About

About The Bandit

The Bandit is a 33 foot Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) designed by Jeff Hunton of Hunton PowerBoats competing in the 2008 Round Britain Offshore Challenge. The Bandit is crewed by a team of amateurs with no experience of offshore racing who will be racing against seasoned professionals such as triple world champion and record haolder, Neil Holmes The boat is equipped with twin 8.1 litre Mercruiser stern drive engines outputting a total 850hp and enabling the vessel to speeds of over 90mph. Keen competition will come from the sister Hunton boat in the RB2 class crewed by James May (Top Gear) and Nick Knowles (DIY SOS).

About The 2008 Round Britain Offshore Challenge

The 2008 Round Britain Race is an historic race for offshore powerboats that has been run just two times previously. The race is a tough endurance test and has been described as “The Mount Everest of PowerBoat racing”, comprising 8 legs and a total of 1600 nautical miles. It will start on June 21st from Portsmouth, circumnavigating Great Britain via the Caledonian Canal. The previous race was in 1984 when it was won by Fabio Buzzi of Italy. Over 50 boats have entered the race to date. The event will be filmed for a documentary by Iain May (Top Gear). More information at www.roundbritainrace.co.uk

About the team

Barry Deakin, 44, lives in Watford and is proprietor of Eagle Cars based in Watford. Robin Reade, 48, lives in Watford and is proprietor of Ambers Cars based in Watford. Carl Hamp, 45 lives in Watford and is a maintenance engineer for the Mirror Group. Graeme Youngs, 45, lives in Chipperfield, Herts and is an IT Consultant. For more information, news and blog, visit: www. followthebandit.com