Offshore Superboat Championships



Hervey Bay hosted the final round of the 2017 Australian Offshore Superboat Series.
It was a great 3 day long weekend with nice sunny days but strong northerly winds meaning the race course would be rough and choppy.
Great for spectators – not so great for the boats and their drivers and navigators.

The Friday was spent in the pit area looking over the boats and their support systems.
Some of them have huge budgets with state-of-the-art prime movers, fully decked out workshops inside semi-trailers, additional support vehicles and a very experienced team of up to a dozen people.







 Team Newcastle's set-up was amazing with state-of-the-art everything!!!





Paul went to the Driver's Briefing and also down onto the dock.



Saturday had the Pole Position Shootout so Paul sat on the edge of Marina Breakwall and watched the boats motor loudly past Lorelei.




The boats were hauled in and out for propellor or rudder changes, modifications and repairs in between races.




On Sunday Paul went out on the Spirit of Hervey Bay, a large spectator boat with 5 viewing levels.
The super high top deck meant Paul could take photos overlooking the marina and Lorelei during departure.


The first race was great with some very high speeds and tight racing.
Spirit of Hervey Bay was one of only a few boats allowed into the centre of the course so Paul and the other people on-board could see the racing right around the course.




















The Spirit crew served a great buffet lunch and the break also gave Paul extra time to take other photos around the boat.



The wind and chop picked up for the afternoon race.
However it was the last race of the season and the Championship was on the line,
so they pushed the boats to the limit with many getting some big air under the hull and landing in all sorts of unusual positions.


























It was nice to come home to a calm marina and clear afternoon and get some more photos on the way in.




If it’s on again in 2018 we are definitely going again and would highly recommend it.
It was only $65 for a full day out on the charter boat and an excellent buffet lunch was included in the price. 
Bring on the 2018 series....!!!!