Andrew Cottingham is in the midst of a dream start to his powerboat racing career.

The 32-year-old rookie pilot has won D Class honours in every race so far this season, competing in his 22-foot racing catamaran with co-pilot, business partner and former Bermuda Power Boat Association commodore Henry Talbot.

“This is my first year actually racing and it’s a lot of fun,” Cottingham said.

“It has been a great start to the season but to be fair there hasn’t been a whole heap of competition in my class and the ones who have come out have had engines break down and various issues.

“But hopefully we can have a good hook with some other guys who have some experience under their belt just to see where we stand up.”

The best years seemed to be behind Cottingham’s boat that had been left to rot away. I pulled it out of the trees a few years ago,” he said. “It was down St David’s dying. I bought it from Desmond DeShields and gutted the inside and put in a new floor and transom.”

Cottingham initially used the restored boat for pleasure before deciding to race it.

“It was just for pleasure, going out here and there, and I basically gutted the boat again when I decided I was going to race it because pleasure and racing are two different ball games,” he added.

“I stripped the boat completely and went through everything thoroughly and rekitted the boat out and sprayed it.

“It’s a 30-year-old boat but we have it set up nice and are pleased with how it is running.

“We have done a lot research and it seems to be paying off. The boat is happy with how it’s set up and I think we are getting pretty much the most we are going to get out of the it right now.”

Cottingham doubles up as the mechanic of his boat, something he feels gives him an edge over the competition.

“It definitely gives me an advantage because I’m hands on with the boat so everything that is done to the boat is done by me,” he said. “Being your own mechanic gives you an advantage because I don’t have to pay someone to do it for me and I know the engine, so if there’s a problem it gets fixed right away while other guys who are relying on another mechanic might have to wait out a race because their mechanic is not there or can’t get there in time.”

Interestingly, Cottingham is also the mechanic of the A Class entry piloted by Shaki Easton and Erin Butterfield that has also swept class honours in every race held so far this season.

“I’m the mechanic for their boat as well so we kind of have like a team,” Cottingham said. “They are in a totally different class but we are kind of racing under the same umbrella.

“We go down and set up camp and race, and afterwards it’s all about the camaraderie.”