DAVID Warby and his Spirit of Australia II team are edging closer to a shot at the world water speed record after enjoying their best-ever run at Blowering on the weekend, hitting 450km/h.
After Saturday’s runs brought mixed results, everything clicked into gear on Sunday, enabling Warby to hit such a good speed.
The main thing Warby and the team were hoping for was good weather, especially after the dismal conditions of their last visit, and they got it.
“The conditions were really good, and that played a big part in it,” he said.
“Saturday was a bit of a mixed bag. There were three lots of weather on the dam surface and we timed our runs around that,” he said.
“A little bit of wind is okay, but too much and the boat doesn’t like it.”
He said he benefitted from local knowledge of conditions around the dam, from the likes of pilot Peter Wilson and Daryl Hursey.
“They have a really good understanding of the wind and weather and that allowed us to time our runs the right way,” he said.
Rudder sensitivity issues caused some problems on Saturday, and the jet-powered boat still isn’t 100 per cent where it needs to be.
“We’ve still got some work to do on the boat, but we’ve identified it and there’s not much to be done,” Warby said.
It certainly didn’t stop the success of Sunday’s runs.
“It was a very positive weekend,” he said.
“You feel better when you solve problems and make positive progress, and the main thing, do it safely.”
Warby praised the local support for he and his team.
“The local support is tremendous, and it makes for a really good environment,” he said.
“We are glad to have good relationships with the locals. (Tumut) Rotary are fantastic; we have them on the boat now, and National Cranes, True North Helicopters, NSW Martime, Shane Boyd and Snowy (Valleys) Council are great; an amazing bunch of people. It’s great to have good relationships with the locals especially after things like the duck issue (Warby struck three ducks in Spirit of Australia II on Blowering last November) and the wind and rain in May.”
Warby, his boat and his team are planning to return to Blowering in October, and a hot at the record, 511.11km/h set by Warby’s father Ken in 1978, is not far away.
“We are really looking forward to October,” he said.
“After the next one we will know where we are at.”
