The last thing David Durham's father said to him before he set off for yesterday's Round the Island Powerboat Race was: "Son, don't sink the boat."

Not only did Durham cross the line at Ferry Reach with his family's pride and joy intact, he and co-pilot and cousin Stuart Durham left allcomers in their wake, taking the chequered flag and smashing the B Class record into the bargain.

The duo set an unofficial time of 50:58.45 minutes, their feat coming on a day which also saw the record for circumnavigating the Island shattered, albeit unofficially.

That mark, 36:19 minutes, now belongs to the 28-ft bright yellow Skater piloted by Derrick Seymour and Andy Stoneham.

Starting last in their massive S-Class vessel, they cut a majestic swathe through the traffic, relegating boat after boat until they were within sight of the Durhams.

But the 15 minute headstart the smaller boat had proved too much of an advantage and they crossed the line with the cousins' wake still visible.

So to the victor goes the spoils. But David Durham said the win had not come without its scares.

"We started off a lot too fast and spun out in Hamilton. When we did that we thought we had lost it," he said. "But Craig (Selley) wasn't too far in front so we caught him up and got back on the pace. When it got real rough we just stayed on the hammer and won it.

"That is one thing we are known for doing - just letting it all out. We'd either turn it over or keep it together."

Keep it together they did, with Durham saying he knew the team had won even before the finish was in sight.

"When we passed Royal Docks and passed the first A-Class boat I knew I would win it," he said. "I knew nobody else could catch me. If they caught me they had to be cheating. I was just too far ahead of everybody."

Durham paid tribute to his father, also David, and the technical expertise he had lent to the crew of the Building Blocks sponsored machine.

"My dad tried a new set-up and it worked really well. The boat was a bit starboard heavy but my dad helped me a lot with the set-up," he said.

"He has spent a lot of time (on the boat) and we have spent a lot of time, night and day. Months and months of work."

Seymour and Stoneham were unwilling to talk about their exploits but other racers were more forthcoming.

Earlier in the day, reigning personal watercraft champion Chris Smith was forced to relinquish his title when he was well beaten by Jonathan Soares.

Soares, riding in the 1200 Class, crossed the line ahead of Jonathan Cumberbatch.

"I knew there were some pretty fast skis on the line and with the slightly choppy conditions anything was bound to happen," he said. "The skis come out of the water and they can slow you down. You can lose 10mph even if you have a faster ski because you get held up.

"The water conditions were all mixed up, sloppy and rough going around Hogfish Beacon. Going into town was even rough because of all the boat traffic going up and down.

"Around by Harbour Road and Five Star Island it was really calm so you could make up some ground and then coming down by Dockyard it was really bumpy and rough and I had to ease off on the gas because there were some pretty big waves. It was then just a matter keeping a straight line and hanging on tight until we got back here."

Although he led for almost all the way, at one point though Soares thought he might have some competition for the top spot.

"Jonathan Cumberbatch overtook me in town and I thought he was going to leave me for sure," he said. "But then he got tired around Five Star Island and I regained the lead."

Soares' exploits appeared effortless, but the rider said looks could be deceiving.

"At 80mph the water goes by really quickly," he said. "Coming off the ski doing that speed is when you hurt yourself. You learn to respect the machine more than anything else - it's like motocross on water."

There was one female among the jet ski entrants - Soares' girlfriend Sonja Baptiste.

Racing Yamaha in the 785 Class it was Baptiste's first venture into competitive racing.

"I did a little bit of practising with Jonathan and we play around sometimes so he prepared me and gave me tricks and told me what to look for and what position to keep my nose in and things like that," she said. "But when you are as weak as I am and as small as I am it's really hard to hold on and I have a blister to attest to that.

"It's really hard on your back, hard on your legs and hard on your arms and it takes a lot more training that what I did."

Baptiste said she the race had taken everything she had.

"I was exhausted, I couldn't hold onto the throttle any longer," she said, adding she had not set herself any targets before heading out onto the water.

"I got a finish, that's all I wanted to do," she said. "I really didn't worry about placing too much."