The weekend of 17th-18th July 2010 saw UK Formula Future take round 4 of their RYA National Championship to the sunshine coast and the Eastbourne Extreme festival. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the wind it is mid July! Saturday saw winds gusting to well above 30mph which meant unfortunately there was no racing. This didn’t stop our teams who took their polished boats up to the stand on the seafront, and joined in with the festival talking to the public about powerboat racing. Sunday dawned with a reduced wind and the fleet headed out. The junior F400 and S250 fleets completed their parade lap and practice laps but the decision was made to postpone the race as the wind and waves were on the limit. A big praise goes to these kids, the youngest being just 10 years old, as they took it on the chin and made their way back to the pits. The adults then took to the water for what was a really thrilling race. Again conditions were very challenging but this did not stop Andy Bennett driving E12 who took off from the start line like a bat out of hell, closely followed by the Premier Houseboat boys in E75, team Big666 in E10, team Concorde in E15, and the Bristol boys in E41. These were closely followed by the Girlpower girls in 069 and the Powertech marine boys in 007. Poor Keith Whittle took another battering at the hands of son Sam who just isn’t going to let the girls get away. Places changed several times throughout the race with team Big666 taking the chequered flag just ahead of Andy and Will in E12 after a closely fought race. Then it was the turn of Sovereign Radio competition winner Spike Matthews from Eastbourne to take a ride in a race boat. Spike had had a ringside seat for the racing in a support safety boat, and then swapped his seat for the co-driver’s seat in E10. A 3 lap demonstration then followed giving Spike a taste of life in a powerboat. He said afterwards ‘I didn’t have time to feel frightened. It was fantastic, the most exhilarating thing I have ever done’. A short lunch/re-fuelling break followed then the junior fleet again made their way out. This time they got 3 very exciting heats in with an ongoing battle in the F400 class between F22 and F14. Ben and Tom in F22 took all 3 chequered flags but with some setting up of their new boat to do, Mike and Max will soon be back. The Petrol head girls also experienced some technical problems with their boat but battled to the very end. In the S250 class our youngest competitor Tobias Adlam in S6 started all the races in the lead, but lost the first two races to Tommy Pocknell in S24 on the pit laps, however in the third and final race Tobias took the chequered flag having lapped Tommy. A bit more work on those pit laps Tobias and you’ll be there! A big thank you to Eastbourne Borough Council for inviting us, Sovereign Harbour for accommodating us, our UKFFORC team for all the hard work, Dan, our commentator for doing a fantastic job and last but not least, our racers for making it all worthwhile.
www.ukformulafutureoffshoreraceclub.co.uk
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