cowes Sunday

[Jon Holmes]

I believe "Freebooter" retired on sunday.

[Catweazle]

Originally Posted by Jizm

Did Russell's boat (freebooter) make it?
Got any pics?

It was misfiring and flames on left hand bank on decelerating,after some plug cleaning etc he made a start but was back not long after i think.cw.

[Jizm]

Really glad you made it out Russ, great to see the boat on the water after all this time. Better luck next time eh?
Jiz

[Andy B]

Nice one Russ,
There's a sight i would not have seen in the hands of it previous owner.
I'm sure you'll get the teething problems ironed out

[Black_Tornado]

Originally Posted by FLYING FISH

Quite correct Marco.The pics don`t really show the enormity of the seas running in Lyme Bay in that sort of wind.

I often wonder if there was a webcam looking out from Portland that was beamed back to the giant screen at Cowes,then a lot of competitors would be thinking,bugger that for a game of soldiers.

Many boats that have already had a bad enough crossing of Poole and Weymouth Bay head for the shelter of the Isle of Portland,come round the Bill and are confronted by an absolute horizon of breaking seas and foam,and think wev`e just been through hell and now this.

That`s what makes it the world`s greatest race and the challenge should be preserved for all those involved,competitors and spectators.

There was quite a crowd at Portland to witness it,and fortunately the weather was such to bring the majority of the fleet close inshore,but on a calm day,the run to Torquay could well have had the boats running well out to sea,so a mark is badly needed in Weymouth Bay to keep the spectacle and tradition alive for the onlookers at the Bill.

Apparently at Anvil the fleet was split,with Powerboat Asia leading one group out to sea on the direct line,while Red FPT led the majority inshore,so the die was cast there and then.

The race chopper went as far as Portland,landed at just North of the Bill and took off again once Red FPT was sighted past Bridport,and followed him back,so no footage in the horrendous Lyme Bay (which I can understand with costs being so high).

I observe with interest the other pics taken at Hurst,where with less of a sea and more boat speed the props are quite often displayed,as was the case at Anvil with sheltered wind,whereas at Portland the sea was so bad as to force the boats to climb the waves and fall into throughs,so it makes for a different sort of snap.

I wonder how long we shall have to wait for another rough classic like that.

You're right Graham, I believe that that of 2010 was a rare occasion as it was the now legendary CTC 1971.
Although it seems that in the Solent as the Channel is usually pretty typical that weather at the end of August.
But what is important to have the race, went to Portland and then are thrown into the hell of Lyme Bay where even a helicopter didn't wanted to go and they back.
The legend lives on.
Even the race of Viareggio had his moment when with rough seas the boats pointed the bow towards Bastia to over 70 miles and then past the Isle of Gorgona were with the starboard side beaten by the waves generated from the southern Gulf of Lion, in the core of Mediterranean sea, one of the most damaging site in the event of bad weather.
It is significant that with the navigational equipment available today and immortalized on different boats in some pictures these days, then remains the man to choose the decisive route,to Skerries and Torquay and back.
I don't know who on board the FPT thought their two old predecessors to repeat that choice.
Anyway Buzzi as Sopwith and Bonomi took the checkered flag.
There last Sunday you have traveled in a time machine back to the... future.

[billy no boat]

these photos make mine look very average but best we could do floating round in an inflatable out at Needles fairway mark.

have lots more but have tried to pick out some half decent ones!

[billy no boat]

few more..

[billy no boat]

last few for now...

[olli]

If someone asks me why offshore racing fascinates me without ever having been on such a boat in a race, I just have to show your pics. They show it all, no words necessary!

Originally Posted by FLYING FISH

...The pics don`t really show the enormity of the seas running in Lyme Bay in that sort of wind.

I often wonder if there was a webcam looking out from Portland that was beamed back to the giant screen at Cowes,then a lot of competitors would be thinking,bugger that for a game of soldiers...

I am boating now for 30+ years (never in boats big or fast like the ones pictured above) and I have been in some bad seas sometimes but I still can't imagine what it must be like to go that fast in those lively conditions and I think it is the same with some other readers. As there are no race reports out yet I post one of Cowes '94 wich took place in similar sea state Hoping it will encourage some of the participants to report of the race as they survived it:

[FLYING FISH]

You pick out 1994 as another rough one Olli,for it was on the winner that another circa 60yr old (the navigator) Derek Lloyd rode,whilst we have Buzzi in 2010 at 67yrs,Petroni in his sixties on Lady Nara in the roughest ever 1971.

The other rough ones were 68 Telstar,66 Ghost Rider and 81 Rombo.

