Maritimo are world beaters at Key West

After more than 20 years of competition at an international level and numerous podium placings the Maritimo Offshore Racing team has taken out a World championship.

The World Offshore Power Boat Championships in Key West, USA over the weekend saw the Maritimo entry win the Superboat category beating all other international contenders.

The Maritimo boat was driven by the company’s ‘go to skipper’ Ross Willaton and Pete McGrath with fellow Gold Coast crew members Garry Smith, Mark Tolcher and Kurt Davies.

Ross Willaton said the World Championship was decided over a three race series. Maritimo came fourth in the first race, first in the second and first in the third and final event winning by 7.5 points overall.

There were eight other boats in the category and the runner up was Team Stihl from the USA.

“Maritimo has been competing at an international level for more than two decades and last year running in the “unlimited” class we came second despite having the smallest engines of all boats competing. We certainly raised a few eyebrows last year, and this years win is a culmination of 2 years work” said Mr Willaton.

“This year the Superboat category was created out of the amalgamation of a number of different categories and we entered it as opposed to the unlimited category where some of the competing teams spend many hundreds of thousands of dollars just on engine technology alone.

“We teamed up with Miss Geico Racing this year and they allowed us the use of their factory and trucks for transportation at Key West which was a big help. “After the first race there were some issues with the boat’s turning performance so we were able to replace the rudder with the one from the old boat using their facilities.”

Mr Willaton said the offshore racing experience gained led to improvements in the company’s production boats.  He said experience with different hull laminates was one area where racing directly influenced production boats.

“To compete at an international level with what in international terms is a modest budget and to come away a winner of a world championship is great news,” he said.