations to all the champions. To CROPRA and Superboat International Productions, thanks for putting on another successful set of races.

At this point, there is only one thing left to be said. We'll see you next year. Hopefully, the boats will stop running through my head by then ... BRRMMM ... Oh, there goes another one.

Staff Writer J.W. Cooke's Home Field Advantage column appears exclusively each Wednesday in The Citizen. He can be reached at 305-292-7777, Ext. 261, or at jwcooke@keysnews.com.