KEY WEST -- The phrase "world champion" is often claimed by numerous sporting venues, but not truly so when many of the competitors come from only one side of the globe.

However, when the powerboats dock in the Southernmost City this week for the 29th annual Key West World Championship, the victor of each class can leave knowing they conquered competitors from around the world. And no squad shows that better than the Lucas Oil Swedish Offshore Challenge team, which truly is an international group.

With an owner and driver from Sweden, throttle man from England and crew from New Zealand, Italy, California and Florida, the Lucas Oil team races primarily on the European front, but each year makes the trip to Key West to participate in the World Championships, because according to the team no other offshore venue draws the number of powerboats as these races.

"You can't miss Key West," former driver and now throttle man Nigel Hook said. "I've been coming down here since 1990 racing. With Key West it's always a challenge and something different. But what's nice about coming down here is the consistency of John Carbonell and his staff."

After claiming the title of World Champions last year in the SuperVee Unlimited Class with Hook, from England, at the wheel, this season brings about a change in things as Hook will move to the throttle and Swedish driver Michael Silfverberg will take over the helm, forming the new-look Lucas Oil Offshore Challenge race team.

"I feel very confident racing with such an experienced pilot as Nigel," said Silfverberg. "I look forward to racing in Key West and I have a really good feeling about this."

However, a change in driver is not the only adjustment the team will be making this year, as the Lucas Oil squad will shift to the Production-1 class, which has regulated speeds during the races, after a crash earlier this season left last year's boat unfixable.

"The boat we had last year we wrecked in Sweden," said Hook. "We spun it out, it flipped upside down, smashed the roof and destroyed it. That one's gone."

With a new Swedish-designed, Canadian-built vessel already in the works, Hook said he just hopes the two new teammates can connect on the course, as they prepare for a next season.

"The big deal of coming down here is for what we are building," said Hook. "It's a pleasure boat version of a new race boat. It's very efficient and it's the first of its kind. It just has a very different hull design, because it's a European way of thinking, and it's incredibly aerodynamic, efficient and stable."

For this year's championships, Hook said he just hopes his team can be reliable on all three days of racing, so that next year, when the new boat will be ready to race, they will all be on the same page and know what to expect from each other.

"It's about Michael and me to get together to form a team," Hook said about this year's World Championships. "We certainly have to get our act together and be solid in these races, because there is so much going on during these races. The experience will be great and there is no other place like it to learn. We'll be throwing him into the deep end."

Now racing the regulated speeds of the Production-1 class, which reaches up to 117 mph, Hook said he is not concerned about breaking the velocity barrier. And as long as the two new teammates can connect as driver and throttle man in and out of each turn, he will be pleased with the final outcome each day.

"It's more important safety-wise of us to learn to work together," said Hook. "We'll be just feeling each other out, to see how the boat feels. I've been racing for 30 years and only have three championships. You always try, but can never can expect it. Each race I want to win and the championship is an added benefit to it.

"It's actually about every corner. Each corner is a challenge I want to win, and if you look a it like that, then winning the race is great and winning the championship just adds to it. But the experience on the water is the memory."

As for the memories of past seasons -- in a boat that has raced in four different continents -- along with what is to come this year, for Hook he said that is the reason he continues to travel with his international squads to Key West each year, which helps makes this truly a World Championship.

"Key West is a great venue," said Hook. "You've got the rough water, the calm water, the tight turns and this is the place to shake it all out. The history of powerboat racing down here is like none other and I'll always keep coming back down here."

jwcooke@keysnews.com