Adelaide Speedboat Club, Port River: In the Adelaide Coast region of South Australia

Over the years the Port River has seen plenty of maritime traffic. Some days you might spot a Collins Class submarine slowly making its way out to open sea as a freighter ambles into berth. It's all part of the gentle pace of this historic waterway - or is it?

Come Sunday afternoons in spring and Summer this stretch of water known as the North Arm of the Port River is the playground of those committed to power.

“You must be back behind the fence. Otherwise we can not start the events.”

Here safety is paramount in a sport, which sees competitors push their speedboats to the limit.

“Here comes David Rroselle and Showbag. Showbag is on the inside.”

For the inside running on what makes these blokes and their machines tick. James Brayshaw caught up with one of the legends of the sport, Jim Sawtell. When he's not making his own ski and race boats this bloke works as a starting judge at the regular meetings held at the Adelaide Speedboat Club. Jump on board Nanilon - five metres of fibreglass firepower and you soon realise this fifty nine year old still has the need for speed.

Now facing the wrong way is standard practice in one of these start boats but it has one major plus - you can't see the speedo.

“Now here we are Jim. I understand you’ve been doing this for 30 years.”

“Yes - over thirty years and not always here either. They started the club in the Port River at Snowden's Beach and then they shifted them around into the North Arm and that's going back over thirty years ago. When I first started the boats were made of timber and they’d do about fifty or sixty miles an hour and not much more. This modern boat we’re sitting on today goes over 90 miles an hour.”

The Adelaide Speedboat Club dates back to nineteen thirty-five. Jim's been a big part of it's history and while he's retired from racing he still loves testing these fibreglass beauties on a course bordered by mangroves and relics from the Port River's maritime past - which now form part of what's called the Garden Island Ship's Graveyard.

For Jim Sawtell it almost became his final resting place when his race boat flipped at more than one hundred and sixty kilometres an hour.

“I struck some bad water and the nose went in. Kicked me out to sea and I finished under the deck with three big gulps of water. I managed to get out of the steering cables and popped to the top. I tore my shoulders to pieces, broke my hip, bit the side right off my tongue and got a fair bit of water on the lungs.”

High speed accidents are still an ever present danger as Dean Borg found out earlier this year when his boat Proformance flipped out of control at well over one hundred and seventy kilometres an hour.

Thanks to his specially designed cockpit with its own oxygen supply in case of emergency, Dean was able to withstand the shock of this accident and race another day.

But it's the sort of image that lingers long in the memory especially when Jim hands over the controls of his little baby.

“I don't mind saying Jim I'm a little nervous mate.”

“You'll be right, I'll look after you.”

“I've never driven a speedboat before in my life.”

“You will now.”

“Alright, well let's go… it's just easy on the throttle.”

“I've stalled it.”

“…Easy on the throttle...”

The Adelaide Speedboat Club's season starts at North Arm on Sunday October 20, 2002. The action gets underway at 1pm with six classes of racing from Nippers to the big unlimited class.