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The Excitement of Running a P1 Offshore Race Boat

• By Charles Plueddeman
• November 16, 2023

In this age of 70 mph pontoons , 90 mph center-consoles and 150 mph sport cats, it’s pretty easy to experience eye-popping velocity on the water. So, there you are, the wind flapping your cheeks as you hold that throttle to the stop, one watering eye on the speedo as you bump the trim hoping to squeeze out the last bit of speed it will take to be the first boat to the poker-run card pickup. Maybe you even imagine that’s Reggie Fountain , Steve Curtis or Shaun Torrente at the helm of the boat you are pursuing, and instead of a king of hearts, there’s a big trophy waiting at the finish line. Well, dream on, Speed Racer. You’re going fast, but you are not racing, and your production-built motorboat is no race boat.

Steve Curtis throttles a real race boat. The Victory catamaran Huski Chocolate carried Curtis and drivers Travis Pastrana and Brit Lilly to the 2022 UIM Class 1 championship in the Powerboat P1 Offshore series. Last summer, we met Curtis and this boat, now rechristened Huski Ice Spritz, at the Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the fourth event on the five-race 2023 P1 schedule. The boat is owned by SVEA Racing Inc., based in Stuart, Florida, regarded as the benchmark in professionalism and experience in Class 1 and led by technical director Gary Stray, director of operations Scott Colton and crew chief Patrick Cleaveland.

Curtis, a 59-year-old Englishman and the son of Cougar Powerboats founder and racing catamaran innovator Clive Curtis, claimed his first Class 1 world championship in 1985 in Key West when he was 21 years old. In his career, Curtis has throttled more than 20 world champions. Who would be better to show us under the cowl of a Class 1 race boat than the acknowledged master of throttling racing cats?

Class 1 is the premier category of international offshore powerboat racing. A P1 Offshore event can include a number of classes, but only the Class 1 Championship is sanctioned by the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique), the world governing body for all ­powerboating activities. Basic rules for Class 1 dictate a minimum boat length overall of 12 meters (about 39 feet) and a minimum weight of 5,400 kilograms (just over 11,900 pounds). There have been seven boats in the Class 1 field in 2023, ranging in length from the 43-foot Skater Monster Energy/MCON to the 51-foot Mystic dfYoung. The Huski Ice Spritz/SVEA Victory is 47 feet length overall, with a running surface of 41.5 feet, according to Curtis, and a 12-foot beam. Curtis explains that the bigger boats often have an advantage in rough conditions, but the smaller boats can be nimbler in a current on flatter water in a tight, multiturn closed course—the 5-mile course at Sheboygan had 10 turns.

“Courses have become smaller to make the event more spectator-­friendly,” Curtis says. “We used to run 40-mile laps and 200-mile races.”

The age of the Class 1 fleet is also surprising. Huski Ice Spritz/SVEA was built in 2007 by the Victory team in Dubai to a ­Michael Peters design.

“The boat has been rebuilt and repowered a number of times,” Curtis says. “I believe it was originally powered by Lamborghini V-12 engines. The boat has been crashed and repaired. The entire deck has been replaced, and the running surface adjusted as the engine package has changed.”

Carbon, Of Course

The overall theme of a race boat is that every element is functional, and this is the key difference between Huski Ice Spritz and your go-fast rig. Speed and safety are all that matter. The hull and deck are laid up with a combination of carbon fiber and Kevlar composite, with foam coring of various density. Bulkheads are carbon fiber, molded in a combination of triangulation and U-channel shape, and bonded within the hull. Each sponson has a pair of steps that are about 1.5 inches deep and a single strake. The tunnel between the sponsons is designed to trap and compress air, which lifts the boat at speed. The tunnel is about 33 inches deep at the bow but only 22 inches deep at the transom.

A V-hull boat could run in Class 1, but the catamaran offers a significant advantage, according to Randy Scism, who helped establish the Victory team as a force in offshore racing before returning to the United States in 1998 to start performance boatbuilder Marine Technologies Inc.

“A comparable V-hull boat will be 20 to 30 mph slower at top speed,” says Scism, who designed the 48-foot MTI Class 1 cat ­XInsurance/Good Boy ­Vodka. “In some conditions, it might corner better, but it could never make up the difference in total lap time. The air cushion under a cat can carry 30 to 35 percent of the boat’s weight, so the bottom is not even touching small waves and chop.”

Builders seek to produce a boat that is significantly below the class minimum-weight specification. This allows each team to make weight using lead ballast—water ballast is not allowed—that can be positioned right on the stringers to keep the center of gravity as low as possible to enhance handling and help trim the boat. Weight, either lead bars or bags of lead shot, can be placed aft to lift the bow in calm conditions or forward to hold the bow down in rough water. Fuel tanks are located directly on the boat’s center of balance so that balance does not change as fuel is consumed. At race venues, a crane fitted with a scale lifts the Class 1 boats from the trailer to the water; this way, each boat is weighed every time it goes in and comes out of the water to prevent cheating.

At Class 1 speeds, aerodynamics becomes critical. The boats literally fly over the water, and the deck is flush with the top of each sponson. The enclosed cockpit is a teardrop blister, hatch latches and cleats are carefully recessed and faired, and air intake is accomplished with low-drag NACA ducts. When conditions are ideal, these huge boats appear to levitate with a grace that belies the brutal thrust required to reach speeds that can exceed 160 mph on the open ocean.

Prescribed Power

There are no surprises below the engine hatches of a Class 1 boat. Since P1 led a revival of the class in 2019, the Mercury Racing 1100 Competition engine has been standard power, a spec engine for the class. The 9.0-liter V-8 engine features Mercury Racing QC4 quad-valve cylinder heads and is boosted by twin turbochargers. Power output is 1,100 hp and 1,100 lb.-ft. of torque per engine on 93-octane pump gasoline. Each big V-8 turns 6,000 to 6,500 rpm. The transmission is the stout model designed for the Mercury Racing 1750 engine with a stronger input shaft and ­internal components.

“Before the switch to the Merc 1100, we were running engines making 1,850 to 2,000 hp at 7,500 rpm,” Curtis says, “and top speeds pushed 190 mph. Those engines needed a rebuild after each race.”

The point of a specified engine for the class is to reduce cost and ensure power parity among teams with unequal resources. With that in mind, the engines are tightly controlled. Teams are not allowed to make any adjustments or modifications to the engines. With the exception of the valve covers, the engines are sealed with special fasteners. At the beginning of each race weekend, the Mercury Racing support team delivers propulsion control modules (PCM) to each team. The PCM units are painted bright ­yellow so they are easy to identify. ­Mercury ­Racing also installs a data logger on each engine.

“After every practice and ­every race, we download the data to make sure it makes sense and that nobody has tweaked on the engines and turned the power up,” says Steve Wynveen, Mercury Racing manager of development engineering. “The idea of Class 1 now is that winning is dependent on driving and boat setup, not on who has the most money to throw at an engine.”

The expectation is that if teams don’t abuse these engines by constantly banging into the rev limiter, each can last the season with just basic maintenance. Teams will put between two and three hours of run time on the engines at each race weekend. Teams are free to install their own PCM for testing between races.

The Huski Ice Spritz/SVEA team engineered a number of quick-disconnect fittings that allow it to remove an engine in about 20 minutes, according to Curtis. This team pulls its engines after each race for maintenance and inspects the bilge and engine mounts below the engines. Typical maintenance includes an oil and filter change, checking the valve lash and adjusting with shims, a compression and leak-down test, checking the turbocharger ­waste-gate adjustment, and ­torquing all fasteners and clamps.

