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Thundercat racing comes to Wollongong this weekend

FOUR-boat pile-ups, en-masse capsizing, and massive air-time could all be on the agenda this weekend for the Thundercat Branch Championships at Wollongong’s South Beach, as local boys Daron Charlesworth and Ben Newnham chase a spot on the winner’s podium.

Thundercats are inflatable Catamaran’s capable of reaching 100kmph and piloted by teams of two on a zigzag racecourse through crashing surf.

Charlesworth, from Woonona and Newnham, from Unanderra only started to race Thunder cats at the end of last season’s competition but have slowly worked their way up the rankings so that they come into the Championships ranked 3rd in a field of about 12 crews.

“Ben, my mate, stands up in the water holding the boat and I have to run down to the beach start the boat and then race,” Charlesworth explained.

“The start is the most important thing. I have tripped over a couple of times, which was bad but we still did well overall,” he said.

“You keep the boat on full acceleration the whole time.”

“It’s the biggest adrenaline rush you can get, I think, doing a motor sport because when you’re flying you come down fairly softly. It’s a safe adrenaline sport.”

The Championships will kick off at 9:30 Saturday morning and continue until noon.