by Peter Stuart - Powerboat Archive

y Peter Stuart
French-born American Michel Meynard
drove a magnificent tactical race to
win the 1980 World Offshore
Powerboat Championships held off St
Kilda and around Port Phillip Bay on
November 15. His 11.5 metre Cougar
Cat Fayva Shoes, the former Benihana,
revelled in calm conditions and simply
outpaced the rest of the field, including
the former world champion, BettY
Cook, and Australian champion Peter
Dean.
JANUARY 1981
The race drew the cream of world
offshore powerboat racers. There were nine
starters in UIM Class 1, six in UIM Class 2
plus two in GT2, and a total of 14 in the
four Class 3 subdivisions.
The nine-boat field in Class 1 was only
two boats short of the likely maximum.
Four boats came from the USA: former
world champion Betty Cook bought Kaama,
a 11.5 metre Scarab, US Continental
champion BiIl Elswick brought his 11.8
metre Cigarette Long Shot, Michel
Meynard with the 11.5 metre Cougar Fayva
Shoes and Joey Ippolito arrived with the
renowned Bernie Little owned 38' Scarab
Michelob Light.
Europe had only one representative in
Class 1, Ted Toleman, who brought two
boats in a big-money attempt to win the
crown. He had his 11.5 metre Cougar Cat
and an 11.5 metre Bertram offshore. Guido
Niccolai, from ltaly, was expected to show
up with the Picchiotti-built, Shead-desigrred
Dry Martini, but word came in the week
before the event that he could not make it.
Tom Gentry, who won the South
2l

American Continental Series, almost didn't
make it with his American Eagle 11.5 metre
Scarab. The boat did not arrive by ship
until Wednesday
- and was off{oaded in
Brisbane! It went straight on to a flat-bed
truck and was rushed by road to Melbourne
to arrive on the Friday afternoon, the day
before the race. It left the Honolulu land
developer practically no time at all to
prepare the boat, and this told on him
during the race.
The Australian team of Peter Dean
(Slingshot), Barry McMillan (Eagle) and
Brian Cox (Steel-E) didn't have much in the
way of difficulty in preparation, but
perhaps Peter Dean wasn't happy with the
way things went. He went down to the sea
on the Tuesday before the race for a final
workout and afterwards decided to change
the engines to two new ones.
New Engines
The engines in the rig had done eight
races, and with an effective life of only five
and the knowledge that the inlernalionals
use their engines only once, it can be
understood that he wanted the change. On
the Thursday he once again put the boat in
the water, and although not entirely happy
with the new engines decided there was less
risk with them than the old ones.
The lead-up to the race showed top
organisation in keeping with the stature of
the event. The Australian Offshore
Powerboat Club, led by Commodore Geoff
Bricker, had put thousands of man-hours
into preparation for the race. The search
and rescue operation included 14
helicopters, numerous fixed wing aircraft
and dozens of boats ranging from 36 metre
tugs down to smail craft to attend the
buoys and maintain station at various
points around the course in case of
accident. An intricate network of ham radio
operators kept race control fully informed.
The logistics of fuel st,orage and refuelling
facilities, storage of the boats,
security, publicity and organisation of
social events and trophies took more time
and effort but the end result was a truly
professionally organised sporting event.
Scrutineering and testing began on the
previous Monday and continued until
Thursday. On Friday briefing was held in
the morning, followed at lpm by a parade
of nations through the main streets of
Melbourne and a civic reception given by
Melbourne's Lord Mayor. Throughoub the
week publicity on television, radio and in
the press attracted a great deal of interest
despite the opposing attractions of the Kiss
concert, the Australian Grand Prix at
Calder and the Australian Open golf in
Sydney.
At practice during the week there were
only two notable incidents: Italian Stefano
Riva, who had chartered Tony de Fina's cat
Big Bird, was put out when the boat
suffered structural damage in the tunnel
during a trial run, and the Fayva Shoes
team had to.replace both engines after their
first practice run.
While Meynard was hoping for dead calm
water and Ted Toleman could take it either
way with his two-boat stable, the other
competitors were hoping for rough water.
Race day obliged Meynard. Port Phillip
Bay, which can be a vicious stretch of
water, turned on the charm. Only a slight
ripple marred its surface, there was a light
breeze and a cloudless sky held little hope
of a change.
First boats into the milling area, behind a
mile-long chute to the starting line were the
22
Michel Meynard, ecstatic with his uictory
15 Class 1, 2 and GT2 boats. At 10.56 two
helicopters, flying in formation, took off
from St Kilda foreshore and swept around
in an arc to gather in the field.
At 35 knots they took up station, one on
each side of the chute and began the run to
the line. Half-way down the chute the field
was Iined up and the choppers sped up to
55 knots, giving all craft good running
speed as they hit the line. Right over the
start buoys the choppers went into a
screaming climb bo signify a start and the
field was away.
