Racing Boats
When Hannes Bohinc bought his first boat, a sport model in which he sailed the Mediterranean Sea, even he could not have predicted the wave of achievement that was to come.
A keen seaman since 1984, Austrian Bohinc, who had already built up his successful business empire, took part in his first competitive race in 1992, the Venice-Monte Carlo. It was from here that his powerboating career hit top gear.
Bohinc won the event in S1 class with the monohull Offshore Marine 38’, ‘Royal Flush’, a feat he repeated in the Monte Carlo-Porto Cervo-Monte Carlo and Aeolian Isles Trophy.
In 1993, in the same hull, powered by two-Seatek engines, he claimed the Martini Trophy before, in 1994, entering the Fabio Buzzi Design team, becoming the owner of an FB 46’ driven by three Seateks. He immediately became endurance champion.
Upgrading again, this time to the four-engined Casino Tivoli, he enjoyed unbridled success throughout the years, taking title after title, most notably the fabled Harmsworth Trophy in 1995. The British event is the competition Bohinc ranks as his number one.
In 1998, he was second overall at the ‘Dakar’ with an FB 38’ RIB, driven by two Yanmar engines and first in the Endurance Tourism category.
1999 was the year of the four-engined ‘West’, during which he was unbeatable in Class S2, becoming European Endurance champion by winning every event.
In 2001 came the powerhouse FB 80’ Record! as Italian Fabio Buzzi set his sights on beating long-standing records, starting with the Venice-Monte Carlo non-stop event.
Skippered by Bohinc, the boat set a new marker of 58h 53m 51s. This was officially recognised by the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique) and gained the craft eligibility to challenge other existing records.
Next up was the Monte Carlo-London, which Bohinc and his crew took firmly in their stride, smashing the previous time by over 26 hours in posting 63h 14m 05s.
Another record fell as the team took on the 1,420nm ‘Around Britain’ challenge. The new set time to beat of 30h 51m 40s was the icing on the cake in what was a superb hat-trick for the FB 80’ Record!
“In rough conditions, this record will never be broken.” Buzzi explained afterwards.
At the end of that year, Bohinc was approached by Matteo Nicolini, a professional Offshore Italian racer, who proposed to design a monohull in carbon fibre.
The ‘Wettpunkt.com’ branded craft, named after Bohinc’s online gaming portal, took its first win of the 2002 Endurance Championship in Ostia before setting a new record in the ‘Around the Island’.
12 months later, Bohinc would again take the Harmsworth Trophy off the south coats of England, winning all three heats, ‘The Needles Trophy, ‘Round the Island’ and ‘Cowes-Torquay-Cowes’, a win that would be considered the pinnacle of any powerboating career worldwide.
Not content with that, in 2005 – returning to the boat formerly known as Casino Tivoli, now ‘Wettpunkt.com’ – Bohinc became the Powerboat P1 Endurance World Champion.
Amidst a complete renovation, the nine-litre twin turbo 800 hp Seatek diesel engines were replaced by a pair of 10.3-litre BiTurbo Seateks, providing 1000 hp each.
The team of Bohinc, Miles Jennings and Ed Williams-Hawkes took wins in the Grand Prix of Germany and European Grand Prix in Gallipoli, Italy and were in poll position going into the final event in Naples. A second place finish in that event secured an overall triumph.
The P1 World Championship was now attracting new boats and new competitors from as far away as the USA and predicting strong competition, Bohinc commissioned a new boat for 2006, the FB designed STAB 48. Considered the ultimate diesel racing boat the craft looked set to take the Championship by storm but early teething problems and changes to the rules – in favour of petrol engines- saw the boat withdraw from the Championship after two events.
However, it came back with a vengeance in 2008 in one of the most arduous and eagerly awaited powerboat events for a decade, the Round Britain Race. The FB 48’ STAB dominated the 10- day enduro, securing five outright wins from 8 races.
Powered by twin Isotta Fraschini engines and generating 1800 hp, it was the class of the field yet engine problems on the first and final leg put paid to any chance of an outright victory. That honour went to the Greek contender, Blue FPT of Vassilis Pateras, Panos Tsikopoulos, Lefteris Vasilou and 75-year-old Dag Pike.
In 2009, Bohinc joined forces with Giovanni Carpitella and Giancarlo Cangiano of OSG Racing as he looked to secure another P1 title. The US-built Outerlimits SV-43 SNAV OSG was powered by Mercury twin 9.1-litre supercharged V8s, capable of generating over 1500 hp.
Its first win came in the Maltese Grand Prix of the Sea, which was followed up by wins in Italy (San Benedetto del Tronto), Sweden and Italy again (Sicily) before a second place finish in the last round of the season secured the Championship and another piece of silverware for Bohinc’s mantelpiece. During 2009, Bohinc also debuted the new ‘Wettpunkt.com’, an FB 39’ RIB pleasure boat, at the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes event. Leading with just one-and-a-half miles to go, a ruptured fuel tank forced the team’s retirement.
There was little to shout about a year on as the same boat suffered in heavy seas and Bohinc with driver, Max Holzfeind and navigator Ed Williams-Hawkes was forced to withdraw from the race. With so many craft – not to mention races – to look back on with fondness, which does the man himself rate as his favourite?
“Admiral Casino Tivoli,” he states. “I achieved some very important wins with this boat during the 90s including the Venice-Montecarlo, the British International Harmsworth Trophy, the Martini Trophy, and 2nd and 3rd place in the Superboat World Championship in Key West, Florida.
“The Cowes-Torquay-Cowes is my preferred race, especially the 2003 event when we won it, along with the British International Harmsworth Trophy in her Centennial anniversary year.”
With such a strong repertoire of boats in a powerboating career to rank alongside anybody in the field, few would bet against Bohinc’s next craft becoming another champion.
