A powerboat driver has died after crashing into a houseboat during an international high-speed race in Suffolk.
Brett Duncan, 51, following the accident at the Lowestoft and Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club, which had promised a ‘display of high-speed action on the water, featuring skilled drivers’.
The coastguard, crews and emergency services rushed to the scene just after 7.10pm on Thursday following the crash near the water sports centre.
Race organisers said the event would be ‘a showcase of speed, skill, and determination’ on ‘challenging courses’.
Mr Duncan’s social media shows a lifelong love affair with the sport – and how he was returning to racing after helping his children take it up.
Last year, he posted online, ‘for 40 years, I have enjoyed this sport on various levels, and it has been a family passion for three generations of Duncan’s’.
He added he had taken some time out of the sport because he was, ‘focusing on my children’s racing for the past couple of years’.
However, Mr Duncan, who has been described as an ‘experienced and popular member of the power boating community’, said he had ‘decided to take the plunge’ and return to the sport.
Brett Duncan, 51, has died following the collision during a competition at the Lowestoft & Oulton Broad Motor Boat Club
Mr Duncan crashed into a houseboat during an international ‘high-speed’ race in Suffolk
The 51-year-old has been described as an ‘experienced and popular member of the power boating community’
‘My plan is to spend this season getting to grips with the outfit and then competing in the 2025 European and World Championships,’ he wrote.
It was during those world championships that he died.
Mr Duncan was believed to be involved in a race that had been ongoing at the venue around 6pm.
The authority for powerboat racing, the Circuit Powerboat Association (CPA) has described the incident as a ‘lone racing accident’, with police confirming nobody else was injured.
Suffolk Constabulary and the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau (MAIB) have since launched a probe into the incident.
A statement from the CPA reads: ‘We are sad to confirm that circuit powerboat racer, Brett Duncan, 51, has unfortunately succumbed to the injuries that he sustained in a lone racing accident.
‘As an experienced and popular member of the power boating community, we are shocked and saddened by Brett’s untimely passing and our sincere thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this tragic time.
‘We would like to express our thanks and gratitude to all of the event staff and the emergency services for their swift and timely response to the incident.’
A general view of Oulton Broad Water Sports Centre where Mr Duncan collided with a stationary houseboat on Thursday evening
The coastguard, crews and emergency services rushed to the scene just after 7.10pm on Thursday following the crash near the water sports centre
Suffolk Constabulary said officers were called just after 7.10pm to reports of a ‘collision involving a powerboat and a stationary houseboat in the vicinity of Oulton Broad Water Sports Centre’.
‘The East of England Ambulance Service, Coastguard and a volunteer paramedic from Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS) were also on the scene but, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, the driver of the powerboat – a man aged in his 50s – sadly died at the scene,’ the force said.
‘There were no other injuries as a result of the collision.
‘Police are working closely with partners and other agencies in relation to the incident.’
A spokesperson for the MAIB said it was aware of the incident.
‘Our inspectors are in the process of making preliminary enquiries to better understand the circumstances which led to this accident,’ the MAIB spokesperson added.
A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: ‘One ambulance, two rapid response vehicles, two paramedic cars and East Anglian Air Ambulance were sent to Oulton Broad yesterday following reports of a serious marine collision.
‘Sadly, despite the best efforts of all involved, a man had died at the scene.’
