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Littlehampton has had some fantastic weather for the past 8 years
it was therefore very upsetting for everyone that this run of good
weather changed to reveal one of the most wettest and miserable
weekends of the summer.
Held over the weekend of 3rd & 4th July the plan was National 2
litre and V24 racing on the Saturday and a Basic Race on the
Sunday. As there were no National points for RIB races we decided
to race R5 in Sunday’s basic race and use it for propeller testing
(you never stop learning!).
Saturday came and went with no racing, gale force winds and heavy
rain. This forced the organisers to change Sunday’s schedule and
go for a 3 race day with nationals for V24 and 2 litre being held
at 1pm with the Basic race at 3pm.
Race Day arrived and whilst the wind had calmed a little, the rain
continued to pelt down getting worse throughout the afternoon. It
just goes to show the dedication of the competitors and organisers
alike that the racing happened at all!
Three RIB’s took part in Basic race, Neil Jackson in Invincible
(Formula 2), Dave and Mark Cockman in Cider Daze (Formula 2) and
ourselves (Formula 1). The rest of the fleet were made up of a
mixture hardboats including V24’s.
The conditions had slightly improved from Saturday but there was a
large chop with the odd ‘hole’ to catch you out. The V24’s were
certainly going to be favourites in this sea with waves to pierce
rather than fly over!
The start was interesting. An apparent ‘incident’ with Cliff Smith
in his V24 meant that the start was aborted and had to be rerun.
Second time was clear and off we went. Myself and Mark Pascoe in
his V24 near the beach with Cliff Smith and Richard Bendy in their
V24’s slightly offshore, all of us heading to the first turn mark
at about 70mph and neck and neck.
The sea along this leg was OK, a bit lumpy but drivable and a few
airborne moments were had by all. This was going to be the
beginning of a good race!
We turned around the first marker buoy and headed offshore to the
next turn mark. This leg was about 2 miles long and had its share
of large waves and some holes that caught you off guard. All of
the boats without canopies were slowing as we all got tossed
about. Due to a new choice of props we were often pinging from
tube to tube in this sea which was a little unnerving!
The V24’s showed their prowess in this type of sea and very
annoyingly pulled away from us. As we were skywards they were
ploughing through the walls of water.
The next turn buoy had us heading towards land again on a leg of
similar length. The sea here was a little mixed and predominantly
a following sea, which meant trimming out to keep the bow from
stuffing. This was fine until a rogue wave caught you on the beam
and send you skywards and sideways. With a combination of very "torquey"
props and mixed sea in pouring rain, I was not driving well and
the V24’s were certainly getting further ahead.
My arms were now aching like crazy as I fought with the boat and
we still had 5 laps to go. I was not enjoying myself a bit.
The next leg saw us coming up along the shore towards the
pier. This was slightly better and as the race progressed this
section of the course levelled out. This was the only place where
we stood a hope in gaining something on the V24’s. I wound the
boat up to 75mph and we started to slowly eat away the gap but as
soon as we turned into the outer leg again we were slowed by the
bigger sea. This was a very frustrating race!
We continued along passing some of the smaller boats who were
doing very well considering the conditions. The Cockman's in
Cider Daze were having a great battle with Neil Jackson in
Invincible and were neck and neck for much of the race. New Basic
race competitor Carl Tate in his newly acquired Backdraft Batboat
‘Explosion’ was doing equally well and leading the Sportsboat 2
class which he ultimately won.
Fortunately, there were few incidents and amazingly only one boat
retired. This was Cliff Smith’s old canopy boat ‘Tubhumping’ which
had turned over once again. Fortunately the crew were fine and in
good spirits, and at least they had giving the soaking crowd
something different to watch!
Nothing much changed after the first few laps, the V24’s got away
from us on the outward rougher legs and we gained on the shore leg
to finish a disappointing 4th with a delighted Mark
Pascoe putting in a very good performance to win the race overall
by 3 seconds in his V24. The following 2 positions were taken by
V24’s with us 4th and the next boat 4 minutes behind.
Neil Jackson and Dave Cockman had battled hard for the length of
the race with Dave finally gaining the advantage. This meant that
in Sportsboat Class 2 it was the Formula 2 RIB’s that took 2nd
and 3rd places.
Overall a good but challenging race was had by all and whilst we
all got very wet it was certainly worth it.
At least this is good practice for Scotland which is in a few
weeks! |
