Column Career

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Racing Boats - 2

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’.