With the 2024/25 Australian Offshore season coming to its conclusion after a sensational debut round in Port Adelaide less than three weeks ago, you could expect teams were ready to wind-down and prepare for a six-month off-season, but nothing could be further from the truth, with some big moves taking place across recent weeks, moves that will have a big impact on the coming season.
“There have been more boats change hands over the last few weeks than perhaps at any time in the last 30 years,” Australian Offshore Powerboat Club Commodore Antony De Fina confirmed.
And he should know, he’s part of the new look field for the 2026 season, the former AUS#1 title-holder and multiple Supercat Outboard Champion having taken delivery of a new mount, a mount that will see he and Matt Kelly take the fight to the outright boats in their ‘new’ Victory Cat.
“To be honest, it’s probably Dave Pitman’s fault,” De Fina explained, his long-time sponsor and friend having planted the seed after a discussion late last year. “Dave had said to me I should look at going to an outright boat, something I’d often dreamt about but never really seriously considered, but that was the catalyst to start me thinking about it, and a lunch meeting with former boat owner Adam Gilbert ultimately sealed the deal.”
Originally built by the Victory Team in Dubai in the early 2000s as a Class 2 boat, at one stage it featured twin BMW engines in a joint venture with the German auto maker, but now features twin 525-horsepower Mercury powerplants with BPM shaft drives, something which De Fina admits he will stick with in the short term.
“The boat is beautiful. It’s a full carbon-fibre hull and whilst it was built as a Class 2 boat at 36-feet in length, it will be lighter and corner faster than the bigger boats (‘MOJO’ at 39’ and ‘222’ at 42’), something we will look to use to our advantage,” he explained.
“Presently the boat is with Peter ‘Muddy’ McGrath at 222 Offshore on the Gold Coast where they will go over it and help us prepare it for a return to action as it’s been a few years since the ‘Team 3’ boat was last on the water. Then we’ll bring it back to Melbourne where we’ll install some new MoTeC dashboards and updates just to bring it up to scratch then do some serious testing.”
The boat is currently resplendent in ‘Team Victory’ blue, a departure from the livery that De Fina and Kelly campaign on their own Supercat Outboard package, a package which has also changed hands, its new owner having already taken delivery, De Fina admitting that it was sad to see the ‘MANTIS’ leave after such a successful partnership, but acknowledges that the team are excited by the new challenge.
“Matt and I obviously had some long discussions about the move and we both agreed that as racers, you always look to try and make it to the big league, and this is our chance to do that. The “MANTIS’, which we built ourselves, was a fantastic boat and delivered us multiple Australian Championships, but as we’re both getting closer to the end of our racing careers than we are to the start, it was definitely time to make the move!”
The 2025/26 Australian Offshore Championships will begin in Lake Macquarie in mid-October, giving teams a six month window to prepare for the new season, a season De Fina expects will be one of the best in the history of the sport.
“This year things have taken a dramatic leap forwards, with more boats changing hands in the last six months than perhaps at any time in the 30 years prior, and that’s fantastic,” he admitted. “We could see five to six outright Supercat Extreme boats on the water at every round next year, with yet another new boat arriving from New Zealand in coming weeks, alongside the recent purchase by Stuart Eustice and Todd Kelly with ‘MOJO’ which debuted at Port Adelaide. MANTIS has also moved on, and there’s a few changes too within the Supersports classes promising for one of our biggest seasons in the last 20 years, and that’s exciting. Roll on October!”
Whilst there’s been plenty of movement amongst the teams, organisers have also been busy off the back of the success of the sport’s debut in Port Adelaide, with a five or six round schedule in the planning stages for the coming season, details of which will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
pic|pureart creative images