Six of the boats in this Class 1 fleet use surface drives based on a BPM model to put power to the water. The Italian drive only articulates in the vertical plane, which provides a limited range of trim, generally less than 15 degrees or, according to Curtis, about 1.5 inches at the propeller. The prop is located about 58 inches abaft the transom. A drop box located on the exterior of the transom allows teams to quickly change gear ratios to best match engine torque to the prevailing conditions. Curtis explains that on today’s short courses, ­acceleration out of turns is often more important than top speed. Teams using a surface drive are limited to three prop sets but have unlimited gear ratios. Steering is accomplished by a center-mounted rudder—a knife-sharp polished stainless Italian Flexitab model on Huski Ice Spritz—and teams can change rudders based on water conditions.

A sterndrive is also permitted in Class 1, but if the sterndrive can steer, the boat is not allowed to use a rudder. The MTI XInsurance/Good Boy Vodka boat is rigged with modified Mercury Racing M6 sterndrives. Trim is retained, but the skegs are cut off and steering is locked. The boat is equipped with a rudder. Teams running sterndrives are allowed an unlimited number of propellers.

“The problem with trying to steer these boats with the sterndrives is that when you turn the drive, one prop is pushed into water and the other into the air coming through the tunnel,” Scism says. “The prop in the air loses thrust. You want to keep both props centered behind the sponsons. I prefer to use the M6 drives for the added trim authority. That drive is plenty rugged for these engines.”

Read Next: How to Boat Safely at Any Speed

Curtis throttles with his right hand gripping a pair of Mercury Zero Effort controls topped with red plastic knobs molded to the shape of his hand. To his left is a fixed, molded grip with radio/intercom control buttons, trim control, and a button to change the screen display. Curtis can communicate with his team using VHF and UHF radios, and a cellular connection. Below is a pair of Mercury ignition keys, which we were surprised to see.

“When we went to the standard Merc 1100 engines, we wanted to retain the entire stock wiring harness to prevent any sort of tampering,” Curtis says. “So, there are the keys, just like on your fishing boat. It was the ­easiest solution.”

Facing Curtis are a pair of Livorsi turbocharger boost gauges, a Livorsi trim indicator, and a multifunction display usually showing tachometers. In the center of the dash is a Garmin MFD split between navigation and a rearview camera. The driver sits before a quick-release steering wheel with a lap counter on top of the dash, which will also display a yellow-and-red flag signal from race control.

I wish I could describe the ­sensation of driving Huski Ice Spritz at speed while looking through the slit of a windscreen. But as it turns out, there is not enough liability coverage or legal cover to ever make that happen. Scism says MTI will build you a new 48 Race model to Class 1 specs, with a price tag of $2.2 million to $2.4 million with power. A $500,000 budget will cover a bare-bones Class 1 team for a season, Curtis says, with a well-financed team spending more than $1.5 million. SVEA Racing Inc. brings a crew of 10 to each race with a 70-foot race trailer, a tilting boat trailer and its Kenworth hauler, and a world-champion throttleman. They are not going to a poker run.

Safety First

When Steve Curtis won his first Class 1 championship, he was standing in an open cockpit. “There was very little concern for safety in those boats,” Curtis says. “If you stuffed the boat, it was very likely you’d be killed.”

Today the driver and throttle work in an enclosed cockpit that is all business. This is not your pleasure boat—there is no Alcantara upholstery, no bass-pumping audio system, and no LED-illuminated drink holders. Cockpit entry is through a hatch secured with four sliding bolts like a bank vault. In Huski Ice Spritz, Curtis throttles from the port seat, and the driver is at the wheel to starboard. Deep bucket seats have 2 inches of suspension travel, and the crew is strapped securely in place. “During a race, it can actually get rather violent in here,” Curtis says. “It’s not very noisy, but there is a lot of vibration, even in smooth water, because the boat is so rigid. We can feel pretty beat up after a race.”

A cage of carbon channels surrounds the cockpit, which Curtis says is backed by a very thick bulkhead. Crush zones around the cockpit are designed to absorb energy on impact. The interior is raw and black, with no thought of cosmetics. The forward portion of the cockpit structure is formed by a ¾-inch-thick polycarbonate shield modeled after a fighter-jet canopy. The clear portion is minimized for further crew protection. There’s an emergency escape hatch in the floor for egress if the boat flips. The driver and throttle have a 10-minute emergency air supply.

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Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix Finale—Winning the Battle of Attrition

Offshore powerboat racing isn’t a sport with much team continuity. It’s the nature of the sport because, truth be told, the turnover rate is pretty high compared to other motorsports. At the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix on July 2, two veteran teams proved that experience matters with impressive wins in the sport’s premier classes.

Darren Nicholson and Giovanni Carpitella of the 222 Offshore Australia team have been demonstrating the strength of experience in the last two years of Class 1 offshore competition and took a well-deserved win in the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix

First, Darren Nicholson of Australia and Giovanni Carpitella of Italy in the 47-foot Victory cat, 222 Offshore Australia, earned the pole position with the fastest qualifying effort on Saturday during the third round of the American Power Boat Association Offshore National Championship Series. That gave them the advantage of having the inside lane for Sunday’s five-boat Class 1 race.

“It makes a big difference,” Nicholson said of having the inside line. “The guy who’s second and third needs to go around the outside.”

At the start of the 10-lap race on the 6-mile course in the Gulf of Mexico, initially, the boat in the outside lane, the 50-foot Mystic, dfYoung, with owner/throttleman Rich Wyatt and driver Hugh Fuller, and owner/throttleman Alex Pratt and driver Miles Jennings in their 48-foot MTI , XINSURANCE / Good Boy Vodka . Also making a strong start were Tyler Miller and driver Myrick Coil in their 40-foot Skater, Monster Energy/M CON, a new boat that fans have been eager to see on the water.

Though there is much work to be done, Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil demonstrated that their new Monster Energy/M CON Skater 438 catamaran can hang with the Class 1 pack.

The second day of competition presented by P1 Offshore in Sarasota had four races to entertain the throngs of fans crowding the white-sand beaches on the West Coast of Florida. Veteran racers were comparing the turnout to decades past that have made this site one of the most popular in offshore racing.

By the time the Class 1 fleet reached the first turn, 222 Offshore Australia had taken advantage of its inside position and moved to the lead with the other 47-foot Victory, Huski Ice Spritz, with throttleman Steve Curtis and driver Brit Lilly in lane two giving chase.

Throttleman John Tomlinson and driver Travis Pastrana in the 50-foot Victory, Pothole Heroes, was a little bit off the pace.

It didn’t take long for attrition to continue to plague the event as it did on Saturday. One of dfYoung’s Mercury Racing 1,100-hp engines went into guardian mode, a setting that reduces rpm or shuts down the motor to keep it from destroying itself. Wyatt made the smart decision to keep running because as the old saying goes, “to finish first, first you must finish.”

Attrition was rough on the Class 1 fleet, but it looked spectacular at the start.

Next to pull off the course was Pothole Heroes, which was struggling with cooling issues on one of its engines. This reduced the fleet to three boats, but that didn’t last much longer Pratt and Jennings pulled into the infield of the course in the X/GBV MTI.

This left 222 Offshore Australia comfortably out front with Huski Ice Spritz giving chase. Monster Energy/M CON hurt a motor but continued to run on one engine to accumulate as many points as possible.

Nicholson and Carpitella have been in this position before. At the 2022 and 2023 Cocoa Beach races, the duo lead handily from the start only to be bitten by mechanical gremlins and have victory snatched away in the final yards of the race. In last year’s Sarasota race, they moved out to an early lead, but the Huski team tracked them down.

