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Race
1 - Harmsworth Trophy - Heat 1
- Position: 6th overall
Race
2 - Harmsworth Trophy - Heat 2
- RYA National Championship - Heat 6
- Cancelled
- BIBOA World Cup - Heat 1
Race
3 - Cowes-Torquay-Cowes
- Harmsworth Trophy - Heat 3
- Cancelled
- BIBOA World Cup - Heats 2 & 3
The Harmsworth Trophy
is one of those races that everyone who truly loves offshore
powerboat racing wants to compete in. Comprising of 3 heats
totalling more than 450 nautical miles over 5 days it is rated as
one of the world’s toughest endurance race. For me, this event is
the equivalent of the Olympics. It's tough, it needs an excellent
team to keep the boat together and a committed Co-driver to get
the complex navigation right.
Whilst it's not a National
event and we are not likely to win the Harmsworth (some of the
other boats are over 40 foot with over 2400 hp!) it’s the taking
part and the challenge that counts. Add to that the fact that the
famous Cowes Torquay Cowes race is one of the legs, then you’ve
got us truly hooked!
Having spent months
getting fit to drive the boat for these long races and Mike having
spent hours preparing the complex navigation required, it was
incredibly disappointing that the weather completely let us down.
However, it was a great event with some great experiences…read on!
Whilst people bemoan the
fact that the number of boats competing at Cowes has now reduced,
it still carries an atmosphere that no event can come close to.
It was to be my 5th year racing here and it never gets
less exciting.
We arrived on Tuesday
morning and got ourselves scrutineered. As the racing is long
distance, scrutineering is stringent to ensure the boats and
equipment are up for the trip. The Wednesday was Heat 1 of the
event so we were early to bed the night before and up early to
make sure everything was prepared.
9am we were briefed and we
found ourselves in a room with the likes of Fabio Buzzi (well
known boat designer/manufacturer), various Lords, well known
powerboat racers and the Vice President of Argentina. A bit
different from the usual and all a bit serious!
Unfortunately, we were to
get the first disappointment of the week. With a South Westerly
Force 5-6 blowing across Weymouth, the organisers were forced to
reduce the length of the course to 66 nautical miles. 2 reasons;
firstly to ensure that safety cover could be provided, secondly,
to try to ensure that all the boats completed the course with as
little damage as possible, saving them for the weekend’s racing.
With the conditions in the
Solent pretty good it was hard to believe that out to sea there
was an issue.
The start this year was
amended due to new restrictions and this time we started taking an
Easterly course turning at the yellow marker buoy ‘Prince Consort’
before taking a left hand turn and going west back into The
Solent. This caused a slight problem. There were going to 10 boats
of all shapes and sizes ranging from us in our 30 foot RIB with
400 hp, to the Fabio Buzzi monster which was about 47 foot long
and had over 2400 hp! With a short leg to the first buoy we would
all reach the tight turn at the same time and the wash off the
larger inboard boats is huge.
It was important to ensure
you didn't get boxed in by these boats otherwise you’d be in very
messy water. Fortunately, I got us positioned by the Sunseeker XS
team. I trust their driver (Pete Dredge) and knew that we were
quicker than him off the line which gave us a good run in some
clean water.
It was very strange taking
part in a race when we were in one of the smallest boats!
Normally we are one of the largest and fastest taking part so to
see these great boats hurtling alongside us with the noise that
accompanied them was something else. It certainly got the heart
racing and was incredibly exciting.
Fortunately, with all the
teams being very experienced the start went off well. The start
team did their usual of holding out the yellow flag for what
seemed hours before releasing the green for GO. Its so difficult
keeping very big fast boats at about 35 knots when you know
imminently that flag is about to drop and you’re going to be off.
I was cursing them!
There is a lot of strategy
involved with endurance racing and its not just about going hell
for leather in the first event. If you do that, its likely you’ll
break something and will lose that heat and worse not be ready in
time for the second heat. So with this in mind and we had decided
to tactically take things steady particularly across Poole Bay
where some of the waves were reaching 2 metres in height. To break
the boat at this stage would be pointless.
We hurtled through the
Solent, with the likes of Premier Crew driven by Lord Normanton
and the XS Sunseeker race teams close on our heals. Max Walker
(R69) slightly ahead of us in his F1 RIB having a good race and
then Martin Lai in his RIB Ocean Dragon bringing up the rear.
