Weekly Powerboat and Fishing Summary

Mustang wins Australian Offshore Superboat Championship, Hydroplanes head for Lake Mulwala, third boat for Victory team

POWERBOAT RACING

The Geelong Classic, part of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, was held on Corio Bay with over 15 powerboats battling for honours in four classes in two races. Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen in Mustang won both Class 1 races. Race two was stopped at the 36 minute mark when Peter Jack’s and Michael Ethell’s Grumpy Mongrel crashed, ejecting both driver and pilot into the water, before rolling several times and landing right way up. Both driver and pilot received minor injuries. Mustang won the title after the final round in Melbourne. www.superboat.com.au

Three New Zealand Grand Prix Hydroplane teams are to contest the U.I.M Grand Prix World Championship 26-28 November on Lake Mulwala, Yarrawonga. These craft reach speeds up to 180mph (270km/h). New Zealand legend Warwick Lupton, the nation’s only winner in 2007, and his Annihilator Race Team have spared no expense and built a revolutionary new Grand Prix Hydroplane. GP007, as Lupton’s’ craft is known, is powered by a 510ci Supercharged Chevrolet engine which produces 1800hp. In a single race over four laps and in four minutes it guzzles 100 litres of methanol. www.lakemulwalapower.com.au

Dubai's Victory Team will field a third boat, rolling out their second new design-build of the year, for the remaining Grands Prix of the season, with Class 1 great Mohammed Al Marri teaming-up with Giorgio Manuzzi in Victory 2010 for the Middle East legs of the Championship in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. www.class-1.com

POWERBOATS

All available 200 places at the Lowrance information night staged at Streaker Boats in Melbourne were snapped up for the informative talk on how to use and get the best from a Lowrance sounder and a Lowrance GPS unit.

Construction of Mercury Marine’s new regional headquarters in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong is well underway and remains on schedule for completion in the first quarter of next year.

SAFETY

NSW Maritime’s 2010-2011 Safe Boating Handbook is now available free throughout the State in print and online. The handbook contains essential information for safe and responsible boating, such as what safety gear to carry, boating and navigation rules, and what to do in an on-water emergency. It also includes comprehensive information about the new compulsory lifejacket requirements which came into effect for all recreational vessels on NSW waterways on 1 November 2010. www.maritime.nsw.gov.au

NSW Maritime and the Boating Industry Association presented 200 lifejackets to the Marine Teachers Association of NSW and another 200 to Yachting NSW boating instructors. www.maritime.nsw.gov.au

NEWS BRIEFS

A Victorian man was convicted and fined more than $4500 in the Moama Local Court for operating a recreational vessel and causing grievous bodily harm following an incident on 23 January 2010 when he was the skipper of a water-ski boat on the Murray River at Moama. www.maritime.nsw.au

UltimateBerths.com has launched as the world’s ultimate portal for connecting people who'd like to rent, buy or sell a marina berth or mooring.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Nov 26-28 -- 2010 World Grand Prix Hydroplane Championships on Lake Mulwala, Yarrawonga. More at www.lakemulwalapower.com.au and www.gpworlds.vicapba.com.au

Dec 1 -- Murray Cod season opens

Dec 11 -- Barrie Beehag Ski Race Classic. The Moama Water Sports Club postponed the race due to higher than anticipated water levels, floating debris and a flooded marina at Deep Creek. www.southern80.com.au

Dec 26 -- Rolex Sydney Hobart starts on Sydney Harbour at 1.00pm on Boxing Day. Charter boats of all shapes and sizes and a variety of costs are available to watch the start of this iconic event. http://rolexsydneyhobart.com

Dec 31 -- New Year’s Eve. Spectacular fireworks are fired off the Sydney Harbour Bridge, barges, and city skyscrapers at 9.00pm and midnight. Charter vessels participate in a themed parade following the 9.00pm fireworks. A special area is set aside for charter vessels in the Harbour. www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/

2011

Jan 16 -- Grafton Bridge to Bridge conducted by the Big River Ski club Inc. www.graftonb2b.org.au

Photographs: Class 1 racing courtesy of

www.superboat.com.au

Weekly Powerboat and Fishing Summary

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