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The Cancer Charities race in Poole does not
count towards National Points however it is always hotly contested
and this one was no exception. Arch rival Max Walker with
girlfriend Rebecca Vowles were out to make it a double (having won
the previous race in the Club Classic series) and they were raring
to go.
Sadly, Mike could not race with me, not having
him there was strange. But we had decided to make the best of the
situation and ask World Champion Driver Neil Holmes and Powerboat
instructor to Co-Drive and provide tuition actually in a race.
This was a fantastic chance to hone my driving skills with one of
the best in the world.
On the Saturday we went out to do some testing
and we were flying offshore in a fairly big head sea. I was
beginning to realise the difference between someone who can drive
a boat and someone who can race a boat to win, I was having a
fantastic time!
So Sunday dawned, the wind had sadly dropped
and the sea was incredibly flat which was a little
disappointing. The crowds were out in their numbers on the
beaches, in pleasure boats and on jet skis and there was one hell
of an atmosphere. This race was pretty much going to be a head to
head between Max and myself, people who follow racing were
watching with great interest.
The race started on time and the start boat
dropped the green flag very quickly which is always a relief. We
were quick off the start line and level with Max past the pier and
up to the first turn buoy. This is quite a tight turn and Max had
the inside line and slightly got ahead of us. We headed out to
the next mark (Lightwave) a tiny yellow buoy which is always
difficult to find.
My heart was pounding as I realised that 1. I
was keeping up with Max and 2. I was going to have to drive like
hell to keep up and overtake him, a daunting prospect.
After Lightwave, we now headed back towards
land on a 2 mile stretch that took us a bit beyond Boscombe pier,
here there were two marker buoys to turn around and then we headed
back towards Bournemouth Pier.
Once again we did a similar circuit and whilst
we were not catching Max we were staying with him, the
anticipation was growing incredibly, if you’d taken my blood
pressure it would have been off the scale!
So onto a further lap we went. Both boats shot
past Bournemouth Pier and we were still on Max’s tail but despite
the pressure we were putting him under, he was not giving anything
away. We took the next turn buoy and headed out again to the
furthest yellow mark.
We then hit some rogue waves and I lost my
concentration and for a second was not flat out. Unfortunately,
the net result of the lost concentration was as follows…
Neil is not a navigator and Max has been known
to make a few errors in the past as well. We headed out towards
the yellow buoy and Max and Rebecca were heading off towards open
sea! Where was he going? This was our chance to catch him.
Unfortunately Neil suddenly wasn’t sure, I questioned him (fatal)
and we then had no idea where the yellow mark had gone! Disaster!
It was a weird feeling, I just felt completely
lost on the course and poor Neil was feeling the same, every
second of hesitation we were losing the lead we could have been
gaining. Suddenly we saw a few of the F2 boats and pointed out the
Kingsbury Homes yellow marker which we were missing….but was it
the right one?
We knew it had a cross on the top so instead of
taking a chance and risking elimination we turned back and
actually drove up to the marker to check!!! What a nightmare.
What was hilarious was that unbeknown to us the
canopied V24 boats had been following both myself and Max and were
now as confused as we were! Apparently they circled a few times
before getting their bearings again, it must have been funny to
watch.
As soon as we knew we were right, we were off
again, foot firmly to the floor and the red mist growing!!! I was
mad at myself for going wrong.
Max was equally mad and he and Rebecca were hot
on our tails but far enough that we had a significant lead, well
until I had a total ‘blonde’ moment that is…..
The red mist had completely destroyed any
intelligence and I had forgotten that there were two turn buoys at
the bottom and not one. Neil was screaming at me to go right and
I just panicked going more and more left and missing the buoy. Ahh…
this couldn’t be happening!!!! Finally I was back on track but
now we were back neck and neck. We very slightly (and I mean a
few feet) had the edge on Max and wow were things were hotting up.
Max was slowly gaining on us. Every wash, wave,
beam wash, I had to drive through at full tilt or lose to Max.
We sped past Bournemouth Pier and Max was on
our inside as we headed towards another tight left turn to head
out to Lightwave. I could see the nose of his boat out of the
corner of my eye to the left. Neil screamed at me to keep turning
left, every brain cell was telling me not to! I was firstly,
headed straight at the buoy I was supposed to turn around and
secondly, Max was going to hit us!!!
Brain cells are great but they don’t win races…
I went against my senses and listened to Neil. We were now
travelling at 80mph straight towards the buoy with Max about to
touch the boat with his bow….wow!!
We got to the buoy, I backed off for a second
to make the tight turn and completely cut him off, forcing him to
go around the back of me and soaking him with our wash….this was
just the most amazing experience!
We had two laps to go and I knew I had to keep
him off us, he would fight to the end and I knew with his
experience he would not make a mistake. Now I had to drive for
the race! I was screaming at the boat to go faster and
practically standing on the foot throttle. Calm was not an
option.
We came up to the Boscombe pier, fortunately
there were two slower boats on our inside so we gave ourselves a
good line around the corner which also forced Max further out.
The stern stepped out slightly and for one
second I throttled off and held my breath. Then, once again we
were headed out towards the pier and again we were neck and neck.
Unfortunately, throughout the whole race we had
boats crossing in front of us (pleasure boats with spectators) and
their wash was on occasion pretty big. I just couldn’t back off
knowing Max was there just within feet of us.
Again we passed the pier, this was the last lap
and by now I was amazed that I hadn’t had a heart attack. I was
trying so hard to concentrate as a single error could cost me the
race.
We turned well at Lightwave and headed towards
the shore for the last time. Things started to settle down, the
boat was running so smoothly and even the odd wave and wash did
nothing to slow it, the foot was firmly down and staying there.
We came out of the final turn around the 2 last
buoys, a good sweeping turn. So far none of my turns had been
perfect but this one had to be to win (no pressure then!). I had
to take the exact right line at full tilt to ensure that I did not
lose one inch to Max. And I did it, a perfect turn, at 77mph
which kept Max at bay. Now I had about half a mile to the finish
and I HAD to concentrate, I could not make a mistake.
My heart was in my mouth as a cruise boat wash
loomed ahead, whilst it wasn’t big it was mountainous in my eyes
as it could have just lost us a split second, but I focused, drove
at it and if anything gained a few feet.
When we were within a 100 yards of the finish
line I shouted to Neil ‘Have we won?’. ‘Not yet, drive’ was the
response and a second later, ‘now you’ve won!’.
What an absolute blast. I had beaten one of
the country’s top drivers, learnt loads in the process and the
confidence was oozing!!!
The two teams had had an awesome race and all
four of us had a great time, including Rebecca who was out in a
race for only the second time.
1 all in the Club Classic series! I Cannot wait
for the next race now!
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