2:12 AM Mon 22 Dec 2008 GMT
 | | 'Maritimo in Dubai II'
Raffello Bastinai
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Tom Barry-Cotter (driver) and Pal Virik Nilsen (throttleman) will remember their first outing in the new Maritimo catamaran at Dubai for all the wrong reasons.
Both sustained injuries, thankfully minor, when competing in the two-race Middle East offshore program earlier this month.
Barry-Cotter sustained neck injuries and Virik Nilsen was knocked unconscious when their rig spun 180 degrees in the second race.
Speaking to Powerboat-World this week, Tom Barry-Cotter said the lightweight racer had proven a 'real handful' to drive. "All our problems emerged in race two, "he said. "We copped a bad start, cut off, virtually, by one of the start boats. As the race progressed we were running at about 193km/hr (120mph) and more or less holding our own. Then, the conditions chopped up, we were battling a swell of at least 2.0-metres and running into a strong breeze.
"As fuel was used the boat became lighter and we hit a wave that threw the boat skywards followed by a 180 degree spin. "Pal was knocked out and I finished with some neck pain, but the rescue boat was quickly to us and by the time one of the divers got aboard Pal had regained his senses. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, but everything turned out ok."
Tom said the boat, being 780kg lighter than most of its competitors, may have to be fitted with ballast tanks.
"That's something we'll certainly be looking at," he said. "There was some damage sustained when we spun out, but it was only minor delamination near the engine bay and will not present any major problem."
The new cat, powered by the naturally-aspirated 790hp engines promoted by Bill Barry-Cotter under new rules for offshore racing, fared much better in the opening Dubai race.
 | Maritimo in Dubai - Raffello Bastinai |
"We got away to a very good start in the first race," Tom said, "and for several laps we held fourth place, with some of the top boats in our wake. Again, we experienced a spin out, nothing serious, but we dropped well back in the field.
"Conditions were not as rough as we would encounter in the later race and we were able to work our way back to fifth spot at the finish line."
Generally speaking, the new catamaran, built at Maritimo's Coomera facility on the Gold Coast, performed quite well. It showed enough to suggest that on quiet water it would take some beating.
"Simply put, weighing in at 790kg less than our competitors, when conditions did not suit us we just couldn't match it with the bigger and heavier boats," Tom explained.
by Bob Wonders
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Safety Bay, WA