Within seconds the Americans and Ted
Toleman asserted themselves, with Betty
Cook and Kaama leading the way. Right
behind her were Michelob Light and the
Toleman Group boat, with Long Shot,
Slingshot, American Eagle, Eagle and
Fayva Shoes a little further back.
The field's first turn came at Ricketts
Point, where they thundered around HMAS
Attack and headed for Queenscliffe.
Navigation of the US boats was superb.
Given the beautiful conditions, these boats
were still hitting near l45km/h and you
could not have ruled a straighter line than
they carved across the bay. From my
helicopter I could look along dead straight
wakes leaving a trail of foam across the
slightly rippled bay.
At this stage we had dropped back in the
field to look at the Class 2 boats which
were being led by Queenslander Bruce
Harris in Sharkies Cat. an 8.5 metre Harris
Cat powered by four 175hp Mercury
outboards. Sharkie was going at a
tremendous pace and it was apparent that
unless the water changed drastically or he
had a breakdown that he would walk away
withaClass2win.
Peter Dean in Slingshot (who was having
oil pressure problems), Barry McMillan's
Eagle and Long Shot formed a spread
group next up the line with the four leading
boats forming a tight cluster up ahead.
Slingshot was not going as well as I
believed it could go, while Eagle and the
heavily built Long Shot were doing as well
as could be expected in conditions far from
suitable. Tom Gentry in American Eagle
was nowwhere to be seen: he had dropped
out within minutes of the start with a
broken outdrive shaft. It was a sad end for
the Little South American champion who
has frequently visited Australia and who
had gone through so much to get his boat
to the championships.
Dicing for second
As the boats rounded the West Channel
Pile and headed for Queenscliffe Betty
Cook led, with Michelob l,ight and Toleman
Group dicing for second place and Michel
Meynard keeping right on their hammers
for fourth place. In the stretch from
Queescliffe to Portsea and on to Dromana
he joined the dice for second place and
ultimately took it at Mornington.
Before reaching the Mornington mark
Michelob Light dropped out with an
outdrive failure and Ted Toleman had
dropped back from the leaders. As the
boats rounded the Frankston mark
Meynard moved to the lead in what
appeared to be a move to try to con Betty
Cook into going harder. Either it didn'i,
work or Kaama was already flat out,
because Meynard slowed and let the black
and white Scarab regain the lead after only
a couple of minutes.
Further back in the field Slingshot had
stopped with one blade missing from a
propeller. Long Shot was plodding in the
calm water, Eagle was making reasonable
speed and Steel-E was getting further
behind.
As the boats headed for St Kilda to
complete their first lap it had become a
procession. Betty Cook led by a few
seconds from Meynard. Toleman Group
followed a couple of miles back, and the
black and gold Cigarette, Long Shot, was
still running but it was obvious all was not
right with the American champion's
engines. Behind him came Barry
McMillan's Eagle, running smoothly but
not matching it for pace with the leaders.
The stop to change the prop had cost
PeLer Dean a lot of time, but gamely he got
back into the race to set off in pursuit of
the field. However, he had not gone far
when an harmonic balancer flew to pieces
and set up such vibration in one engine
that he could not continue and he headed
back to St Kilda Marina under his own
power.
Not long after rounding St Kilda buoy
POWERBOAT AND WATERSKIING

Slingshot became a casualty before the half-way mark
the Toleman Group boat dropped out when
a prop disintegrated. The race was not half
over and the casualties included Slingshot,
Michelob Light, Toleman GrouP and
American Eagle. Within a few more
minutes they were joined by Long Shot
whose engines had packed it in as the field
approached the West Channel pile. Long
Shot had to be towed back to the marina.
After rounding the West Channel pile the
boats headed straight for Mornington then
up the eastern side of the bay to St Kilda
to complete their second lap. Nothing
changed . . . it was Betty Cook in the lead,
followed closely by Meynard in Fayva
Shoes. Eagle was dropping further back
and not far behind him was Bruce Harris in
the Class 2 Sharkies Cat who was making
tremendous pace.
As the leaders, Kaama and Fayva Shoes,
rounded the St Kilda turn and began the
Iast lap which was to take them to the
West Channel Pile, Ricketts Point and back
td St Kilda, Meynard once again hit the
front briefly before allowing Betty Cook to
catch him again.
Less than a minute
But half-way down the first leg of the
last lap the Boston shoe manufacturer
decided it was time to take the lead and
within a couple of miles was about a mile in
front of Kaama. He then eased back
slightly to maintain that distance in front
of the Scarab until the boats hit the line
less than a minute apart in one of the most
exciting world championship finishes seen.
