A terrific weekend of thrilling power boat action kicks off this morning when the first of four South African national events gets under way at Gonubie Beach from 9am.
About 100 powerboaters from around the country will battle it out for supremacy and vital points that will go towards qualifying for the World Championships in September. “Fans can expect a good day’s racing. It will be very competitive and there should be some good action on the water as it looks like there is some decent swell coming through,” said Border Inflatable Boat Club chairman Chad Romans.
“So we will probably see a few boats flying and there might be one or two flipping, so it will be thrilling from start to finish.”
A star-studded line-up will be taking part in the weekend’s racing, with four world champs on the start line. 2017 World Champs in the Blue print class Eben de Bod (pilot) and Gerhard Ferhout (co-pilot) as well as Modified Class champs Johan Lodewyk (pilot) and Flippie Schoeman (co-pilot) will be in action.
On the local front Romans, who is a former world powerboating champ, along with Candice Hatting, will be leading the charge, while another local former world champ, Barry Marx, along with Francois Fraser will also be in action.
Both teams are in the Modified Class. Former world champs in the blue print class include Stefan Lindeque and Tony Ingram and they will also be looking for a top finish.
Other locals aiming to wave the Border flag high are brothers Dylan and Travis Hawks, Tyler Webber and Cristiano Sequeira and Zane Schonknecht and Dalton Wiggill, all in the blue print class.
In the modified class will be Mike Hatting and Nathan Ashington.
“The Border inflatable boat club is hoping that by getting this event back to East London it will help grow the sport in the city to what it once was and to help it grow across SA with more boats competing on the national circuit,” explained Romans. “We would like to really thank our main sponsors Chalk Air for enabling us to get the event televised, which will actually follow on SuperSport in the next couple of weeks and a big thanks to Powerade for all their support as well and also Jemimas Guest House.”
Disciplines being competed over the two days are Surf Race and Long Haul, with today’s action seeing Surf Race competed from around 9am to approximately 3pm this afternoon at Gonubie’s main beach..
Tomorrow the action moves to Orient Beach where the 120km Long Haul event will be battled out from 9am.
High-powered action on the high seas of EL city
About 100 powerboaters from around the country will battle it out for supremacy and vital points that will go towards qualifying for the World Championships in September. “Fans can expect a good day’s racing. It will be very competitive and there should be some good action on the water as it looks like there is some decent swell coming through,” said Border Inflatable Boat Club chairman Chad Romans.
“So we will probably see a few boats flying and there might be one or two flipping, so it will be thrilling from start to finish.”
A star-studded line-up will be taking part in the weekend’s racing, with four world champs on the start line. 2017 World Champs in the Blue print class Eben de Bod (pilot) and Gerhard Ferhout (co-pilot) as well as Modified Class champs Johan Lodewyk (pilot) and Flippie Schoeman (co-pilot) will be in action.
On the local front Romans, who is a former world powerboating champ, along with Candice Hatting, will be leading the charge, while another local former world champ, Barry Marx, along with Francois Fraser will also be in action.
Both teams are in the Modified Class. Former world champs in the blue print class include Stefan Lindeque and Tony Ingram and they will also be looking for a top finish.
Other locals aiming to wave the Border flag high are brothers Dylan and Travis Hawks, Tyler Webber and Cristiano Sequeira and Zane Schonknecht and Dalton Wiggill, all in the blue print class.
In the modified class will be Mike Hatting and Nathan Ashington.
“The Border inflatable boat club is hoping that by getting this event back to East London it will help grow the sport in the city to what it once was and to help it grow across SA with more boats competing on the national circuit,” explained Romans. “We would like to really thank our main sponsors Chalk Air for enabling us to get the event televised, which will actually follow on SuperSport in the next couple of weeks and a big thanks to Powerade for all their support as well and also Jemimas Guest House.”
Disciplines being competed over the two days are Surf Race and Long Haul, with today’s action seeing Surf Race competed from around 9am to approximately 3pm this afternoon at Gonubie’s main beach..
Tomorrow the action moves to Orient Beach where the 120km Long Haul event will be battled out from 9am.
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