POWERBOATING : Duvall Is Winner at Marina del Rey

Bob Nordskog is a 77-year-old powerboat racer who has invested his lifetime in the sport. His red, 40-foot craft is serviced by a hand-picked cast of some of Southern California’s most knowledgeable boat mechanics.

For all his careful orchestration, a blown piston and an unexpected mishap with the boat’s kill switch slowed him in the stretch, and Jim Duvall won the overall title at Saturday’s 10th Annual Marina del Rey Race for Sight.

Duvall, last year’s overall champion, has won two of the three overall titles this season. Duvall and Nordskog, averaging speeds of 85 m.p.h., distanced themselves from the other drivers at the start of the race and were more than four minutes ahead of the 30-boat field at the midway point.

The race began a mile off the Marina del Rey breakwater and went to Redondo, Point Dume, Santa Monica and back to Marina del Rey, with the larger boats (30-40 feet, with larger engines) completing the course twice.

Duvall, racing in his 30-foot “Crimson Tide,” was leading Nordskog by about 80 yards at the midway point. But Nordskog, driving his 40-foot Fountain, said he knew he could catch up in rougher water.

A kill switch connects the driver to the boat and comes into play in the case of an emergency. If the driver falls out of the boat, the engine turns off.

Nordskog lost some time when it went, but nothing he probably couldn’t have made up.

The crippling blow came a few seconds later when a piston blew, causing oil leakage and lowered oil pressure.

“We had to back off or we wouldn’t have finished,” Nordskog said.

In the overall category, Duvall finished the 140-mile course in 1 hour 35 minutes, followed by Nordskog in 1:37 and Kal Koster in 1:51.