Offshoreonly.com - Skater in the Heat of Powerboat P1

Peter Hledin, the President of Skater boat builder Douglas Marine, reported that he’s pleased with the hull's success in last weekend’s Vigo Grand Prix of the Sea, with the brand dominating the Evolution-class Sprint and Endurance results in Spain’s first ever round of the Powerboat P1 championship.

The #69 Honeyparty.com team took the first Evolution class win for a Skater hull in 2008 in Saturday’s Sprint race, while the #53 Pignolo 53, #77 Lucas Oil and #69 Honeyparty.com boats secured a podium clean sweep for the Skater marquee in Sunday’s Endurance race. As a result, Skater-built boats currently lie fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth in the overall Evolution class championship standings with one event to go.

“I’d like to congratulate #53 Pignolo 53 team boss Max Ferrari and #69 Honeyparty.com’s Richard Carr on their first victories in Spain,” Hledin said. “These boats were built for the US-based Super Cat Light class, so they are very light, and built to run with Mercury Racing 525 engines.

“It is hard to weigh these boats down (with lead) for Powerboat P1 standards [higher horsepower, higher minimum running weight]. They are built differently for a different set of rules and for a specific application. But, overall, I’m very pleased with the level of performance these guys have been able to extract from the boat.”