This time around, 222 Offshore Australia had the good luck. “Bilge pumps were coming on and off,” Nicholson said. “It was good to get across the line.” Huski Ice Spritz finished second and dfYoung limped across the line in third, grabbing valuable points in the world championship standings.

Curtis and Lilly were the ones with the bad luck this time around, when a stainless-steel water line leading into a sea strainer broke. “It’s boat racing, so that’s part of what it is,” Lilly said. “Losing is what makes winning so fun.”

It wasn’t the finish Wyatt wanted, but the start was something to be optimistic about.

“We had a good start,” Wyatt said. “I know the boat’s fast.” The team had been having problems with water-pressure spikes blowing hoses off their fittings. Wyatt opted to modify the water pickups to reduce the amount of intake so they didn’t bring in so much water as to blow off hoses.

“We were just trying to get through this one without blowing a hose,” said Wyatt.

Seat Time Matters What come as a surprise to some is that Nicholson is a former competitive sailor. He started racing offshore 12 years ago and jumped in with both feet. When he’s not racing Class 1 in the United States, Nicholson joins Carpitella in X-Cat competition in the United Arab Emirates and he campaigns a sistership to his Class 1 Victory cat with Super Cat engines in Australia with Peter “Muddy” McGrath, who is the team crew chief for the Class 1 boat. McGrath and Nicholson have both logged time with the well-known Maritimo Class 1 boats and Nicholson has raced in Australia’s famed Bridge-to-Bridge race.

That has led to an in-boat partnership between Nicholson and Carpitella that is almost instinctive. Factor in the experience that McGrath brings for setup and it’s no wonder the boat is almost always out front at some point during a race.

“I figured early on I’m too old to try to learn enough about it, so I make sure the people around me are better than me,” Nicholson said. “Everybody has their input including Giovanni and Pete and I’ll listen in and I’ll give input on how I want to go around the corners.

“The last three weekends we’ve been racing and getting plenty of seat time,” he continued. “You get dialed into the conditions. A lot of this is cornering fast. When you come to the corner the throttleman and the driver need to be very much on the ball.”

With eight teams in the mix, the Super Cat contest was the most entertaining contest of the day.

Before the Class 1 boats, the Super Cats took to the course to wage a 10-lap battle. The 38-foot Skater, Dirty Money, with the new team of throttleman Bill Pyburn and driver Jason Ventura had the inside lane. The boat showed impressive speed at Cocoa Beach, but some navigational issues moved it back in the final standings.

When the green flag waved, two of the most experienced teams in the class moved to the front. Miller and Coil run a 38-foot Skater, M CON/Monster Energy, in Super Cat and while they don’t have the years together in the cockpit, they have tons of hours together because Miller keeps all his boats at Performance Boat Center in Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Running in second place were owner/driver Wayne Valder and throttleman Grant Bruggemann in the oldest boat in the Super Cat fleet, the 42-foot MTI, Valder Yachts/Pro Floors Racing . The in-boat team has been together since 2018 and their combined experience let them realize that they could keep M CON/Monster Energy in striking distance. On the last corner of the last lap, M CON/Monster Energy broke a fitting in the water system that caused the starboard engine to overheat and cause a small fire.

The Super Cat fleet put on a solid performance for the fans on Lido Beach, but Valder Yachts / Pro Floors Racing (top center) stole the show.

“The fitting off the water cooler on the back side of the bell housing, the fitting broke and caused the engine to heat up and almost melt down and once that happened, we started losing fuel pressure and oil pressure and it was so hot it started itself on fire,” Miller said.

That left the door open for Valder/Pro Floors to move into first and take the win.

“We were very persistent and didn’t give up,” said Bruggemann. “ M CON didn’t make any mistakes. You’re entering the turns at more than 130 mph. I need to have some trust in my driver to not lift.”

The conditions on the six-mile course were such that the boats in Class 1 and Super Cat could pretty much run wide open.

It was the end to a long 24 hours for the team that had been up until 2 a.m. Sunday before returning to the Grant’s Custom Rigging Shop in Bradenton, Fla., at 6 a.m. to get the boat ready to race. When the team finished testing, Bruggemann returned to the crane area and had to leave the boat at a dock waiting until it could be hauled out.

When the team hauled the boat and flushed the engines, it determined that the tip of a valve had broken off. The team hauled the boat back to its shop only about 10 minutes from the pits and the crew of John Gregory, Joe Green, Logan Smolic and Andrew Young and his dad worked until 2 a.m. to make the repairs that would make the boat ready to run.

M CON/Monster Energy kept things together while the 38-foot Skater, Graydel , with owner/driver Chris Grant and throttleman Billy Moore improved their calm-water setup and took the final spot on the podium.

“I’m not going to say we were the fastest boat out there, but we’ve been massaging some stuff, moving weight around and just refining propellers,” said Moore.

Behind Graydel, attrition took its toll in Super Cat as many of the boats in the teams in the eight-boat fleet experienced mechanical issues.

The final race of the day saw five boats in the 450R Factory Stock class and two in the popular VX V-bottom class take to the course. At the start of the 450R Factory Stock race, owner/throttleman Michel Karsenti and driver Ervin Grant in the 38-foot Doug Wright, Gladiator Canados, had the inside lane with Tomlinson and driver Taylor Scism in the 39-foot MTI, TS Motorsports, in lane two and the 38-foot Doug Wright, Waves And Wheels , with throttleman Ricky Maldonado and driver Logan Adan in lane three. When the green flag waved, it appeared that Tomlinson and Scism got pinched because they started to climb the roostertails of the two boats in lanes one and three, indicating that someone pinched in on their lane, cutting them off.

The TS Motorsports team of Taylor Scism overcame a tough situation at the start to claim victory in the 450R Factory Stock class.

“We were able to get back into our lane and in the chaos, everyone missed their turn buoy as far as tracking it,” Scism said. “We were halfway down the course and I started going right to make our turn and left a lane and went through the turn. I could track where we were turning.”

Again, seat time helped Scism get her bearings because she could follow her tracks from running eight laps the previous day. Once the team got on track, it was uncatchable. Maldonado and Adan tried to make a late-race challenge but came up just short on a last-lap charge.

“My biggest motto is run your race and they kept updating us on timing from the beach,” Scism said. “You need to finish and we just kept doing what we needed to do. The results are unofficial until officials tell us otherwise.”

The VX race featured two loud fan-favorite Fountains. Win Farnsworth continued his foray into the sport, fielding the 40-foot Fountain, Team Farnsworth/Hancock Claims Consultants with driver Christian McCauley and throttleman Jay Healy. They ran against fellow Fountain, The Developer/Wix Filters, with Scott Brown and Eddie Tamberino. After a few entertaining laps that saw the two boats running loudly side-by-side, Team Farnsworth/Hancock Claims Consultants pulled away for the win.

Enjoy more images from the 39th annual Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix in the slideshow above.

The first race on Sunday saw 14 boats in four classes take to the Gulf of Mexico, eight in Mod V, a single entry in Stock V, two in Bracket 200 and four in Bracket 400.

In Mod-V, the 30-foot Phantom, Laticrete, grabbed top honors over the 30-foot Extreme, LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness and another 30-foot Extreme, Sunprint/Hooters.

“We lost our intercoms and I couldn’t talk to my driver,” said Rob Hartmann from the Laticrete team. He said that Charlie McCarthy from the Punisher team in the same class helped with boat setup and propeller selection.

“He did a fresh prop for us and put the weight where we wanted,” Hartmann said.

Steve Miklos, who owns and throttles the 30-foot Extreme, Sunprint/Hooters , with driver Steve Fehrmann said, “We were at a deficit and we were slowly working our way in.”

