Curtis leads powerboat clean sweep for Paxton Lakes

PAXTON Lakes Sailing Club hosted the latest round of the Honda RYA Youth RIB Challenge on Saturday and had the pleasure of watching their U12 Powerboat drivers dominate the field in their class.

Paxton Lakes' own Steven Curtis, who won the national final at Southampton Boat Show last year, turned in a stunning performance to grab victory.

In winning the class he managed to negotiate the Paxton course in little over a minute and knocked a massive 13 seconds off the time set last year at Southampton.

It was a clean sweep for the home club as Curtis was chased over the line by Lewis Redman in second, Jordan Emmerson third with Peter Carrington fourth and Marcus Tushel fifth.

Curtis says that his ambition is to become a powerboat driver, just like his namesake and hero, six-time world offshore powerboat champion Steve Curtis (no relation). He admits that he is relishing the chance to defend his national title, but believes the competition will be much stiffer this year.

In the 13-16yrs class the home side had to bow down to Andrew Dobbs from Island YC who snatched the top spot from Paxton's Sophie Redman. Island YC's Caroline Powell snatched third from Paxton's Rebecca Raymir in fourth, with another home club racer Lewis Bottomley fifth.

Paxton Lakes' chief powerboat instructor, Steve West was impressed with the standard of competition on show.

"We've seen a much higher standard this year over last year. Steven Curtis has put everything into his training, and he can only get better as he gets a bit older and stronger.

"His technique is extremely smooth and he doesn't crunch the gears as some do. We're extremely proud of his achievements," he added.

For winning the national final in Southampton last year, Curtis won a boat worth �12,000 for Paxton Lakes Sailing Club.