Offshoreonly.com - Nigel Hook to Race In Sweden and Canada

Nigel Hook Racing has become a multi-national conglomerate. The British-American powerboat racer who has carried the US-based Lucas Oil sponsorship banner for eleven years, is preparing for his 2010 racing season by expanding his multi-continental boundaries—literally—to Sweden and Canada.

Swedish driver Michael Silfverberg and Nigel Hook met at this year’s Powerboat P1 Scandinavian Grand Prix in Gothenburg, Sweden and continued their conversations about racing when they again met in the airport. Obviously on the same “plane” they shared insights about various boats in which Silfverberg was interested and about racing in the Powerboat P1 World Championship. Silfverberg was impressed by Hook’s extensive experience and Hook was likewise taken with Silfverberg’s enthusiasm for offshore racing. After testing together, the duo decided to race as the Lucas Oil Scandinavia Offshore Challenge Team in Hook’s Skater in the Key West SBI World Championship.

Now, Hook and Silfverberg announce their plans to race together in the 2010 Powerboat P1 World Championship and will unveil the new Vector 40 race boat, featured on the cover of the current Powerboat Magazine. This pleasure boat is the first of its kind with the hull designed by Swedish naval architect Ocke Mannerfelt with exterior design by his son, Ted Mannerfelt.

Ocke Mannerfelt Design’s prestigious works include the “Bat Boat” that became known in US in the early 2000’s as the “One Design” class that enabled novice racers to rent the boat and compete in the APBA offshore circuit. Its “wings” enabled it to cut through and seem to fly over waves. "Ever since I got passed by a B28 Mannerfelt in a Pacific Offshore race in 1994, I've been fascinated by the simplicity of this design,” said Hook, who spent time with Mannerfelt in Gothenburg, “The Vector 40 may be the first of its kind, but it has true racing lineage. In fact, another newly-designed Mannerfelt race boat premiered this year in the X-Cat World Championships [in Europe] where his boats won every race in the UIM World Championship. That is very impressive especially since that class has 25 race boats in it!”

Proud to race in a Swedish-designed boat, Silfverberg, an experienced boat captain and Swedish Navy submariner, commented on the elegance and feel of the Vector 40, experienced while testing in Canada. “The Vector 40 excels in the way it moves through the water and its willingness to respond to power. That combined with the beautiful design and the excellent building quality of Vector Powerboats will make it a real thrill to race!” The original Vector 40 design will be somewhat modified to suit Powerboat P1 rules and the powered and propulsion plans are in discussion.

The Scandinavian Offshore Challenge team will maintain Hook’s #77 and the long-time Lucas Oil sponsorship. The 40’ boat is built in Kelowna, Canada by Vector Powerboats. Company Founder and President, Rex Jardine carries 25 years of experience in the boat building industry and traces his racing heritage to his father’s mentoring as the founder of Campion Boats, also in British Columbia, Canada’s largest independent producer of over 37 models of boats.

“All of us at Vector Powerboats are very proud to be involved with such a high-quality group as the Lucas Oil Scandinavian Offshore Challenge Team,” said Jardine, “We have no doubt that the combination of talent and experience in Nigel Hook and Michael Silfverberg, combined with our extraordinary team and revolutionary Mannerfelt design, will be a dominating force in P1.”

Hook’s dual US and British citizenship, combined with his All-American sponsor, Lucas Oil, the leading producer of high performance lubricants, a Swedish teammate in Silfverberg, fellow-Swede boat designers, Ocke and Ted Mannerfelt, and Canadian boat builder, Vector Powerboats, gives this team a unique place in the international Powerboat P1 World Championship—a UK-based organization with a cross-continental race schedule including Western and Eastern European countries from Malta to Croatia to Turkey and others in the near future. Visit www.powerboatp1.com for more information and updates to the 2010 provisional calendar.