National offshore powerboat racing: Grandstand view and standing ovation as racers return to Napier

It was a day for big boats and a much bigger boat as national offshore powerboat racing returned to Napier on Saturday, with a standing ovation at the nearby Napier Port.

The race fleet of seven craft plying the waves off Ahuriri and Westshore – mainly two-man crews in boats up to 10 metres – was dwarfed by the 349m of cruise liner Ovation of the Seas with a towering view from Te Whiti, the port’s ocean-facing No 6 wharf.

A standing ovation - huge cruiser liner Ovation of the Seas at the Port of Napier’s Te Whiti wharf provided possibly the best vantage point, although most of its 4000-plus passengers had other things to do in their few hours in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor — A standing ovation – huge cruiser liner Ovation of the Seas at the Port of Napier’s Te Whiti wharf provided possibly the best vantage point, although most of its 4000-plus passengers had other things to do in their few hours in Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

While most of the 4000-plus passengers on the short cruise stop were checking out other parts of town, a small number could be seen apparently watching from atop Ovation’s 16 decks and some had filtered into the hundreds of shoreline gazers.

Te Karaka, formerly known as Perfume Point, at the entrance to the inner Napier harbour, has been the most sought-after spot to see the Napier Offshore 100 powerboat race since the race was first held in the 1970s. Photo / Paul Taylor

Among them was an apparent travel v-logger telling his followers from a vantage point at Te Karaka at the entrance to the inner harbour what an “amazing” opportunity it was to be at the 11am-noon “Napier 100″ and saying: “I didn’t expect this.”

Father-and-son team Scott and Charlie Lewis (Doric) and Espresso Engineers race up the Ahuriri straight towards the port. It was all over for Doric soon afterwards when it was forced out by steering problems. Photo / Paul Taylor

Some of the punters at vantage point Te Karaka weren’t letting the Napier Offshore 100 spoil their fishing or phone-gazing. Photo / Paul Taylor

The race is the oldest in the New Zealand Offshore Powerboat Racing Association’s national drivers’ championship, being first held in the 1970s, and returned after three years off due to the global pandemic and its impact on the business sector.

It was won by defending champion Mike Gerbic, of Auckland, and co-driver Josh Edlin in 10m catamaran Espresso Engineers, beating rival Rainbow Haulage (Colin Dunn and Darren Butterworth) and restoring hopes of retaining the title in the last race at Marsden Cove in Northland.

The fleet remained intact until the withdrawal of father-and-son crew Scott and Charlie Lewis and their boat Doric with steering issues, just a few hundred metres from the moored cruise line and about 10 minutes from the race end.