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Powerboat Racing: Rusty Wyatt’s Sensational F1H2O Win in Indonesia

Apr 25, 2024

Last month, at the season-opening 300th Grand Prix in the 43 years of the Union Internationale Motonautique F1H2O World Championship, history was made as Sharjah Team rookie Rusty Wyatt became the first Canadian and the first UIM rookie to win a race after snatching a last-gasp victory in the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia on Lake Toba.

UIM F1H2O World Championship 2024 – Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia March 1/3 2024 Photo: Simon Palfrader (Editorial Use Only)

Wyatt is a Canadian racer from Innisfil, ON, is now the first Canadian to win an F1H2O race. He has been signed to drive for the new Sharjah Team for the 2024 UIM F1H2O World Championship under the management of Scott Gillman and was making his first appearance. Prior to moving up to F1, Wyatt has been competing in the American Powerboat Championship with the Crystal Clear/Rusty Wyatt Racing boat and won the 2022 Lake Havasu Classic. An elevator technician by trade, he was the Canadian Boating Federation’s Rookie of the Year in the T-850 category in 2012 and was High Point champion in 2013 and 2015.

At the Indonesian GP, while the two Scandinavians were jostling for the lead heading down the final straight, Wyatt, running third, took an outside line and stormed through to snatch victory by less than one second. Wyatt’s stunning victory deprived Swede Jonas Andersson of a 15th career GP win and a fifth in succession going back to last season.

Wyatt says F1H20 is incredible.

OnBoard spoke with Rusty Wyatt after the second date of the F1 H20 World Championship, the Grand Prix of Binh Dinh – Vietnam (he came 4th) and he explained that his early years equipped him to take on the big league. He has been driving since he was a youngster, his late father, Randy Wyatt,  was a respected champion.

Formula 1 boats are lightweight 5.1m twin sponson, tunnel-hull  catamaran powered by 400 hp Mercs allowing them to hit speeds over 220 km/hr. The boats turn on a dime through hairpin course turns with “G forces that are insane,” then straightaway speeds that are stratospheric, Wyatt tells us.

OnBoard will follow Rusty Wyatt’s progress in the F1H20 season.

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