Brandon Skipper cruised to victory in the 2023 World Championship Bathtub Race on Sunday, July 23 in Nanaimo. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

record time

Nanaimo racer shatters World Championship Bathtub Race record in neck-and-neck battle

Jul 23, 2023 | 12:06 PM

NANAIMO — Brandon Skipper is the 2023 World Championship Bathtub race champion and now, the record holder

Skipper’s tub #555 in the super modified class finished clear ahead of the field on Sunday, July 23 in the annual race, motoring back into Nanaimo Harbour and making the climb to the bell at Maffeo Sutton Park right on 12 p.m.

His official finishing time was 1:00:45, comfortably making it the fastest time in the race’s history, beating Justin Lofstrom’s 2016 mark of 1:07:30. Skipper was neck-and-neck with Ladysmith’s Trevor Short, who finished seconds behind in second place.

“He pulled up to me just after Winchelseas and I said ‘You know what, he’s done this to me before and I’m not letting it happen again,’ so I just hammered down,” Skipper said after the race.

Brandon Skipper is checked over by medical crew after the race, which he won in record time. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Skipper said it was calm conditions from the start of the race to around Protection Island and to Entrance Island, then said it got choppy on the exposed section of the route with challenging swirling winds.

After the turn at the Winchelsea Islands, Skipper had to slow down due to large vessels passing by.

”There were a couple yachts crossing the path and they put out a big wake and I had to let off.”

On the home stretch, he was unsure whether or not he could complete the race.

“Do I have enough fuel? That’s going to suck. Then I thought I’m either going to be first or I’m going to bomb out.”

Skipper, a first-time winner sponsored by Harris Auto Group, has been a regular World Championships Bathtub Race participant since 2003.

He bested the 31-year-old Short, a familiar combatant.

“It was a quick race,” Short said. “It was a fun one because it’s the second time that Brandon and me have gone back-and-forth for first-second. Last time I came ahead and this time I had a feeling he was going to win it.”

Short edged out Skipper to win the 2018 bathtub race.

Short said he was happy with how raced this time around, saying his boat moved incredibly well.

He said conditions for the most part were favourable.

“Brandon had a pretty big escort boat, so I got to battle that a couple times. Then coming around Neck Point area it was almost like a mirror on the water, but it was just a big gradual swell, so all of a sudden you’d be in the air without knowing it,” Short told NanaimoNewsNOW.

The third place finisher was Cody Drzewiecki of Nanaimo, who rang the bell at two minutes after 12 p.m.

Curtis Skipper was the top stock class finisher with a time of one hour, 21 minutes.

The only father-child duo to race saw youth triumph over experience, with Roehlen Anderson clocking a time of two hours and 18 minutes, four minutes clear of his father Barry.

Of the 36 entrants in the race, eight tubbers did not complete the route, which took off from Nanaimo’s waterfront at 11 a.m.

One tub began taking on water prior to the race, forcing a brief delay.

Once out of the harbour, tubbers faced southeasterly winds between five and 15 knots, according to Environment Canada, with temperatures at sea level in the low 20’s.

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