Offshore powerboat racer Gavin McGrath used to drop boats into the water by crane.
But it clearly wasn't enough for the Taupo engineer who's got big hopes for today's Napier race, for which he's enlisted local knowledge in the form of former two-times national drivers champion Tony Carson.
"I think he wants to win," said Carson this week, as he confirmed he was opting out of the Sports 200 class entry he usually races with daughter Charlotte to team up with McGrath in Phantom-design monohull and Classic-class entry Gull Force 10, powered by two 502hp Merlin engines.
It's a boat he bought from the United States almost four years ago, because a change in local laws meant it was no longer allowed to go over 40mph on the lake at Guilford, Ohio. And in a pre-Napier race spin on the race course off Ahuriri and Westshore it was soon obvious why its previous owner decided it would be better off somewhere else, like being driven on the open sea by a guy named McGrath from Taupo.
It seemed the perfect pairing as Gull Force 10 bounced out towards Pania, soon passing the 80mph and the limit the Classic-class boats have in the hour-long race which starts with the 1pm rolling start out from the Napier Sailing Club's tower at Perfume Point.
McGrath, who as it happens is not related to multiple title winner, international Superboat racer and Aucklander Peter McGrath, is bound to be pushing it, although the boats have their equivalent of the airline black-box recorder, which race officials can secure afterwards to checked whether the speed-buzz has gone just a little far.