David Selley grew up with a family scrapbook full of boats and records. His uncle Craig won the RUBiS Around the Island Powerboat Race five times, setting the overall course record in 1982 at 45 minutes 27 seconds – a mark that stood for decades. His father, Mark Selley Sr., raced for more than 20 years and served twice as Commodore of the Bermuda Power Boat Association. He never won the Around the Island himself, but he built Selley’s Boat Trailer Service, founded around 1981, into the practical backbone of the family’s involvement in the sport – moving an average of four boats a day from premises in Smith’s Parish.
David and his twin brother Mark Jr. grew up inside all of it. Mark Jr. got to their father’s old boat number first. In 2009, at 18, he became the youngest-ever overall winner of the Around the Island race. David’s turn came in 2014, winning overall in a B8 Phantom. They raced separately by preference. “There’s only one steering wheel,” Mark once said, “and we both want to drive.”
By 2018, David had moved into A-Class in a Phantom 19G – a hull built in 2015 by John Guille at Ice Marine in Warsash, Southampton, based on the original Phantom 19 design with steps added. The boat became the instrument of some of Bermuda’s fastest A-Class times. In 2019, with Scott Barnes as co-pilot, David set the A-Class record at 50 minutes 19 seconds and took line honours. In 2021, with Matthew Smith alongside, he drove it to 49 minutes 16 seconds.
After the 2019 race, David reflected that he now had three Around the Island victories. “Only two behind my uncle Craig,” he said.
In 2022 he moved to S-Class and then crossed to the United States. The move had been years in the making, shaped by watching Bermuda legends Chris Marshall, Derek Simons and Morris Correia race overseas before him. Marshall, a three-time world champion, gave the team direct guidance.
His partner is Steven Bridges, the boat owner and throttleman. Bridges was 53 at their 2022 debut and has raced powerboats in Bermuda for more than three decades. He owns the S-25, a 32-foot Doug Wright catamaran. In 2022, when Shaun Torrente’s own boat was wrecked at Sarasota, Bridges leased the Doug Wright to him for several events. Torrente won St. Petersburg with it that year. Torrente has since designed and built his own race catamaran through STR Powerboats – the S-54 Allied-STR entry he now races in the same Super Stock class, finishing fourth behind Team Bermuda at Cocoa Beach this month.
Selley and Bridges debuted at the Clearwater Offshore Nationals in September 2022, finishing fourth in Super Stock with under an hour of testing. Selley was clear about his partner’s worth from the start.
David Selley, driver, Team Bermuda
Steven is a magician on the stick. He’s a top throttle man and should have been racing out here last year.
Their 2026 season: pole and a wire-to-wire win at St. Petersburg on March 27, their first professional victory after three seasons in the series; second at New Orleans on April 10, 2.6 seconds behind Wozencraft; back to the front at Thunder on Cocoa Beach on May 17, taking the lead on lap three and winning in 24 minutes 26 seconds.
Team Bermuda have 331 points after three rounds, 27 clear of Wozencraft, with four rounds remaining before the World Championship finale in Miami.
David and Mark Jr. are both qualified marine mechanics and handle day-to-day operations at Selley’s Boat Trailer Service. Their father is still involved. Three generations in, the boats keep moving.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
