With 16 days to go before the 46th running of the annual Carib GreatRace event from Trinidad to Tobago, the Trinidad Guardian will featured the boats and crews that will be challenging for top honours in the historic event. Today, Total Monster holds centre stage.
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The 46th Annual Carib Great Race is set to speed off on August 23 and defending champions Total Monster is putting the icing on the cake on its preparations.
Last year Total Monster won in a time of one hour and twenty minutes finishing two minutes ahead of Mr Solo in the A Class (130 mph) category. Fire One, which won the Great Race in 2011 and 2012 had to settle for third spot.
Total Monster driver Joey Sabeeney said preparations have been smooth and the team is confident of a repeat. Sabeeney said: "We actually taking a test run tomorrow (today). The day before the last regatta we had an issue with an engine but everything else has been good." The rest of the team includes Peter Peake, Daniel Peake, Alfred Bell, Marcel Carrington, Nicholas Gomes and Robin Geofroy.
Monster, which is competing in its fourth Great Race this year, is looking good to take the title again after winning all the regattas.
The regattas are races leading up to the Great Race which allows teams to detect what problems or fine tune what problems they are having with their boats.
Sabeeney added that finishing the race will be Total Monster's biggest challenge. "Our biggest competition is ourselves, once we finish we will be in front." However, Sabeeney is wary of the other boats such as Mr Solo with its vast experience. Sabeeney is also hopeful that all the A Class boats will complete the course from the Mucurapo Foreshore, Port-of-Spain to Scarborough, Tobago. Last year all the boats finished under full power.
Total Monster got a great start last year but the team knows it's not the strength of the boat. "Being the biggest boat, we don't accelerate as fast. When we get out the boca we usually start to gain control." Total Monster is a 46-foot skater catamaran and got its name because of its size.
The parade of the boats will take place on Saturday. The parade will start at West Mall, West Moorings then go along the Mucurapo Foreshore into Port-of-Spain and end in St James.