Saturday race for the RIBS was won by Cardinal sin, the big deisel Pascoe, with Richard Strawford second with the Evinrude and us the last finishers in 3rd place. Andy Twemlow had a fuel problem (didn't put enough in!), but did over 70% so should qualify as a finisher. This was a round of the National champs and the first round of 3 for the Rib World Cup.
The conditions were more than a little nasty with very heavy rain, strong winds big swells and a lot of chop, once round Hurst it flattened out, and whilst it was wind, the laps in the Solent were relatively pain free!
Sunday dawned a lot brighter with sunshine and a strong breeze at the Royal Southern which had hosted a gala dinner for the 100th Anniversary of powerboat racing there, and after briefing we set off for leg 2 which was a start in the Solent and a run down to the Needles, around the Needles Fairway mark, and back to Bournmouth for 4 laps in the bay. Cardinal Sin (the Welby's) and Richard Strawford got away well with us in BananaShark fighting with the Backs for 3rd, we got past them and started trying to catch the Evinrude of Richard Strawford by taking the calmer inshore line and we started catching him, once out beyond the Needles all hell broke loose and waves of over 10 feet and very steep were a challenge to get over let alone race in so we took it easy and made it to the Fairway mark in the lead - it turned out Cardinal Sin had tried to open out a big lead in the rough stuff, and thier electrics had suffered as a result and wouldn't allow the engine to run! Richard Strawfords console had come loose and it meant that his steering wheel, whilst functioning, was not really attached to the boat! When we got to Bournmouth, the only boat in sight was R3 - the other BananaShark driven by Andy Twemlow in his first RIB season and chasing hard, he then had a problem with the lifter, which left us alone for the laps in relatively calm conditions.
The Sunday race was another National Championship race, the second round of the RIB World Cup (the last round will probably be the Round The Island race August Bank Holiday Sunday) and the Needles trophy race, so we got to bring home quite a few trophies for that one! Kevin (Kitten) and our new recruit James took the leisure BananaShark round the whole route as a safety boat, and despite getting a bit damp enjoyed it a lot!
I hope to have the full results soon
Cookee (can't stop smiling!)
PS I'm off to the physio now!