If you’re a frequent reader of The Watercraft Journal, you’ll know that we are quite enthusiastic about following the exciting news that comes out of PWC racing around the world. From live, on-the-ground reporting at races to following up with racers in exclusive interviews, PWC racing is just about the bread and butter of the content we try to keep you in the loop with. However, just outside of the community interests, there’s one aspect of racing that particularly piques our interest: the builds.
For the more technically minded of our readers, it will be no surprise that the specific build of a PWC can be the deciding factor at a race—sometimes even more than the racers themselves. So, when we realized that last year’s IJSBA World Finals featured one specific boat style significantly more than any other, we wanted to find out more about the details of this hull.
A quick look at the World Finals shows that Fast Powersports’ GP1R hull was easily the most prominent boat in the competition, winning more championship titles than all other aftermarket hulls combined. After a little more research, we found out that it’s just one of three models on offer at Fast Powersports, each boasting its own set of top-performance attributes.
For example, the aforementioned GP1R is the group’s top-performing race ski, dominating the waters for the past seven years, and receiving its most recent upgrade this year. It’s been remodeled to meet the newest IJSBA criteria for dimensions, but in the process, they fine-tuned the hull’s nimbleness, weight bias, and even upgraded the materials to ensure that the 2025 model will continue to dominate the waters.
On the other hand, their F1 ski is a larger boat, with a big engine bay and notable front-end buoyancy, providing tons of stability and reliably high top speeds. While that lift ensures stability and speed for the craft, its showing at races has been more limited because the turn speed is reduced around tight corners. Even still, it’s highlighted as an incredibly comfortable ride for those looking to get maximum velocity.
Finally, there’s the newly released F16, which rides similarly to the GP1R but with more aggressive turning and responsiveness.
If you’re curious to find out more about the differences in these various hulls, as well as to learn a bit about the extensive research and development process behind one of PWC racing’s top manufacturers, it’s worth checking out this recent video from Dustin Motzouris on the Fast Powersports channel. In it, he goes through the three different styles of hulls they manufacture, pointing out the latest upgrades in each model and showing the pros and cons for different styles of riders. He also shows off some of their winning boats from past races, making it an interesting watch for anyone who enjoys PWC racing.
One of the things we found most interesting about the video was how Motzouris explains the R&D part of their process. Specifically, he explains how having three different models of PWC allows them to cross-reference a wide set of data to improve their products year after year.
Be sure to check out the video, and if you’re already sold on getting a Fast Powersports hull, you can email them at [email protected]!