We charged past Hurst
Castle, The Needles and then out into Poole Bay where the sea was
pretty rough. It was easy to read but the waves were large and
head on and not pleasant. Mike advised me that we had to be on
this course for the next 12 miles, in this sort of sea it was
going to be interesting.
The 3 F1 RIBs pretty much
stuck together for this element of the race, we all carefully
raced across Poole and over to Swanage. Trying to find the Dorset
Yacht mark was interesting, As we came within 2 miles of this
important turn buoy, a huge rain squall decided to dump its rain.
Visibility was down to about 100 yards. We could not see a thing
and were driving completely blind for a couple of minutes. On
occasions like this, you really have to be able to drive by feel
as you cannot see the wave pattern. Mike was relying on the GPS to
find the buoy, it was certainly an interesting moment!
We came out of the squall
surprisingly found the buoy quite easily. Both myself and Max
Walker (R69) running together, we turned the buoy and headed
towards Swanage. Here the sea conditions were not fun. The waves
were just far enough to enable us to fall into the troughs which
made it very uncomfortable, I was very concerned that we would
damage the boat. We then rounded the Peveril Ledge buoy and headed
east back across Poole Bay, across a 16 mile leg that took us back
to the Needles.
This leg saw us in a big
following sea which is quite good fun to drive in, particularly in
a RIB like ours which is easy to manage and rarely stuffs. So side
by side both Max Walker (R69) and ourselves crossed Poole Bay
with Martin Lai further South but heading in the same direction.
The clouds were black
towards the south and the weather looked very ominous. One of the
most impressive sights was seeing Martin Lai in his yellow RIB, as
he fought with the boat over the waves with the black sky in the
background the sight was very impressive. Wish I’d had a camera
as that scene was a true example of offshore racing in all
conditions!
Heading back in, the 3
Ribs were now neck and neck. As we came into better water it was
time to consider some serious racing. We were approaching North
Head and whilst we were in a big following sea still, I needed to
get ahead of Martin Lai who was encroaching on my race line to the
North Head marker and if sensible would try to push me the wrong
side of the buoy. So throwing caution to the wind I put my foot
down and drove to get to the buoy ahead of him. Max Walker (R69)
did the same and we sped up sadly leaving Martin in our wash. The
boat felt good and even I was surprised and the acceleration she
gave us….umm this was going to be fun!
Both RIBs turned together
at North Head and then turned left to round Hurst Castle, then Max
Walker (R69) did his usual and turned straight across our bow
coming incredibly close to us, then increasing speed. The race was
on as the water flattened out and we did not have to concern
ourselves with saving the boats.
Having been careful for
the last half an hour, the red mist was really up with both teams.
It was every man (or woman) for themselves. The boat charged
along, it felt perfect, very responsive and just running right. I
was up for an aggressive race and so was Max Walker (R69).
We headed into the Solent
side by side, very little difference in speed between us. Both
drivers determined to beat the other, the blood was up and I
yelled at Mike to hang on, this was going to be a good race!
There were 3 green turn buoys which had to be taken on our left.
Mike pinpointed them exactly.
Now Max Walker (R69) has
for some time now played tactics particularly on turns and I have
been watching and learning and today was the day when it all came
together. As we sped along I wracked my brains as to how I could
ensure we didn't lose out to his tactics. As we approached one of
the turn buoys a lonesome yacht came into site about half a mile
form the buoy, umm here was my chance. I knew if I moved our boat
to the right then I could force Max Walker (R69) the other side of
the yacht forcing him to take a longer line into the buoy. I kept
looking over my shoulder and whilst I was moving, he wasn’t and
for a heart stopping moment I thought he was going to hit the
yacht. At the last moment he shot around the other side. This gave
me a few metres advantage over him. (I am sure the yacht was not
impressed!). Now Max’s blood was up even more and I knew this
would be a fight to the chequered flag!
We then approached another
turn buoy and for some reason the brain did not function and I had
a major ‘blonde moment’ the adrenaline causing all sorts of
problems! Whilst I heard Mike say “turn to 11 o’clock” it didn’t
register and I slowed and started to turn a tight left to 9
o’clock scattering a few safety boats…oops…I was in trouble and
Mike was going ballistic. Every metre we had gained we had now
lost!
