Maritimos first race attempt promising after fine tuning

Gold Coast based luxury cruiser manufacturer Maritimo took to the water for the first time at the weekend in its new $1 million offshore powerboat.

Competing at Hervey Bay and after securing fourth in the pole position shootout the new boat, named Maritimo Australia, and its crew looked promising and were amongst the lead pack in the first race.

However a hydraulic issue forced their withdrawal in the second race.

Maritimo sales and marketing manager, Greg Haines, said such challenges were to be expected with a new boat and the crew was confident the vessel will be very competitive when all the fine tuning has been completed.

In the same event Maritimo Hunter Storage won the first race of the Supercat 1000hp class and only needed to finish the second race to take out the Australian Championship. The crew were driver Darren Nicholson and throttleman Peter McGrath.

Maritimo Offshore Racing spokesperson Kurt Davies said Maritimo Australia was like a Formula One race car on the water and featured refinements and design changes that were cutting-edge.

Davies said the new race boat had been about 18 months in the planning, design and construction stages, but only really active in the last five months.

He said in its first hit out in the Supercat series in Hervey Bay on Sunday it was running two Mercury 525 hp engines.

In 2014 or 2015 the boat will compete internationally running a UIM engine rated at 850 horsepower.

Mr Haines, said the expertise gained through the race team ultimately transferred over to the production boats.

“Steering systems in our production cruisers have already benefit from race team experience and engine positioning to lower the centre of gravity and minimise shaft angles also stems from the race shop,” he said.

“Bill’s skills and expertise and ability to think way ahead of the pack in the race environment with the set up of the boat and innovative features are all tested in race conditions and then ultimately make their way through to production”.

“This is Maritimo’s point of difference and something that none of our competition can lay claim to.”

“The lessons learnt with this new race boat will ultimately benefit our customers when they purchase a family cruiser.”