Cruising up the Solent to the start line was quite surreal for me, amongst the fleet was Dry Martini, Uno Embassy and Bounty hunter, these boats were from my early years and were the whole reason I wanted to race powerboats, as I remember class 1, it has taken a few years to find a way to compete in the CTC but for me it had to be in a similar boat, and here we were cruising up the Solent to the start on the 50th anniversary, Wow!
We arrived at Northead and started milling around and heard over the radio that Glenn and my Nephew Christian had a carb fire on Bounty Hunter and were unlikely to start, so we headed over towards them only to see them fire up and get going which was great considering the work that had gone into getting the boat to the line. Just as we turned away Stuart, our navigator said ‘problem with the GPS, all I have is a blue screen and none of the buttons work’ I am thinking this really isn’t the time, so we decided to shut down the motors and then the batteries to re-boot the thing, fortunately that fixed it, but it defiantly got the adrenaline pumping.
Within a few minutes we were off and running, I thought we were in a big boat but we were still getting tossed around like a cork, as we turned the Fairway buoy and headed towards the Bill I remember thinking ‘ we've got at least 4 hours of this, not quite as I imagined it. I looked to port we were overtaken by Grey Ghost and before long Dry Martini pulled alongside and went past, we needed to pick up the pace but that was easier said than done, the closer we got to the Bill the closer we got to Mike with Dry Martini and it seemed to get even more rough, they steered to Starboard to follow the coast but we made the decision to go straight across at which time we caught up with Jon and Nick in Swipes, we were all saying over the intercom, ‘blimey’ they are going well, but it did look uncomfortable to say the least, we pulled in front and slowly pulled ahead of them. At this point Stuart came up with the cheery news that we had 50 minutes to run to Skerries, my heart sank, ‘50 minutes’, this hurts now, but we started getting into the swing of it, time flies when your having fun and soon enough we could see the headland, Trevor pushed the throttles forward as the sea calmed a little, we hit Skerries bang on, mind you, it’s a bit difficult not to with modern technology. Just in front was rooster tail which we thought was Cinzano and we followed up to and round Torbay, what a feeling we had made it to half way, as we left Torbay and headed for the abyss of Lyme bay once again, we saw Dry Martini heading in toward Skerries and realised we had made the right decision.
Now we were in a following sea and the waves were getting longer and longer with the enevitable one that you don’t know what it is going to do, next minute we slowed as we ran out of fuel in the forward tanks, one motor stopped before we could change over which really makes you think, you do not want to be drifting around in these seas. The motor fired up and off we went, what a ride the Apache was absolutely awesome, only two or three over the top the rest just sprayed a mass of white water either side of the bow as we steamed through, by now we were able to pick up the pace and run between 30 and 60 MPH, the Bill came and went and soon we were running across Poole bay with slightly calmer conditions, next Northead and back down the Solent at about 75/80MPH which felt positively quick compared to the rest of the trip. We had done it and realised a childhood dream, to race in the CTC.
Great read Tony, Next time I think I will knock it back a few clicks and try and remember it's a very long race, fact is I really didn't think I was running her too hard, the 35 Cig was handling great and I was having a ball, I was thinking anytime soon Tony is going to drive by in the big Apache and make it look like a Leisurely Sunday drive. I will be more prepared next time, I might look like one of those fake Japanese wrestlers in the blow up suite but I will be ready, The bitch of it is I will have to wait a whole year to experience it again.
Cruising up the Solent to the start line was quite surreal for me, amongst the fleet was Dry Martini, Uno Embassy and Bounty hunter, these boats were from my early years and were the whole reason I wanted to race powerboats, as I remember class 1, it has taken a few years to find a way to compete in the CTC but for me it had to be in a similar boat, and here we were cruising up the Solent to the start on the 50th anniversary, Wow!
We arrived at Northead and started milling around and heard over the radio that Glenn and my Nephew Christian had a carb fire on Bounty Hunter and were unlikely to start, so we headed over towards them only to see them fire up and get going which was great considering the work that had gone into getting the boat to the line. Just as we turned away Stuart, our navigator said ‘problem with the GPS, all I have is a blue screen and none of the buttons work’ I am thinking this really isn’t the time, so we decided to shut down the motors and then the batteries to re-boot the thing, fortunately that fixed it, but it defiantly got the adrenaline pumping.
