Twin eight-year-old boys, Jordan and Declan Hunt, have been crowned the world's youngest ever powerboat crew to be awarded a national water speed record.
Twin eight-year-old boys, Jordan and Declan Hunt, have been crowned the world’s youngest ever powerboat crew to be awarded a national water speed record.
With Jordan behind the wheel and his brother navigating, the twins drove one of the recently introduced ‘K’ class offshore racers at 27.85mph between Boscombe and Bournemouth piers last September. The Royal Yachting Association has now ratified this as a new British water speed record at a special awards dinner on February 7.
Restricted to juveniles between 8 and 16 years of age, the 12ft (3.9m) one-design monohull ‘K’ class is designed for 25hp un-tuned Mercury outboard engines and is now proving extremely successful in introducing young people to powerboat sport. They compete at nine race meetings around the country each year plus the series of water speed record attempts held annually off Bournemouth.
The weather on the day of the record was far from smooth. Despite unstable conditions the twins managed to set a relatively high two-way average speed over the one-mile (1.6k) course reaching almost 30mph (48.2kph) on the return leg.
“This would have been a creditable performance from an adult using such minimal horse power let alone a child,” said George Clarke, Chairman of the Royal Yachting Association. “It goes to show how hull design and engine efficiency has improved in recent years together with the current enthusiasm of the youngsters who will provide Britain’s future powerboat crews.”
