It was another first family of offshore, the Smiths of Wellington, that gave him his first chance in a race boat in Gisborne last year and hasn't looked back.
"I'm hooked," he said, the victory a bonus on top of the offshore racing thrill and the sport's camaraderie.
On Saturday, the 60-mile fleet raced seven laps anti-clockwise on an L-shaped course, south from the start off Westshore, across the Ahuriri basin, back towards Westshore, north to Bay View and back down the coast.
Collections completed the 60 miles in 1h 2m 49s, averaging just over 100km/h.
It was just 3 minutes and 38 seconds later that Aucklanders Andrew Coolen and Warren Lewis finished the 12-lap, 100-mile race, averaging about 145km/h, and reaching 168km/h on the calmer waters of Ahuriri.
In conditions rougher and choppier than expected, the boat was soon in charge heading for a third win in four rounds of the NZOPBA drivers championship, and a second in a row at Napier.
They beat runners-up Fujitsu (Tony Coleman and Chris Hanley) by over half a lap, went within a few hundred metres of lapping third placed Schick Hydro, with Lewis's brother, Scott, also on the throttle.
Napier's Brooke Faulkner and Tony Carson were next, two laps down.
The races started with a fleet of 16, but lost four on the way, most dramatically Espresso Engineers.
Crew Mike Gerbic and Alan Grant were eyeballing Faulkner and Carson going into the third lap when disaster struck, the hull piercing, and stripping a port side of laminate. They headed straight for the inner harbour, one hull sinking more and more into the water as it was taken in tow in the entrance, water around Grant's waist before the catamaran was tied-up and hauled-out by crane.
Total Oils headed to shore as co-driver Simon Taylor jarred his back in the 60-miler.
"He was screaming down the intercom, and he wanted to keep going," said older brother and driver James Taylor. "I decided to pull the pin."
