2009 World Offshore Powerboat Championships

by Media Services on 3 Aug 2007 This morning at a Sydney International Boat Show function NSW Minister Joe Tripodi announced that in 2009 a round of the World Offshore Power Boat Championships will be held on Sydney Harbour. The event will see some of the fastest power boats in the world travelling at speeds of up to 160 miles per hour, or 270 km, with over 500 international competitors represented.

The announcement follows 18 months of lobbying by Maritimo of the NSW Government and associated departments. Maritimo is the only Australian team represented in the current World Powerboat Championship, and they were keen to bring the international event to Australia.

We spoke to Anne-Marie Cook from Maritimo Racing about the 2009 Championship.

‘It’s a free event. Sure, there will be some VIP areas that will be ticketed, but predominantly it will be a free, world class event on Sydney Harbour.’

She said that Maritimo had pushed for the World Championship to be held in Sydney because the company, led by CEO Bill Barry-Cotter, is passionate about powerboat racing.

‘I would just like everyone to get behind this and give us the opportunity to prove how spectacular this sport is.’

And it is an incredibly exciting sport to watch. At the Sydney International Boat Show (2-7 August), Australian Powerboat Champions Luke Durman and Ross Willaton are giving talks about their racing every day at 11.30 on the Boating Stage in Hall One.

As part of the presentation they run video footage of international powerboat racing. There are incredible scenes of boats flipping out of the water at terrific speeds, low flying helicopters flanking the high velocity race and crews struggling to escape from an overturned boat.

Despite these scenes, Luke and Ross emphasise that safety and crew training standards are extremely high; it’s something that they take very seriously. Every Class One boat has escape hatches on the top and bottom of the vessel and carries an on board supply of air. The structure of the boat includes an extremely strong canopy and an internal capsule.

Each driver wears a six point harness, a helicopter blow up life vest and has a dive mask with a regulator and also a knife in case they need to cut themselves out. The training that the drivers go through before being allowed to race at this elite level is extreme.

‘To be able to get a licence to drive one of these boats you must have an open water dive ticket’ explained Luke.

‘You must also have done what’s called an immersion course which is what a lot of helicopter pilots do. Where you are put in a capsule and blindfolded and turned upside down and sent to the bottom of a pool. You must be able to unstrap yourself out of that.’

The Class One boats are raced by two people teams, with one person driving and navigating and the other one on the throttle. On Simrad, the Maritimo boat, Ross is the ‘throttle-man’ and controls boat speed, trim and ballast, while the younger Luke is responsible for steering and navigation. It’s common to have an older man on the throttle- it’s a job that only experience can teach you to do well, with a younger man on the helm- at these kinds of speeds the driver needs to have quick reflexes.

‘You can’t do all the jobs at once, at the speeds we go at, up to 160 miles per hour, on a bumpy track’ explained Ross.

Class One powerboat racing requires an uncanny level of co-operation between the team members.

‘You must have a great partnership with your co-pilot’ observed Ann-Marie.

Unless Ross and Luke had been practising their public speaking skills for many hours, it was obvious that they have this type of close bond. One man would speak and then the other would take over after a few minutes, back and forward, with no sign of any hesitation or indecision about whose turn it was to speak. It’s a simple thing, but it speaks volumes about their trust in each other and ability to communicate.

It’s also worth noting that despite the hype and money that surrounds powerboat racing, both men came across as down to earth and personable. At the top end this is an expensive sport: a Class One powerboat costs the best part of a million dollars. If you break a propeller on a Class One boat it will cost $20,000 to replace it.

When the boats are moving at speed on a tiny fraction of the vessel remains in the water, so the skill of the driver becomes critical. Luke explained that a boat will move at its fastest when about half the diameter of the propeller and just the tip of the rudder remained in the water.

A Class One powerboat sports either two Lamborghini 8 litre V 12 engines or a big block MerCruiser 1075 racing engine. The 930 horsepower Lamborghini reach speeds of about 160 miles per hour, but the Ross said that it was slightly more difficult to throttle than the MerCruiser. The MerCruiser has been detuned to comply with the sport’s strict regulations and red lines at about 6400 revs, with about 6000 revs being the optimum.

‘For sheer performance and speed if you get your prop and gear selection right the Lamborghini’s when they’re hooked up are awesome’ said Ross.

The next race of the 2007 World Championships is being held in Olso, Norway next week. Australian Tom Barry-Cotter, son of Maritimo CEO Bill Barry-Cotter, is currently ranked in the top five.

At 19 years of age, he’s the youngest driver on the current circuit, and the youngest to race in this event since 1992. He is considered to have the potential to become a World Champion, and in 2009 will race in Sydney under the Maritimo banner.