The format of the racing has changed this year and was divided into two days of racing. On the Saturday we raced the Formula 1 and Open classes with the Formula 2 and Formula 3 on the Sunday.
For the first time F1 were racing with Class 3, 4 litre boats, hard boats which because of their light weight are able to reach speeds of 90mph, so we knew it would be exciting!
The race started at 4pm and for a change we were graced with some pretty flat seas with Force 3-4 wind. The legs nearest Torquay were very flat with the legs offshore being slightly more choppy enabling us to get the boats out of the water and really fly.
Martin Purnell and Rob Beakhurst in their VERY fast RIB, Electrifying got us off to a flying start which proved very fast as all the boats were closely matched in speed. In the RIB class Stuart Anthony was off to a fast start, us following closely behind. For some reason our boat felt very slow and heavy and we did not get away to our customary flying start and acceleration was really slow. Max Walker and Mick Archer in their 4 litre batboats were flying along ahead of the whole field.
Our boat still seemed to be labouring and it was frustrating to see Stuart Anthony put space in between us. The boat was heavy to turn and control. Once or twice on some of the tighter turns, the steering wheel was literally snatched from my hands which left Mike coming out with a few choice words as I shot off in the wrong direction!!! The boat was chining from side to side which was very unusual with the set up we had. Chining means that the hull is not working efficiently and the boat lurches from one tube to the other and the ride becomes something more like a rollercoaster than a boat…except you aren’t strapped in! You normally expect this when the boat is on the edge at top speed but not at the speeds we were doing.
It was great experience from a driving perspective and I drove hard through it, driving the boat out of it as best we could. This was great fun and for some reason when I screamed at the boat to ‘sort it out’ it did, very bizarre. The red mist was certainly rising as I got more and more angry and frustrated with the boat. Clearly shouting at the boat in anger was helping (I wish), but also causing Mike earache!
Whilst Stuart maintained his lead, as we used up fuel the boat got faster and lightened up slightly. I have to admit that whilst it was awful to drive, because of the weight we just smashed through the waves, more like a wave breaker than a race boat but it was pretty dramatic! Fortunately, we didn’t allow the gap to widen but we couldn’t close it which was terribly frustrating….more earache.
So the race continued like this for 1 hour and 13 minutes and every muscle in my body felt like it was being stretched to the limit. We did have a few moments though, (as we always do!) On one occasion the boat hit a large rogue wave and lurched violently upwards on its side landing hard on the tube and nearly throwing us clean out of the boat, it was very close to the point where I felt that any minute we should be prepared to throw ourselves clear. At 80 mph this is not advisable as I have it on good authority that it would hurt….. but the sea did seem to come exceptionally close! Anyway, in true RIB fashion, I just floored the throttle, shouted at the boat and we got straightened out, off we shot trying to close that gap.
Meanwhile, Mick Archer and Max Walker in their batboats were having a huge scrap which ultimately ended with them colliding on a turn causing holes in both boats and losing Max an engine. It’s supposed to be a non-contact sport boys! This left Mick clearly in the lead as Max limped home on one engine. However, I must point out that watching this race from behind proved to be fascinating as on one occasion both of their crews got hopelessly lost and we had one boat approaching us from the right and the other from our left. At least we knew where we were going!
The results for RIB F1 were Stuart first (first time this year!) and ourselves a disappointing second with Drew Langdon and Buzzi Bullet third placed. Overall winner was Mick Archer which left us third overall. Not a bad result but we’re getting greedy now and wanted another win. Our average speed was just under 72 mph but that’s not good enough now, so we’ll be out there with a fixed boat in a few weeks and give Stuart a run for his money again!
So what happened? Well I’m not sure yet but it looks like the boat has a problem with the bow tank (ballast) and has trapped water in the hull at the front. This explains why it felt so heavy. Marinautic is working on it now so we’ll see!
It was one of those bizarre races, where I think I drove my best race ever, fighting to the last to make sure that gap never widened and we got the most out of the boat. Mike’s navigation was spot on and we were totally together, the boat just sadly let us down, but I guess we all have off days!!!
Our fellow compatriots raced their RIBS in the new media Formula 2 class the following day and although the conditions were near perfect there were many incidences. We assisted with Safety boating and watched close hand as the boats flew by. Saddest incident of the day was with R51, driven fantastically by William Bolton and very professionally navigated by Danielle Strawford. These two just flew and were miles ahead of fleet and heading towards an almost unbeatable win. Sadly, just 100 yards from the finish line the engine broke down (I believe it was a broken gearbox) so they were forced to retire which was heartbreaking. This left John Puddifoot in winning position with Dragons Revenge and Gareth Williams with Comfortably Numb second. In third position was Windex and Paul Williams beaten by a close 11 seconds.
R29 also had a bad day when he physically snapped a blade off the propeller…..who said flat sea was easy on the boats!
The hard boats did not fair too well either, whilst Roy Smith and Dave Simpkins with Commodore Ferries battled it out with Terry Mills in ‘It Wasn’t US’, carnage ensued. C2 a 2 litre batboat, amazingly managed to turn completely over, fortunately they were unhurt if a little shaken up. C12 driven by Chris Bryant, managed to fill with water and had to retire very quickly to the harbour, flying into the harbour under escort to avoid sinking. Peter Wilson in his little Formula 3 catamaran also had a narrow escape when he completely stuffed his little boat and turned it over leaving both crew thoroughly soggy and cold!
Finally, in the OCR class, A7 an 18 foot phantom also managed to stuff rather dramatically and also sank. So an eventful weekend was had by all fortunately no one was badly hurt.
Navigation also proved interesting for the hard boats in F2. Whilst, out on the safety boat it was not unusual to see boats tearing by in one direction only to return seconds later going the opposite way to find a buoy they had missed…not just one of them did this but several!
Looking forward to the next race!