The boat’s port trim tab was stuck all the way down, robbing the team of speed. In the best scenario, a dragging trim tab slows a boat. In the worst, it causes a boat to spin.

Fortune did not favor the local Boatfloater.com, team last weekend but Sunprint/Hooters—its fellow Sarasota-based Mod-V counterpart—took third place.

“It was lifting the boat up,” Miklos said. “Stephen did a great job dealing with it.”

Editor’s Note: Following a review by race officials, results for the Mod V class are now different than those originally reported above. Click here for an update to this story.

In the Bracket 400 race, the 34-foot Phantom, Control Freak , with owner Mark Robbins driving, veteran Damon Marotta throttling and Craig Belfatto navigating took a close victory. Another 34-foot Phantom, Simmons Racing , with driver Jason Zolecki and owner/throttleman Jim Simmons almost snuck up on the winners to steal a win.

“Simmons was hanging out in a blind spot. We laid off so we wouldn’t break out,” Robbins said. “You can guarantee that won’t happen again.”

When it comes to his approach to racing, Robbins appeared to speak for many team owners, saying, “We abuse these things. You can’t blame it on anyone.”

Sometimes attrition wins. But other times, experienced teams make sure it doesn’t.

Inside the cockpit and out, the Mod V class doesn’t lack for color when LSB/Hurricane of Awesomeness and Fastboys Racing are on the course.

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What is Offshore Powerboat Class 1? Rules, Specs, Speed, and Main Events

The Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) hosts the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, an international motorboat racing event for powerboats ( UIM ).

Offshore Powerboat Class 1 is the world’s best class for offshore powerboat racing. It creates a stunning race series by fusing driving prowess with technology. The highest level of offshore powerboat racing, Offshore Powerboat Class 1 is frequently compared to Formula 1 auto racing.

One of the most magnificent marine motorsports is Class 1. An Offshore Powerboat Class 1 race boat features two inboard 1100 horsepower engines and is capable of exceeding 257 kilometers per hour (160 mph). The minimum weight requirement for boats is 4950 kg.

History of Offshore Powerboat Class 1 racing

Since the first race was ever documented in 1887 in Nice, France, and was run by the Paris Sailing Club, the sport of powerboat racing has seen unheard-of transformations.

The Poissy Sailing Club hosted a 62-mile race in Meulan on the River Seine in 1903, and a 230-mile race from Paris to Trouville was also won by the French. But a 22-mile race from Calais, France, to Dover, England, was the first one to receive formal recognition as an international offshore powerboat race.

The first running of the renowned Miami-Nassau race, which eventually led to the introduction of the Sam Griffith Memorial Trophy and a UIM-sanctioned World Championship in 1964, marked the beginning of the modern age of offshore powerboat racing on May 6, 1956. From 1964 through 1976 , points accrued from numerous races staged at various locations across the world were used to determine the World Championship winner. From 1977 to 1991 , a single event at the end of the year held a series of races to determine the champion. In 1992, the World Championship switched back to a multi-event structure.

Since the U.I.M originally approved Offshore Powerboat Class 1 in 1964 , technological advancements have advanced significantly. Jim Wynne, Dick Bertram, and Don Aronow, t hree Americans, led the race for technological superiority shortly after it began, with Daytona, Mercruiser, and AeroMarine power plants dominating.

But the pendulum swung in the 1980s, ushering in a time when European design predominated. The James Beard-Clive Curtis Cougar catamarans, Italian producers Picchiotti and CUV, and Don Shead’s Aluminum monohulls set the pace. With the development of glass-reinforced polymer hulls, turbocharged engines, and integral surface drives, Fabio Buzzi made a significant advancement.

The 1990s saw the rise of Michael Peter’s design and the dominance of Tencara and Victory hulls , with Sterling, Lamborghini, Seatek, and more recently, Mercury sharing the power battle. Modern racers are pushing the frontiers of what is possible with their boats and cutting-edge technology in their never-ending quest for competitive greatness.

If this whets your appetite, keep a look out for the upcoming article “ Powerboat Racing classes ” on this website.

Main Types And Specifications Of The Boats Used For Offshore Powerboat Class 1 Racing?

Most of the vessels in the Offshore Powerboat Class 1 fleet are catamarans. They have a stepped hull design (you can learn more about stepped hulls in the “ Stepped Hulls ” article) and usually are made of advanced composites like carbon and Kevlar. They are typically 12-14 meters long, 3.5 meters broad, and powered by inboards with surface-piercing propellers. They weigh about 5 tonnes.

As safety has grown to be a top priority over time, modern Offshore Powerboat Class 1 boats are the safest they have ever been. An escape hatch in the hull serves as an extra measure of protection in the event of an accident, and the cockpit is reinforced to withstand the severe impacts that could happen if a boat crashes at speeds greater than 150 mph.

The fleet is made up of brands including Maritimo, MTI, Outerlimits, Tencara, and Victory. All boats have petrol engines that range from Mercury or Outerlimits V8 to 8.2 liter V12s from Lamborghini-SKEMA or SCAM, with the Victory Team using an 8.2 liter V12 from Victory.

The Bond Between Man And Machine

An Offshore Powerboat Class 1 race boat is highly technical and state-of-the-art and its overall performance is dependent on design, aero and hydrodynamics, choice of a propeller, and gear ratio selection. The crew is kept informed of the boat’s progress during a race using satellite GPS systems, trim indicators, engine data dashboards, instrument panels, and danger lights inside the cockpit.

There will be two main people in the cockpit, The driver, who navigates and directs the boat, and the throttle-man, who sets the speed by manipulating the throttles and the trim, are the two crew members of each boat . The relationship between the driver and throttle man, who navigate and control the power and must directly input to adjust the trim and drive settings during a race or official qualifying, plays a huge role in the outcome of the race.

A close working relationship and complete trust are necessary for this combination. Imagine operating the accelerator when you are driving and your passenger. The fastest drivers, in the eyes of spectators, will win if the crew simply jumps into the cockpit. This a reasonable argument, but one that ignores the expertise and professionalism of the pilots who routinely soar over the waves at speeds exceeding 160 mph(250 km/h) .

To decide the race setup, including the type of propeller needed for the weather, gear ratio settings, the amount of fuel required, and race tactics, both pilots work closely with their pit crews. The choice of a propeller can make or break a championship as well as a race.

Main Rules Of Offshore Powerboat Class 1

The UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship consists of eight races at four locations, with races lasting roughly 55 or 75 Nm and numerous laps lasting approximately 5 Nm (including one or two mandatory long laps). The team with the most total points at the end of the season wins the World Championship. A winning team receives 20 points, a runner-up receives 15, and a third-place team receives 12 points.

The first day of a Grand Prix weekend is dedicated to registration, technical inspection, the first practice session, and driver briefings. On day two, the Edox Pole Position (qualification), which counts toward a separate championship, is held in the morning, followed by Race 1 in the late morning. The Edox Pole Position is held on the Grand Prix course, just as the practice sessions, providing the crews more time to become comfortable with the track and weather conditions and make setup decisions.

The Pole-sitter (person with the best time) lines up closest to the official start boat as it serves as the qualifying round for the starting line-up for Race 1 . Teams must execute a minimum of one timed lap during the Edox Pole Position, which lasts 45 minutes. Teams are permitted to return to the wet pits to make setup tweaks, but they are only allowed a total of 10 minutes under the crane.