Meynard and the Fayva Shoes crew of
Bob Idon.i and Sam James had covered the
180 nautical mile course (333 kilometres) in
iust 2 hours 24 minutes and 57 seconds for
itr urre.ag" speed of 138 km/h (85.7 mph). It
was a record speed for a world
championship and the third fastest offshore
race speed ever recorded. Some very
experienced observers believed that the
distances of those supposedly faster races
might be suspect because they had never
seen offshore racers going as fast.
Just 53 seconds behind Fayva Shoes
came Betty Cook, John Connor and BiIl
Vogel Jnr in Kaama. While Betty Cook was
disappointed that she had not won her
third world championship, she said after
the race that there were no excuses
- she
had simply been beaten by a faster boat on
the day. While that is true, because the
water definitely did favour the catamaran,
JANUARY T981
the Ioss of substantial portions of two
blades of one propeller did not help her
cause. Fayva Shoes also lost the tips off
propellers, but his damage was not as great
as that suffered by Betty Cook's boat. In
fact after the race one could seriously
question the durability of the hirake
propellers; Those on Fayva Shoes, Kaama
and Toleman Group were damaged, and so
was the prop on Slingshot.
The next boat to cross the line was Barry
McMillan's Eagle, with Kevin McOarroll
and Cliff Pogue crewing. While Eagle is
quite quick in rough conditions the flat
water did not suit the 10.9 metre Cigarette
one little bit and it finished just under 25
minutes behind Kaama.
Former world champion David Hagan,
from Great Britain drove his chartered 9.7
metre Cougar Cat, Raratongan/British
Airways, into fifth place in 3.22.32.
In Class GT2 Alan Burlock with Colin
Lowry crewing, completed the course in
3.07.03 for an excellent result.
The Class 2 competition was excellent,
but there was no beating Sharkie Harris on
the day. Yet Sharkie was lucky to finish.
On the Friday night a spectator noticed oil
running from a lower unit while the boat
was in the pits. Bearings and seals were
damaged, and had Sharkie started with the
problem there is no way he would have
finished. Lady.Luck, glassy water and a
good boat paid off for Australia's cat
expert !
Class 3 racing, around one lap of the
course from St Kilda to Ricketts Point,
West Channel Pile, Queenscliffe, Portsea,
Dromana, Mornington, Frankston, Ricketts
Point and back to St Kilda, turned on some
really excellent competition.
In Class 3D, the most powerful, Barry
and Keith Lawrence performed
magnificently to win by just over a minute
-
from the last boat in the field. The four
contestants went around the course in a
tight group, finishing in a bunch and
causing great excitement ashore. Officially
second in the class was Ian Beilby and Ian
Sandford in Tackless, with New Zealandet
Dick Marlo and Ron Archer in Altherm in
third place and Barry Angus and Dave
Grounds in Southern Cat in last place.
Winning way
In Class 3C Peter Ham and Keith GiIIatt
in the 5.7 metre Mustang Supersteel
continued on their winning way with a
three minute victory over Chris Camamile
and his son Wayne in their 6.9 metre
Challenger Moonraker. There has been no
stopping Supersteel all year, and Ham's
world championship win was well deserved.
In Class 38 Melbourne's Peter Bradley
finished in 1.43.30 just over a minute ahead
of his arch rival Malcolm Lynn from
Sydney. Both drivers were running 5.1
metre Minx hulls made by Bradley, with
85hp Suzuki engines.
The smallest class. 3A. saw a creditable
and surprise win going to Brian Tootel and
DaIe Watson in their 5.1 metre Minx with
Carniti power, Hawki-L Throughout the
year Graham Tye, from Sydney, had
dominated this class in 2WL Dancraft, but
in the world titles he could not match the
pace of Tootel's boat and finished more
than 12 minutes behind him.
Following the championship a plush
presentation dinner was held in the Great
Hall of the Melbourne National Art Gallery.
Presentations were led by the Premier of
Victoria. Mr Hamer. with UIM President
Francesco Cosentino presenting Class 2 and
APBA President Max Roach the Class 3
trophies. The function was incredibly
successful in keeping with the status of the
occasion and was a fitting testimonial not
only to the winning drivers and all
competitors, but to the work of the
Australian Offshore Powerboat CIub and, in
particular, the Commodore Geoff Bricker.
The world championship has provided a
tremendous fillip to the sport of offshore
powerboat racing in Australia.
The fact that Australia was so
convincingly beaten by the Americans in
Class I has stirred up a determination to do
better. Already the AOPC has been
approached with offers of assistance to
send a full team to the next world
championships in America.
And Peter Dean and the Slingshot crew
of Bruce Dean and WaI Edgar have proved
that Australia has the capacity to challenge
the best. Although they were beset from
the outset with oil pressure problems, and a
shattered prop and finally a complete
engine breakdown, they did at times
manage to reach top speeds that were every
bit comparable with the American boats.
The event and organisation was not
without bugs and difficulties, but none
affected the running of the race. Despite
the lack of confidence shown in some
international circles Oz proved they could
do it, and do it well.
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