I was MAD at myself and
the air was blue with the swearing. I screamed at the boat to go
faster practically standing on the throttle and trimming out to as
far as I dared. Despite the boat chining and being slightly out of
shape I just didn’t care! We inched closer and closer to Max, the
pressure was intense as both teams knew that one mistake could
cost the race. We were both one the edge as well, a rogue Solent
wash now would make life difficult!
The inches turned into
feet, then we caught Max Walker (R69) again, the aggressive
driving had worked. But I had caught up with him on a turn, I knew
that if I had lost it completely then I could make the mistake of
so many others, trim wrong, turn too tight and be upside down, not
a winning combination! So whilst trying to contain all that
adrenaline fuelled aggression I had to make sure I got a good
controllable turn at good speed but at no risk.
Fortunately, all went, we
both rounded the turn literally side by side only a few feet
apart, I hope neither of us would hook out. The excitement was
incredible, in situations like this you have to contain all that
aggression and keep your head when all you want to do is drive
like a mad woman! The boat was going extraordinarily well and we
were drawing ahead of Max all of the time. The gap was slowly
widening.
The next turn buoy was to
about 10 o’clock. Unfortunately, with the adrenaline at an all
time high I had forgotten to slow down…oops, the aggression was
winning! We hit the turn doing 80mph and I had to fight the boat
to turn it. However, I got the turn just right (thank goodness), a
few bunny hops from the back end and we were off once again with
Max Walker (R69) in hot pursuit.
We were now heading on the
short leg from North to South, here there was a bit of beam sea
and the boat lurched from side to side, but I didn't care, and a
few choice words screamed at the boat seemed to sort it out. She
was going so well, nothing was going to stop her with the
exception of me making a silly mistake.
I can honestly say I was
having the time of my life! Another good turn and we rounded the
final green marker and now had a couple miles of practically
straight racing and just had to go through the finish line. Mike
told me that Max Walker (R69) was on our tail and pursuing hard,
so I knew I had to concentrate and keep the boat going on the edge
to keep our lead. Its moments like this that seem to go so
incredibly slowly. You’re dying to reach the finish line, you’ve
got a few short minutes to go and you know one mistake, one rogue
wave or one navigational error can lose you the race. My heart was
pounding as I just wanted that line to come up quick.
The finish line was now in
view, just ahead, so nearly there!!!! As we neared the finish
line the boat hit a wash, went up, twisted and slammed from tube
to tube, I gasped, I did not want to turn over now or hook out! I
just kept the foot down and the boat righted itself (phew!) and we
were past the chequered flag with Max Walker (R69) 6 seconds
behind.
It was such an incredible
race when the boat was running its best, and everything seemed to
come together. Mike’s navigational skills were tested to the limit
as I screamed at him for the instructions for the next buoy as
soon as we had finished a leg. He was great and gave them
immediately which meant I could concentrate on my turns and
driving the boat to its limit. What a rush for both of us!!
Unfortunately the bigger
boats had faired a lot better than us in the rougher seas so we
finished a credible 6th overall in the first heat of
The Harmsworth. Not too bad!
Remaining Heats
Sadly, heat 1 was to
provide the only excitement for the event. Friday was so wet and
rough and with very poor visibility they had to cancel that heat.
Saturday was gorgeous but
we were not racing so had to agonisingly watch the V24’s and basic
Round the Island Race, which was great to watch.
Sunday was the final day
which incorporated the Cowes Torquay Cowes race. A welcoming party
had been organised for our arrival in Torquay with a lunch etc all
laid on. A huge effort was put in by everyone including sponsors
Tesco, who even provided a fuel tanker for the diesel boats!
Sadly, the English weather
had other ideas and the weather grew worse and worse. The forecast
was for Force 7 to 8 across Poole and Lyme Bay and waves were
breaking at 20 foot. The Solent was no better and whilst not 20
foot the waves were up to 3 metres, very steep, breaking and very
mixed. Not nice. It was the first time ever that I said to Mike ‘
we need a bigger boat’ the RIB felt like a dinghy in such seas
and I have to admit, I did not relish the idea of the taking the
boat out in those conditions. The other issue is if one of the
crew fall into the water, it is incredibly difficult for a safety
boat to retrieve them so on those grounds and after 2 attempted
starts, the race was aborted on safety grounds which was
incredibly disappointing.
As its likely to be our
last season with this boat it was incredibly sad that the
Harmsworth was cancelled. But who knows what's in store for the
future! |
