Bayden Sprozen relaxes after a race. Photo / Taylor Darroch
Bayden Sprozen relaxes after a race. Photo / Taylor Darroch
For Bayden Sprozen, powerboat racing is not just a hobby, it's a lifestyle.
It's competitive yet relaxing, earsplittingly loud during racing and when the racing stops the tranquillity on the lake is palpable.
Earlier in the year, Sprozen, from Paraparaumu, won two classes at the New Zealand Powerboat Association championships.
Winning the Formula V and Mod VP classes, in his boat Scary, Sprozen walked away as a two time national champion.
The New Zealand Powerboat Association runs the national circuit which includes courses on New Zealand's many inland waterways, lakes, rivers and sheltered harbours.
Bayden Sprozen in action at Porirua Harbour earlier this month. Photo / Taylor Darroch
Circuit racing boats include hydroplanes, racing runabouts, v-bottoms and tunnel boats.
Winning both classes with his same boat, Sprozen reaches up to 140km/h using on average a litre of fuel per minute.
The courses change slightly depending on the width of the lake or river with the national championship which was held on Lake Karapiro having straights of 800m.
A race consists of three laps taking around 15 minutes and at the national championships Sprozen competed in three races, each time starting in a different pole position.
"At nationals there are three races for the title, each with different polling positions," he said.
"I love it because you can't stop thinking.
"The first two laps are calm, but by the third the water has been cut up.
"You can't assume the track will stay the same, every 100m is different on water.
"There's always stuff you can't see coming, it's very mentally challenging."
Bayden Sprozen on the water. Photo / Taylor Darroch
Sprozen got into powerboat racing when a chance conversation with a stranger who turned out to be powerboat legend Tony Hall, informed him that his grandfather was also a powerboat racer and boat mechanic.
"I said to Tony, I think my grandad did it many years ago but that I didn't know much about it.
"I told him my granddads name and he said, 'you're not going to believe this but your granddad was my father's mechanic'.
"Turns out my grandfather was one of the top mechanics that didn't get sent to the war.
"He took me back to his place and showed me some old film footage of my grandparents racing in about the 1950s."
So Tony Hall got him into the Manawatu Power Boat Club, Sprozen bought himself a boat and the rest is history, with Sprozen now the commodore of the club.
"There are families that have been doing it for generations, it's definitely a lifestyle.
"In summer there are events every second weekend from January to April.
"I like the competitive element of racing and when you finish a race you find yourself at some of the country's most beautiful waterways."
Sprozen is supported by a number of local businesses, MTF Finance Kāpiti, Boat City, Spectro Print and SCS NZ Ltd.
