Offshore powerboat racing

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Class 1 offshore boat at full speed

The offshore powerboat racing is an endurance race with racing boats near the coast on the open sea, sometimes large inland waters. There are at least two people on board; One drives the boat, the other takes care of the navigation so that the boat can reach the next turning buoy as quickly as possible. The rules for this are laid down by the world umbrella organization Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM).

Sponsorship is common for larger classes, mainly due to the financial outlay for races and teams. Those who finance a suitable team are often on board at the race.

Classes and boats

Class 1

There are different classes in offshore racing that differ in terms of the size of the boats and engines. The largest and most powerfully motorized boats are those of "Class 1", which can have a maximum displacement of 16 liters for petrol engines without a turbocharger . The racing boats, which today are built exclusively as catamarans with two engines, are around 12-14 meters long. The power is limited to 850 hp per engine. The minimum weight is 4950 kg. Average speeds of more than 200 km / h are sometimes reached in the race.

The routes here are between 100 and 105 nautical miles (around 180 km).

Other classes

In the smallest class with outboard motors of a maximum of 1000 cm³, the route length is shorter.

In certain series, for example the "Powerboat P1" or the "Honda Formula 4-Stroke", only boats of the triangular file type are used.

Championships

Class 1 drives a world championship series with around 8 events per year. In 2008 these were races in: Doha ( Qatar ), Budva ( Montenegro ), Moscow ( Russia ), Arendal ( Norway ), Constanța ( Romania ), Porto Marina ( Egypt ) and twice in Dubai ( UAE ).

Smaller classes, for example the "Class 3A" (up to 1000 cm³), hold world or European championships in two or three races on one (long) weekend.

history

Rumor has it that offshore racing arose because smugglers built ever faster, ocean-going boats in the late 1940s to "import" cigars from Cuba to the USA.

In fact, there are newspaper reports that as early as 1904 about 20 boats competed in a race over 22 nautical miles from Dover to Calais. The winner was the 11-meter-long “Mercedes IV” boat with a 59 kW (80 hp) Daimler engine. In 1921, the race-obsessed American Gar Wood set a speed record for the Miami – New York route that was not beaten for 41 years.

With the races "Miami - Nassau" (1956), "Cowes - Torquay - Cowes" (1961) and "Viareggio - Bastia - Viareggio" (1962) offshore racing flourished worldwide. From 1964 there was the "Sam Griffith Trophy" as an unofficial world championship, from 1977 it became an official UIM world championship.

Known pilots:

Web links