On day three, Race 2 is held in the afternoon after a last practice session in the morning. A Nor-Tech 3600 Supercat official pace boat sets the starting order for each race, moving at a controlled speed as it leads the boats out of the wet pits and into a line abreast under a yellow or amber flashing light. For Race 1, the starting order for Race 2 is determined by Race 1’s finishing position, and Race 1’s starting order is determined by Race 1’s finishing position.

Each race has 11–15 laps and is 55–75 Nm in duration , with one or two extended laps being required. The winner of the World Championship is decided by adding the outcomes of each race. Specific events that occur in such geographical areas serve as the benchmarks for the European Championship and the Middle East Championship.

What Are The Safety Measures In Place During Class 1 Offshore Powerboat Races?

Safety is of the utmost importance in Class 1 offshore powerboat racing, and several measures are in place to ensure the safety of the participants and the public. The UIM sets the safety standards for Class 1 racing, and these standards cover everything from the design of the boats to the safety equipment required by the drivers.

Some of the safety measures in place during Class 1 offshore powerboat races include:

• Each boat is required to have a minimum of two crew members, including a driver and a throttleman.
• All crew members are required to wear personal flotation devices and helmets.
• Boats are required to have a number of safety features, including automatic fire extinguishers and emergency kill switches.

Offshore Powerboat Class 1 Main Events

An Offshore Powerboat Class 1 season consists of a Grand Prix series, which includes two races, one official qualifying session (also known as Pole Position), and three official practice sessions. The winners of the World Championship, the European Championship, and the Middle East Championship are determined by unique events that take place in those geographical areas.

Some of the main events in the United States are as follows,

• Thunder on Cocoa Beach – Cocoa Beach, FL
• Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix – Sarasota, FL
• Great Lakes Grand Prix – Michigan City, IN
• St. Pete Powerboat Grand Prix – St. Petersburg, FL
• Roar Offshore – Fort Myers Beach, FL
• Key West Championships – Key West, FL

Some of the most popular International Class 1 offshore powerboat races include:

• Dubai Grand Prix : Held in Dubai, UAE, this race is part of the UIM World Championship series and attracts top teams from around the world. The race is held on a 6.1 km circuit and is known for its challenging conditions and high-speed racing.
• Cowes-Torquay-Cowes : This race is held in the UK and is considered to be one of the oldest and most prestigious offshore powerboat races in the world. The race covers a distance of 200 miles and is known for its challenging conditions and unpredictable weather.
• Italian Grand Prix : This race is held in Italy and is part of the UIM World Championship series. The race is held on a 5.5 km circuit and attracts top teams and drivers from around the world. The race is known for its high-speed racing and challenging conditions.

The Offshore Powerboat Class 1 race is one of the most thrilling and accelerating boat races around the world. The races can take place in a variety of places, including the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean. The sport is considered risky and demands a great degree of expertise and training to engage in.

What is Offshore Powerboat Class 1?

Offshore Powerboat Class 1 is a high-speed powerboat racing event that is internationally recognized and considered the highest level of offshore powerboat racing in the world. It is hosted by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) and is often compared to Formula 1 auto racing.

Who are the top teams in Offshore Powerboat Racing Class 1?

Offshore Powerboat Racing Class 1 features some of the best teams and drivers in the world, competing at the highest level of the sport. The top teams are those that consistently perform well in races and have a track record of success. Some of the most successful teams in Class 1 history include Victory Team, Dubai, and Qatar Team.

How did offshore powerboat racing class 1 come about?

Offshore Powerboat Racing Class 1 came about in 1964 when the first offshore powerboat race was held in Miami, Florida. The event was called the Miami-Nassau Powerboat Race, and it was a 184-mile race that was won by Dick Bertram in his 30-foot Bertram boat. The success of the Miami-Nassau Powerboat Race led to the formation of the American Power Boat Association (APBA), which was created to promote offshore powerboat racing in the United States.

About the author

I worked as an officer in the deck department on various types of vessels, including oil and chemical tankers, LPG carriers, and even reefer and TSHD in the early years. Currently employed as Marine Surveyor carrying cargo, draft, bunker, and warranty survey.

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What is prw.

It’s a powerboat racing website that has covered circuit racing, offshore racing and PWC since 2016. Maintained by The Race Factory based in Norway who have specialists in event planning and promotion, social media, graphic design, and photography. We are currently working on our vision and believe that we can and will make a different in powerboating. We will dedicate our time to produce accurate factual stories and to promote the sport to a wider global audience.

Dubai’s Victory Team capped a successful trans-Atlantic debut with an overall podium finish as the 38th Annual Key West World Championships concluded in Key West, Florida, in the early hours of Monday.

Moving into the North American powerboating scene for the first time-ever, Victory 33 with Salem Al Adidi and John Tomlinson on board took their third successive podium to conclude their campaign with their first-ever top-3 finish in North America.

Victory Team’s second boat with Eisa Al Ali and Steve Curtis on board rolled over and flipped on Turn 1 of the fourth lap to bring a premature end to their American campaign.

The two Victory Team boats had created quite a stir in the penultimate race on Friday by snatching the top two positions to throw the chase for overall honours wide open. But, on Monday it was a totally different situation with front-runners Team CRC and Wake Effects rebounding back in a strong bullish manner.

Starting off the 13-lap race on the challenging Key West circuit, it was Team CRC snatching the early initiative while leading Wake Effects even as Salem Al Adidi and John Tomlinson continued pressing them in their Victory 33. But as the surge for the top honours continued, a host of other boats, including Huski Chocolate and Lucas Oil fell to mechanical issues and then Steve Curtis and Al Ali joined this growing lot of casualties after flipping their Victory 3 while negotiating a sharp turn on the far side of the course.

Undaunted by the yellow flag, Team CRC and Wake Effects continued running each other close at the top. But in a quick move, Rusty Ron and Jeff Harris in their Wake Effects boat passed Team CRC and never looked back after that as they took the checkered flag to be crowned world champions after finishing with a three-race total of 883 points nipping Team CRC in second place by just half a point, while Victory 33 followed in third overall with 812 points.

“This is the world of powerboat racing. It is tough out there and for us to come here and land with an overall placing is a huge motivation,” said Huraiz Bin Huraiz, Chairman of Board of Directors at Victory Team after the race.

“We have done some good ground work in our first year in North America and I am sure we can build on this performance in due course of time. We have made a start into a new territory and that is the important part of our team synergy. It is now just a matter of time when we build up on this success,” he stated.

“There were many doubters that Victory Team would be successful in the US simply because the rules were not in our favor. The other boats all had engines more than 2,000 hp, but we stuck on to our engines with a 1,100 hp as that is going to be the specification for engines from 2019,” noted Huraiz.

“We have a lot of work to do to prove that we are the number one powerboat unit in the world. And the good thing is that we have made the right start with this third overall position in Key West,” he added.

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SARASOTA: Victory, Miss Geico Flip in Shocking Class One Bout

In a virtually unheard of series of events, two Class One offshore competitors—the Victory and Miss Geico race boats—rolled over within seconds of each other during the final two turns of the 35th Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix, dramatically bringing the day’s worth of racing to an abrupt conclusion.

All team members were able to safely escape their boats: driver Salem Al Adidi and throttleman Eisa Al Ali (who had been in the lead) and driver James Sheppard and throttleman Steve Curtis of Miss Geico.

This would seem to indicate that #222 Triple 2 Offshore , featuring driver Darren Nicholson and throttleman Giovanni Capitella (who had been in the third-place position) would be named the winner of the race, but nothing was official as this story was being prepared.

Also participating in the race were #11 Scuderia Cazzani Turbo (with driver Ed Smith and throttleman Serafino Cazzani ) and #77 Lucas Oil Satcom Direct (with driver Jay Johnson and throttleman Nigel Hook ). It was not immediately known how exactly the podium would be configured in the wake of these shocking developments.

