Davidge and Osborne overwhelmed by Around the Island victory

*Photos by Nicola Muirhead & James Burton

The team, competing in the FB Class, won in a time of 46 minutes 56 seconds, with Steven Eversley and Brandon Franks placed second (41:14) and taking D Class victory. Brothers Mark and David Selley (47:24) came home third and claimed SD Class honours.

For the winning duo, they put their victory down to being able to maintain top speed on the South Shore section of the new 54.2 mile course — although they conceded the race build-up had been far from easy.

“It feels amazing,” driver Davidge, 32, told the Bermuda Sun. “It’s been a lot of hard work.

“We were moving! My co-pilot is the numbers man but he didn’t think we would go that fast.

“We’ve watched this race since we were little kids, it’s not something I ever figured I’d ever do, so it’s really amazing.”

Co-pilot Osborne, 25, said: “Two weeks ago we virtually ripped the motor in half – literally! So we had a lot of help from a lot of people who gave us a lot of time and effort to get it back together.”

The win is the first for the duo and, they conceded, the also first time the boat has made it around the island. When it mattered, though, the FB16 rose to the occasion in style.

“It keep the speed up well,” said Osborne. “We didn’t slow down at all. South Shore, North Shore, we stayed the same. “

Davidge added: “South Shore is where you lose the time . We took some slams but we ran good.

“We said we were going to stay back a bit but at the start you never end up doing that. You put your foot down. 

“Tonka (Simpson) either slowed down or came up behind us. We got the line and after that it was a case of let’s chase down the A Class.

“We didn’t know how much lead we had [at the finish]. We were looking in the rear view mirror and we didn’t see anything. We were a little untidy at the entrance there but settled it back up, so through we came – it was very good!”

Back on shore, the celebrations began — especially with one very happy father of the driver.

Davidge said: “He’s been a huge fan of boat racing for a very long time, so it was great for all of us. He’s put a lot of time and effort in, and money, too.

“I think we’re going to take a bit of time off right now – I’ve got a seven-month old. I haven’t been there much for the past few days much to my wife’s disgust but I think she’ll be ok with it now!”