Within a few minutes we were off and running, I thought we were in a big boat but we were still getting tossed around like a cork, as we turned the Fairway buoy and headed towards the Bill I remember thinking ‘ we've got at least 4 hours of this, not quite as I imagined it. I looked to port we were overtaken by Grey Ghost and before long Dry Martini pulled alongside and went past, we needed to pick up the pace but that was easier said than done, the closer we got to the Bill the closer we got to Mike with Dry Martini and it seemed to get even more rough, they steered to Starboard to follow the coast but we made the decision to go straight across at which time we caught up with Jon and Nick in Swipes, we were all saying over the intercom, ‘blimey’ they are going well, but it did look uncomfortable to say the least, we pulled in front and slowly pulled ahead of them. At this point Stuart came up with the cheery news that we had 50 minutes to run to Skerries, my heart sank, ‘50 minutes’, this hurts now, but we started getting into the swing of it, time flies when your having fun and soon enough we could see the headland, Trevor pushed the throttles forward as the sea calmed a little, we hit Skerries bang on, mind you, it’s a bit difficult not to with modern technology. Just in front was rooster tail which we thought was Cinzano and we followed up to and round Torbay, what a feeling we had made it to half way, as we left Torbay and headed for the abyss of Lyme bay once again, we saw Dry Martini heading in toward Skerries and realised we had made the right decision.
Now we were in a following sea and the waves were getting longer and longer with the enevitable one that you don’t know what it is going to do, next minute we slowed as we ran out of fuel in the forward tanks, one motor stopped before we could change over which really makes you think, you do not want to be drifting around in these seas. The motor fired up and off we went, what a ride the Apache was absolutely awesome, only two or three over the top the rest just sprayed a mass of white water either side of the bow as we steamed through, by now we were able to pick up the pace and run between 30 and 60 MPH, the Bill came and went and soon we were running across Poole bay with slightly calmer conditions, next Northead and back down the Solent at about 75/80MPH which felt positively quick compared to the rest of the trip. We had done it and realised a childhood dream, to race in the CTC.
Great story Tony, you are one of the luckiest men alive - you own one of the greatest high flying powerboats in the world - The Apache 41!
Tony
That's one of the best Utube Vids although I've seen it many times still like it everytime i see it,
BTW your boat it the dogs bollocks having seen it when you were out watching the needle Trophy and at Cowes last year.
Great story Tony !
The boat looked great.
Your trip was a culmination of an ambition.
It was my ambition too, but I'm too old now, & didn't save my pennies like my Mrs told me to !
Hope you race next year, maybe we'll have a calm one.
Great read Tony, Next time I think I will knock it back a few clicks and try and remember it's a very long race, fact is I really didn't think I was running her too hard, the 35 Cig was handling great and I was having a ball, I was thinking anytime soon Tony is going to drive by in the big Apache and make it look like a Leisurely Sunday drive. I will be more prepared next time, I might look like one of those fake Japanese wrestlers in the blow up suite but I will be ready, The bitch of it is I will have to wait a whole year to experience it again.
Mike, if you are coming back next year we will definately be there too.
This year we wanted to go to Torquay and more importantly get back, when we ran the CPC last year we broke a rocker mount frame, then earlier this year we broke a rocker arm and bent a push rod, Trevor had the heads off both motors, replaced the complete valve train, changed the pushrod lengths, reset all the valve heights etc, etc. so we planned to run at a max of 4000 RPM to Torquay which we did until about 6 miles out from the skerries, by then we thought if they are still running now we could move her on a bit. In those conditions I am not suggesting we could have run her like Ben Cramer and Bob Saccenti, just excited that we did it.
Hi Tony
It was certainly a great experience running along side you as we did, great memories, remember looking across as we fought for positions, some times meters apart, not sure we will be as lucky the next time. Did you have us in sight towards the last few miles, much longer sure you would have passed us.
Phil
I hit 50 in August and I am going to work a lot less and go play. I will definitely be there, from now on Cowes is going to be an annual pilgrimage for me. I will be building spare motors and drives this winter to make sure I get to the start line. The ribs are starting to heal and as long as I don't Laugh, sneeze, lay down, get up, bend over or try to put my socks on, I feel pretty good. 2010 was great, lets make 2011 even better.
Hi Tony
It was certainly a great experience running along side you as we did, great memories, remember looking across as we fought for positions, some times meters apart, not sure we will be as lucky the next time. Did you have us in sight towards the last few miles, much longer sure you would have passed us.
Phil
Hi Phil
I wish we had met on Sunday, you were going incredibly well and as you say we were running really close together at the begining which was great , once we lost sight of you though, we had no idea where you were, least of all that you were 2 minutes in front. Well done
Tony
Hi Tony, well done and bravo for realising a childhood dream. I know how much effort you and your team put into this to achieve the result you had on sunday. I hope to be up there in the top runners next year and looking forward to running up the solent with you all. Great effort from a great team.
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