As the Class One race was being conducted, two Vee Extreme boats were also in the process of racing: #20 Knucklehead Racing’s Instigator (with driver Edward Smith and throttleman Anthony Smith ) and #66 LSB Hurricane of Awesomeness (with driver Brit Lily and throttleman Kevin Smith ). Instigator had been leading the race when the Class One accident occurred.  

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Offshore Powerboat Racing Returns to Atlantic City June 2024 With High-Octane Thrills

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (February 8, 2024) – The Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) , a powerhouse in the world of offshore powerboat racing, is making a triumphant return to Atlantic City, New Jersey. This summer the Atlantic City Grand Prix will set hearts pounding and spectators on the edge of their seats.  

In an electrifying partnership with Visit Atlantic City and the resort casinos, the Offshore Powerboat Association will once again set the Atlantic Ocean ablaze with excitement on June 22, 2024. Atlantic City will play host to the most anticipated offshore high-performance race of the year, marking the grand debut of the OPA National Championship Series on the upper east coast of the United States.  

Atlantic City is beyond excited to see sleek, high-powered vessels once again tearing through the Atlantic waves, competing for glory and speed supremacy. The fastest and most formidable teams from around the globe will converge to vie for victory, making this a spectacle not to be missed.  

This thrilling collaboration between the Offshore Powerboat Association, Visit Atlantic City, and the city’s Casinos underscores a shared commitment to ignite excitement and showcase the beauty of America’s Playground. Nestled against Atlantic City’s breathtaking coastal backdrop, the event promises a mesmerizing blend of heart-stopping action and scenic beauty that will captivate racing enthusiasts.  

“We are thrilled to bring our world-class boat racing back to the shores of Atlantic City,” said Nick Smith, the Vice President of the Offshore Powerboat Association. “This promises to be a monumental event, showcasing the premier racers and race boats, speed, and the sheer excitement of powerboat racing. We are grateful for the collaboration with the Mayor, Visit Atlantic City, the Atlantic City Sports Commission, CRDA, and the casinos and other hotels and businesses. We look forward to delivering a spectacular show for both residents and visitors.”  

Larry Sieg, the President & CEO of Visit Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Sports Commission, echoes that sentiment, saying: “We are extremely proud to host the Offshore Powerboat Association in Atlantic City this summer. After an absence of six years, this is hopefully the return of OPA for many years to come to showcase the beauty of Atlantic City and the thrilling sport of Powerboat Racing.”  

A press conference is scheduled for February 23 at 11:00 a.m. at ISLAND Waterpark at Showboat Resort to announce more details about the racers, the competition and events leading up to the June 22 Grand Prix.  

Photos available upon request.

About Offshore Powerboat Association The Offshore Powerboat Association is a leading organization in offshore powerboat racing, dedicated to promoting and organizing high-performance racing events that push the boundaries of speed and excitement. About Visit Atlantic City Visit Atlantic City is a 501(c)(6) organization formed and funded as a public-private partnership by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to create economic development through conventions, sporting events, film production and group tourism. Visit Atlantic City focuses on three primary objectives: sales, marketing and services.

For complete Atlantic City tourism and convention information, visit www.visitatlanticcity.com . Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn .

About the Atlantic City Sports Commission The Atlantic City Sports Commission was officially formed on January 13, 2015 as a 501 (c)(3) organization with the support of Visit Atlantic City and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to attract sporting events, conventions and competitions to Atlantic City.

For more information, visit www.atlanticcitysports.org . Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn . Media Contacts Lisa Johnson [email protected]   c-609-464-0448 MMGY NJF [email protected] Visit Atlantic City Jessica Kasunich [email protected]

Atlantic City Sports Commission Team

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Victory M1 wins dramatic powerboat victory

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Victory M1 clinched a dramatic victory when Victory Team's M7 stalled in the final stretch of the second round of the UAE International Offshore Powerboat Championship.

Victory M1 clinched a dramatic victory when Victory Team's M7 stalled in the final stretch of the second round of the UAE International Offshore Powerboat Championship. The UAE's crew on board Victory M7 Saeed Al Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri were leading the Class Two Inboard category from the beginning of the 11-lap race until the last lap when their luck finally ran out. "We start losing speed at the beginning of the ninth lap, and we were struggling to end the race with one weak engine. Ali and Mohammed equalled with us around the ninth lap and you know the rest," Mohammed Al Marri said. Al Tayer and Al Marri were second, leaving the glory of victory to colleagues All Al Qamah and Mohammed Al Gaith. "We are more than happy to win first and second places today. Our Victory shows that the performance of the new BMW engine is excellent. And in general we have achieved a very good result thanks to the reliability of the BMW engine and our experienced drivers," said Khalfan Harib, managing director of the Victory Team. The team's Manager Gianfranco Venturelli was more than pleased with the results. "We have recently introduced the new BMW engine and the results justify our expectations. It was an exciting and very competitive race, and we are happy with the outcome." The managing director of the German BMW Group Middle East Robert Ma Ewen was also present at the race dressed in the Victory Team uniform. "This is a second race with the new engine and it only confirms our strong belief in these engines. As for the future we will see how we can improve the performance of the engine that leads Victory to victory." The Abu Dhabi winner M9 Searacer, Matteo Nicolini and Kristian Tzanov finished in third place. The Finnracing team hit the front side of their boat just before the start of the race.

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Offshore Powerboat Racing Returns to Atlantic City June 2024 With High-Octane Thrills & Fierce World-Class Competition

Feb 8, 2024 | Business News

The  Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) , a powerhouse in the world of offshore powerboat racing, is making a triumphant return to Atlantic City, New Jersey. This summer the Atlantic City Grand Prix will set hearts pounding and spectators on the edge of their seats.

In an electrifying partnership with  Visit Atlantic City  and the resort casinos, the Offshore Powerboat Association will once again set the Atlantic Ocean ablaze with excitement on June 22, 2024. Atlantic City will play host to the most anticipated offshore high-performance race of the year, marking the grand debut of the OPA National Championship Series on the upper east coast of the United States.

Atlantic City is beyond excited to see sleek, high-powered vessels once again tearing through the Atlantic waves, competing for glory and speed supremacy. The fastest and most formidable teams from around the globe will converge to vie for victory, making this a spectacle not to be missed.

This thrilling collaboration between the Offshore Powerboat Association, Visit Atlantic City, and the city’s Casinos underscores a shared commitment to ignite excitement and showcase the beauty of America’s Playground. Nestled against Atlantic City’s breathtaking coastal backdrop, the event promises a mesmerizing blend of heart-stopping action and scenic beauty that will captivate racing enthusiasts.

“We are thrilled to bring our world-class boat racing back to the shores of Atlantic City,” said Nick Smith, the Vice President of the Offshore Powerboat Association. “This promises to be a monumental event, showcasing the premier racers and race boats, speed, and the sheer excitement of powerboat racing. We are grateful for the collaboration with the Mayor, Visit Atlantic City, the Atlantic City Sports Commission, CRDA, and the casinos and other hotels and businesses. We look forward to delivering a spectacular show for both residents and visitors.”

Larry Sieg, the President & CEO of Visit Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Sports Commission, echoes that sentiment, saying: “We are extremely proud to host the Offshore Powerboat Association in Atlantic City this summer. After an absence of six years, this is hopefully the return of OPA for many years to come to showcase the beauty of Atlantic City and the thrilling sport of Powerboat Racing.”

A press conference is scheduled for February 23 at 11:00 a.m. at ISLAND Waterpark at Showboat Resort to announce more details about the racers, the competition and events leading up to the June 22 Grand Prix.

