Flat calm conditions awaited the competitors taking part in the opening round of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championship based at Melbourne’s newest marina suburb, Wyndham Harbour.

It probably wasn’t the ‘come-back’ that Mat Humphrey and Simon Isherwood had hoped for as the former NOTAREAL Cougar catamaran made her racing revival in the Supercat Extreme class. Mirror like water conditions were never what this raceboat was designed for, so it was always going to be a struggle against the smaller, lighter Supercat Outboards.

Humphrey had earlier said

This weekend is still really a test. But what better way to test a race boat then in a race.

Mechanical issues with one of the 800hp Sterling Performance V8 engines meant the crew just about managed to limp home and take maximum points for the class.

Andy Taylor and Paul Fowles from AMT Marine Racing in their latest Shifty Cat design hull took maximum points for the Supercat Outboards class although they didn’t cross the finish line in first place. That honour went to the local entry of Saracen driven by Antony De Fina and Matt Kelly, but they received a one-minute time penalty for failing to round Mark D on one occasion, which dropped them back to second place.

Earlier in the race Scott Richardson and Stephen Kelly in TCR Offshore, who were competing in a brand-new hull, stopped after only five laps with a mechanical issue.

The contest gets back under way around Port Phillip Bay on Sunday with two further thirty-minute races in the Offshore Superboat Championship, either side of lunch.

All images: Colin Rosewarne Photography.