So not many rough ones,and even the 2010 race was bordline to run in those conditions,with Buzzi apparently saying it was his roughest ever race.

It must have been some experience to only view the way ahead when flying of a crest,as the rest of the time you could only see the next breaking wave coming at you,whilst thumping down several feet into a trough.If you did that every 5 seconds for 100 miles of Lyme Bay,that would amount to about 1500 ankle breaking thumps,and that is only half distance!!!

[woottonwillis153]

Well what a weekend weve just had, great to meet up with some legendary boatmad forum members at the end of the haven wall, littlenige,flying fish (the legend that is in powerboat photography) etc.
We should all perhaps organise a FORUM get together/meet at next years event @ the Anchor !!
Some great photos from all of you on boatmad, you never seem to let us down with your quality.
Overall the event was well organised and well run by the BPRC and RB12. I believe that there is a 3 years sponship deal with Cowes with RB12, this will hopefully add some stability to the running of the event and may attact even more entries in the coming years.
Note: Spoke with Steve Curtis Sunday, and when I asked "is it about time you raced at Cowes again" his response was " next year, hopefully, as long as it is not as rough as today". I wonder what he will be sitting in?

[biffer]

Originally Posted by FLYING FISH

You pick out 1994 as another rough one Olli,for it was on the winner that another circa 60yr old (the navigator) Derek Lloyd rode,whilst we have Buzzi in 2010 at 67yrs,Petroni in his sixties on Lady Nara in the roughest ever 1971.

The other rough ones were 68 Telstar,66 Ghost Rider and 81 Rombo.

So not many rough ones,and even the 2010 race was bordline to run in those conditions,with Buzzi apparently saying it was his roughest ever race.

It must have been some experience to only view the way ahead when flying of a crest,as the rest of the time you could only see the next breaking wave coming at you,whilst thumping down several feet into a trough.If you did that every 5 seconds for 100 miles of Lyme Bay,that would amount to about 1500 ankle breaking thumps,and that is only half distance!!!

we had the old owner of GEE with us and at 75 years old i think he was the oldest, real nice fella

[cfun]

Nice to meet you on Sunday Jon Holmes even though it was via shouting between 2 points, read on here the tracker updated every 3 min's don't think that happened on my end more like every 20 for me but it was great to have it available nonetheless, great pic's as well and thanks to all the others that posted their pic's fantastic

[Jon Holmes]

Originally Posted by cfun

Nice to meet you on Sunday Jon Holmes even though it was via shouting between 2 points, read on here the tracker updated every 3 min's don't think that happened on my end more like every 20 for me but it was great to have it available nonetheless, great pic's as well and thanks to all the others that posted their pic's fantastic

Nice to meet you and your friend too out at the Castle. And many thanks for relaying the tracker information and boat positions to me in my little bunker.

[Jizm]

Anyone get any pics of C99?

[Semaj]

@ Flying Fish: Great pics u took there... espeacially the ones of Apache (B41).
Could you please send me some of your Apache pics - espeacially the Helicopter one. The owner/driver and team are friends of mine and it would be great to have the pics (or just the one) in a higher resolution.

Just contact me. Thx.

Semaj

[Pennpromo]

As ever the best pictures are from Flying Fish on Boatmad ! ( And good to see you in Cowes too!), I have seen some of Chris Davies's from the chopper and they are great too.
As you say GRaham, those back in Cowescould not possibly have grasped how rough it actually was in Lyme Bay and the surrounding areas. The only respite to be found was in Torbay where we managed to run at over 100 for about ten minutes, the rest was down to about 50 or so.
Well done to all that made it there and back !

[lohring]

Grahm
Thanks for all the great pictures, especially of our boat, Dry Martini. It was a pleasure to talk to you before the race for a perspective on the course. We were in survival mode after Mike broke his ribs 1/2 hour into the race. Even so, I believe we were 5th at the half way point. As you can see from our track, we took the long way around, looking for calm seas. There were none except in the lee of Lyme Bay's west shore.

Thanks also to all the wonderful people who helped us and who appreciate what an effort this race is. They don't make offshore like this anymore.

Lohring Miller

[FLYING FISH]

FF (light blue jacket) on the job.(taken from youtube clip on post 31,`cowes results`) and cobbled together by `Black Tornado`,the monkey.

[FLYING FISH]

Originally Posted by Semaj

@ Flying Fish: Great pics u took there... espeacially the ones of Apache (B41).
Could you please send me some of your Apache pics - espeacially the Helicopter one. The owner/driver and team are friends of mine and it would be great to have the pics (or just the one) in a higher resolution.

Just contact me. Thx.

Semaj

Contact Tony Toll.I am about to `e` mail him the pics.He is away till next week.