Photos available upon request.

About Offshore Powerboat Association The Offshore Powerboat Association is a leading organization in offshore powerboat racing, dedicated to promoting and organizing high-performance racing events that push the boundaries of speed and excitement.

About Visit Atlantic City Visit Atlantic City is a 501(c)(6) organization formed and funded as a public-private partnership by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to create economic development through conventions, sporting events, film production and group tourism. Visit Atlantic City focuses on three primary objectives: sales, marketing and services.

For complete Atlantic City tourism and convention information, visit  www.visitatlanticcity.com . Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter ,  Instagram  and  LinkedIn .

About the Atlantic City Sports Commission The Atlantic City Sports Commission was officially formed on January 13, 2015 as a 501 (c)(3) organization with the support of Visit Atlantic City and the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) to attract sporting events, conventions and competitions to Atlantic City.

For more information, visit  www.atlanticcitysports.org . Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter ,  Instagram  and  LinkedIn .

Media Contacts Lisa Johnson lisa@ lisajohnsoncommunications.com c-609-464-0448

MMGY NJF [email protected]

Visit Atlantic City Jessica Kasunich [email protected]

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V. I. Lenin

Speech at a joint plenum of the moscow soviet of workers’, peasants’ and red army deputies,, the moscow committee of the r.c.p.(b.) and the moscow city trade union council,, dedicated to, the third anniversary of the october revolution, november 6, 1920.

Delivered: 6 of November, 1920 First Published: in Verbatim Reports of the Plenums of the Moscow Soviet of Workers’, Peasants’ and Red Army Deputies ; Published according to the text in the book Source: Lenin’s Collected Works , 4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, Volume 31 , pages 397-402 Translated: Julius Katzer Transcription\HTML Markup: Translated: Julius Katzer Transcription\HTML Markup: David Walters & R. Cymbala Copyleft: V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marx.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

(Prolonged applause.) Comrades, we have gathered here today to commemorate our proletariat’s days of struggle and our revolutionary achievements. Today we can celebrate our victory. Despite the unparalleled difficulties of life and the unparalleled efforts of our enemies, we have won. We have been winning for three years. This is a gigantic victory, one that previously none of us would have believed possible. Three years ago, when we were at Smolny, the Petrograd workers’ uprising showed us that it was more unanimous than we could have expected, but had we been told that night that, three years later, we would have what now exists, that we would have this victory of ours, nobody, not even the most incurable optimist, would have believed it. We knew at that time that our victory would be a lasting one only when our cause had triumphed the world over, and so when we began working for our cause we counted exclusively on the world revolution. The imperialist war changed all the forms of life we had lived in till then, and we had no way of knowing what forms would be assumed by the struggle, which had dragged on much longer than could have been expected. Now, after three years, it turns out that we are immeasurably stronger than we were before, but the world bourgeoisie are still very strong, too; yet, despite the fact that they are far stronger than we are, we can say that we have won. We have directed all our energies to disintegrating this bourgeoisie, and in this respect our work has not been without success. The reason for this is that we staked our chances on world revolution, and were undoubtedly right in doing so. We knew that the whole world was heading for destruction; we knew that, after the imperialist war, things could not go on in the old way because the imperialist war had thoroughly destroyed all the old economic and legal relations, all the conditions of existence on which the old order had till then been based. And if, at a time when the imperialist war had done a thousand times more than our propaganda did to pave the way for a débâcle, the proletariat in even a single country took action ending in victory, this would be sufficient to undermine the forces of the world bourgeoisie.

If we now cast a glance at the international situationand we have always stressed that we regard things from the international standpoint-and examine the history of the wars that have been waged against Soviet Russia, we shall see that we are at peace with almost all the little bourgeois states bordering on us, states in winch Bolsheviks are persecuted and executed. These states are servants and slaves to the Entente, and they want to ruin and destroy Soviet Russia, yet we have concluded peace with them-against the Entente’s wishes. Three such mighty powers as Britain, France and America could not unite against us, and were defeated in a war they had begun against us with their joint forces. Why has that been? It has been because their economies and life in their countries have been undermined, because they are moribund, because they cannot go on living in the old way, and because the class at whose will they exist-the bourgeois class-has gone rotten. That class drove over 10 million people into the imperialist war and to destruction. For what purpose? For the purpose of partitioning the world among a handful of capitalists. In doing so, however, it has come to the end of its strength, and has undermined the foundations of its own existence; however strong it may seem militarily, it is internally impotent. This is no longer a proclamation in the Bolshevik spirit, but a fact that has been proved with fire and sword. However rich and strong that class may be, it is doomed, whereas we are a class that is advancing towards victory. Even though we are weaker than our enemies, we have been winning for three years, and we have the right to say, without the least boasting, that we have won.

In saying that, we should not forget another aspect of the matter. We should not forget that we have won no more than half of the victory. We have won because we have been able to hold out against states that are stronger than we are, and moreover have joined forces with our émigré exploiters-the landowners and capitalists. We have always known and shall never forget that ours is an international cause, and until the revolution takes place in all lands, including the richest and most highly civilised ones, our victory will be only a half-victory, perhaps still less. At present we are gaining the upper hand in the fighting against Wrangel; we are expecting news that will bear out our expectations. [1] We are confident that if we do not succeed in capturing the Crimea within the next few days, we shall do so several days later, but we have no guarantee that this is the last effort against us on the part of the world bourgeoisie. On the contrary, facts in our possession show that this effort will be repeated in the spring. We know that their chances of success will be negligible, and we know too that our military forces will be more powerful than those of any other country. For all that, however, the danger is not yet over; it still exists and will continue to do so until the revolution is victorious in one or in several advanced countries.

We know that things are moving in that direction; we know that the Second Congress of the Third International, wlieli was held in Moscow during the summer, did an immense job, one that has no precedent. Some of you may have been present when Comrade Zinoviev delivered his report, in which he dealt in detail with the congress of German Independents at Halle. [2] Many of you may have heard his graphic description of developments in a country in which the chances of a revolution are the greatest. Similar things are taking place in all countries. Communism has developed, grown strong, and created parties in all the leading countries. During this period, the cause of the international revolution has suffered a number of reverses in some small countries, where assistance in crushing the movement has come from such huge predators as Germany, which helped to crush the Finnish revolution, or those giants of capitalism, Britain, France and Austria, which crushed the revolution in Hungary. By doing so, however, they have multiplied a thousandfold the elements of revolution in their own countries. Today the main reason why they have been weakened by the struggle is that their rear lines are not assured, because in all countries the workers and peasants do not want to light against us, and heroic sailors have come to the fore, not only in our country, in Kronstadt, but also in their countries. Throughout France the names of the sailors who served in our Black Sea are associated with recollections of the Russian revolution; the French workers know that those who are now serving terms of penal servitude in France mutinied in the Black Sea because they refused to become butchers of the Russian workers and peasants. [3] That is why the Entente has grown weak; that is why we say with confidence that our position is secure in the international field.

However, our victory is far from complete, comrades; we have won less than half of it. Yes, we have won a gigantic victory thanks to the self-sacrifice and enthusiasm of the Russian workers and peasants; we have been able to show that Russia is capable of producing not only the individual heroes who entered the struggle against tsarism and died at a time when the workers and peasants did not support them. We were right when we said that Russia would produce such heroes from among the masses, that she would be able to do so by the hundreds and thousands We said that it would come about, and that then capitalism would be a lost cause. The main reason of our victory, its chief source, is the heroism, the self-sacrifice, and the unparalleled tenacity displayed by our lied Army men who have laid down their lives at the front, and by the workers and peasants who have suffered so much, especially the industrial workers, most of whom have suffered more during these three years than the workers did during the early years of capitalist slavery. They have endured cold, hunger and suffering-all this in order to retain power. Thanks to this tenacity and this heroism, they have created a rear that has proved the only strong rear existing at the moment among the belligerent forces. That is why we are strong and firm, whereas the Entente is steadily disintegrating before our very eyes.

