Weekly Powerboat and Fishing Summary

JUNIOR SKI COURSE

Region V Club hosted 64 children for a three day free Junior Development Skiing Course on the Hawkesbury River at Ebenezer. Shane Wilson, Mercury Marine's Territory Manager NSW, kicked things off with a session on race rules and the course also covered fitness, health, skiing equipment and techniques. Mercury donated 40 litres of Premium Plus Oil to keep the Club's Mercury outboards purring as most of the children had ten skis per day. See Mercury Marine for more details.

POWERBOATS

Mustang Marine recently purchased the moulds of the 77ft and 87ft Warren Sport Yachts. Based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Mustang Marine has more than 35 years' experience building sports cruiser, flybridge and coupé powerboats. The new moulds will allow larger boats to be added to the range in the future.

POWERBOAT RACING

After an impressive European campaign for Maritimo’s Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen, taking third overall behind Victory 1 and Fazza, the Australian-Norwegian pairing head to the Middle East for the final Class-1 Grands Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi (19-21 November) and Dubai (10-12 December).

Class-1’s youngest partnership are currently in third place in the World Championship standings but they will have to produce their best to keep at bay what will undoubtedly be a fierce challenge from Welmax, currently three points behind them in fourth. Event website: www.class-1.com.

For almost a hundred years Powerboat record attempts have been made on several of the English lakes including Ullswater, Windermere and Coniston Water. Coniston Power Boat Records Week is the only event in the UK Powerboat Racing Calendar to bring together all classes of boat. Entry is open to all from tiny hydroplanes, through inshore circuit racers to the largest offshore boats. It is the finale to the racing season. For the current record list released on 20 October click on Previous Years at www.conistonpowerboatrecords.co.uk.

Anglo-American pilot and Powerboat P1 stalwart Nigel Hook is to compete at the Key West World Championships alongside Swedish driver Michael Silfverberg. The duo will form the new #77 Lucas Oil Scandinavian Offshore Challenge team for the event which takes place from 8-15 November. Check out the Power Boat P1 website for more details.

FISHING FADS

As the weather warms up, the fish are biting, and to help anglers find that big one, popular fish attracting devices (FADs) are being reinstalled for the season in coastal waters off NSW. The devices are like magnets for attracting mahi-mahi, dolphin fish and marlin.

Following annual winter maintenance, 25 FADs are being installed including two new ones which have been approved for Tweed Heads and Crowdy Head. FADs are yellow buoys, marked with a cross and navigation light on top and are moored to the ocean floor. They are installed between six and 32 kilometres offshore from October to June. See the dpi.nsw.gov.au website for more information.

SAFETY

Operation EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) was staged by NSW Maritime over the weekend of 24-25 October with Boating Safety Officers conducting 145 spot safety checks on vessels. While only two on-the-spot fines were issued, eight formal warnings were handed out, mainly for failure to carry a 406MHz EPIRB, which are compulsory to carry on any vessel heading two nautical miles or more offshore.

NSW Maritime is working with the State’s new volunteer rescue organisation, Marine Rescue NSW, to provide a replacement boat for Batemans Bay Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol after its main rescue vessel broke down. The replacement vessel is a Sailfish 7200 aluminium catamaran, 6.50 metres in length and powered by two Honda 150 horsepower outboard engines. See the www.maritime.nsw.gov.au website for more.

MULTIHULL SHOW

The world's first boat show devoted solely to multihulls is to take place in Lorient, France, from 15-18 April 2010. The harbour will accommodate new sail and power catamarans as well as trimarans both afloat and along the quay. Visitors will be able to take part in demonstrations and sea trials on Lorient harbour and see former racing multihulls and craft exceeding 18m (60ft) in length. More details at the official website.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Nov 6 - 8 -- Bundy Thunder – Queensland’s biggest powerboat racing spectacular at Sandy Hook, Bundaberg has a record entry list with over 80 boats. BundyThunder.com.au.

Nov 21 – 23 -- Club Marine Boating Extravaganza, Goolwa, SA - 150 on-water sites, more than 200 hard stand sites and a number of hands-on exhibitions and demonstrations. More details.

Nov 28-29 - Lake Mulwala Power Festival Lake Mulwala Power.

Photograph: Mercury helps Region V show juniors the joys of our "great sport"