However, with this enthusiasm and heroism alone, the cause of the revolution cannot be completed, carried on to full victory. These qualities were sufficient to hurl hack the enemy when he flung himself on us and tried to strangle us; they were sufficient for victory in a bloody conflict, but not for the ultimate goal. They are not enough because we are now faced with the second half of our task, the major and more difficult part. Our triumph of today, our confidence that we shall win, must be imbued with a quality that will enable us to gain a victory just as decisive in the second half of the task. Mere enthusiasm, the mere readiness of the workers and peasants to face death in accomplishing the second half of our task are not enough, because the second task is a most difficult one of constructive and creative work. From capitalism we inherited not only a ruined culture, not only wrecked factories, not only a despairing intelligentsia; we inherited a disunited and backward mass of individual proprietors; we inherited inexperience, an absence of the team spirit and of all understanding that the past must be buried.

Such are the problems we have to solve today. We must remember that today’s temper has to be put to work for a long time to come, so that fragmentation of our economic life may be done away with. We cannot return to the old ways. By overthrowing the rule of the exploiters we have already accomplished the greater part of the job. We must now unite all working men and women and get them to work together. We have come here like conquerors entering now territory; yet, despil o difficult conditions we are working in, we have been victorious at the front. We see that our work is progressing today better than it did a year ago. We know that we cannot provide sufficient food for all, and we are not certain that hunger and cold will not knock at the doors of homes and cottages, but we do know that we have won. We know that our productive power is enormous even now, after the severe imperialist and civil wars; we know that we shall not let the workers and peasants starve and freeze; however, to be able to do that, we must count all our resources and share them out properly. We do not yet know how to do that because capitalism taught every petty proprietor to look alter his own interests, to think of how to get rich, and become one of the moneybags as quickly as possible; it did not teach anybody how to wage a common struggle for some definite idea. We must now be guided by another principle. The other and more difficult part of our task now faces us. The enthusiasm that now fills us may last another year, perhaps even five years. However we should remember that the struggle we shall have to wage is made up of ordinary workaday tasks. Around us are small-scale economic tasks. Furthermore, you know that the little units that keep our economic life going are the same that served in the past-petty officials, petty bureaucrats accustomed to the old and selfish way of doing things. The struggle against such things must become the task of the hour. On the occasion of these festivities, the occasion of this triumphant mood of ours, the occasion of the third anniversary of the establishment of Soviet rule we must become imbued with the labour enthusiasm, the will to work, and the persistence on which the speedy salvation of the workers and peasants, the salvation of the national economy now depends. We shall then see that our victory in the accomplishment of this task will be more effective and lasting than in all bloody battles of the past. (Prolonged applause.)

[1] The Red Army’s drive against Wrangel began at the end of Octo-ber 1920. After heavy fighting Wrangel was hurled back into the Crimea. On the night of November 7 the Red Army troops launched an offensive on the Perekop Isthmus and by November 16 cleared the Crimea of the whiteguards. Thus the period of the Civil war and foreign intervention was in the main brought to an end. [See also Leon Trotsky, How the Revolution Armed, Volume 3 ]

[2] The extraordinary congress of the Independent Social-Democratic Party of Germany met in Halle on October 12-17, 1920. The main question on the agenda was the terms of admission into the Communist International. The fierce struggle over this question caused a split in the party, 237 delegates voting for affiliation to the Comintern, and 156 against. The Right wing called its own congress and elected an executive committee, retaining the old name of the party. The Left wing and the Communist Party (the Spartacists) formed the United Communist Party of Germany.

[3] The mutiny in the Second Black Sea squadron of the French navy, which broke out in April-May 1919, was directed against the French Government’s policy in sending 300,000 soldiers and sailors to Russia to crush Soviet power. The interventionists troops in the South numbered over 130,000 men. The Odessa undergroundcommittee of the Bolshevik Party headed by Smirnov (Lastochkin), and its Foreign Collegium with Joanne Labourbe as a member of its Bureau, played an important role in fostering the revolutionary spirit of the soldiers and sailors of the interventionist troops. The Collegium included such experienced Communist agitators as Yakov Yelin, Vladimir Dyogot and others, who established contacts with soldiers and the crews of a number of ships. The mutiny began on April 20 on the battleships France and Jean Bart, which were riding off Sevastopol harbour. Other ship crews and soldiers of the 175th French Infantry Regiment supported their action. Then the mutiny spread to the ships in Odessa harbour. The mutineers demanded that the intervention should be stopped at once and the troops sent home, threatening to join the Red Army if their demands were not granted. The French command arrested the mutineers’ leaders and sent them off to France, where they were treated most harshly. The mutiny was defeated because the mutineers did not have a clear revolutionary aim or capable leadership, as no Communist Party yet existed in France. However, the action of the French soldiers and sailors, who gave revo-lutionary support to the world’s first working people’s state stimulated the growth of the revolutionary movement in France.The successes of the Red Army, revolutionary action in the French army and navy, and the workers’ pressure compelled the French Government to withdraw its troops from Russia.

Collected Works Volume 31 Collected Works Table of Contents Lenin Works Archive

Maps and Navigation

Getting around and planning your itinerary in Moscow

Bicycle and Scooter Rental

How to Rent Two-Wheeled Transport

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Powerboat fans in for swell time off Napier

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An offshore powerboat racer has no qualms in tackling Napier’s Offshore 100 despite having a boat wrecked in the notorious conditions.

Mike Gerbic returns on Saturday for the country’s longest-surviving powerboat race, which starts at 11am.

The Napier event, which attracts mainly Queen’s City racers, is being revived after a three-year lapse caused by Covid-19.

Gerbic recalls hitting the swells on the race’s back leg - from off Napier Port, towards Bay View - about six years ago.

When the boat rounded the north point to head south along Westshore Beach, the hull “delaminated”.

After limping back to race headquarters in Napier’s inner harbour, an inspection revealed its racing days were over.

“Over. Off to the tip,” Gerbic told Hawke’s Bay Today , as he looked forward to racing the latest vintage of Espresso Engineers team boats.

As the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Association focuses on Napier to get its annual drivers’ championship series moving again, Gerbic is back, undaunted, and says: ”The swells were four metres one year”.

The Napier race hasn’t taken place since 2020 , but it has a history dating back to the 1970s.

Other races are on sheltered courses such as Lake Taupo, or harbours or firths.

The Hawke’s Bay challenge attracts racers as it is regarded - as a prominent driver once said - as the “only true offshore race in the series”.

Large catamarans of more than 14 metres, from as far as Australia, had raced in the past, but the current fleet is limited to about 10 metres.

NZPBA president Paul Greenfield says Napier, race five in a six-race series this year, is one of three the association is keen to foster, because of the history, and conditions.

The crews arrive in Napier on Friday and will be based at the Hawke’s Bay Sports Fishing Club, with the boats parked for public viewing on the neighbouring reserve.

The racing is best watched from Westshore, from the points at the entrance to the inner harbour, the Hardinge Rd foreshore and the sweep towards the port entrance.

Among the fleet is Red Steel, raced by now retired Napier racer and former national drivers champion Tony Carson , who also raced with Auckland-based brother Wayne Carson .

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