TEIGNMOUTH ROUND 3, 4 HEATS, 26TH AND 28TH MAY 07

Saturday 26th, Flat water on the sea front made the first 2 heats very comfortable to race in. At the drop of the Flag all boats arrived at the first turn buoy at the same time, with the exception of Aquaholic A30 which arrived well before the others. Each time the distance at the start runs between the boats are getting closer and closer. Steve and Ali in Black N Blue A2 gave us a run for our money, during the start lap they managed to stay on our starboard side up to buoy 6. Mark held the inside line and turned tight, Steve went wide fortunately for Mark and myself we were able to cut across him and take the inside line for buoy 7. From this moment on we obtained a decent distance and now felt comfortable. Steve and Ali also had a good distance from the rest of the pack, no way were they going to be caught. Mark and I had our sights set on A30 they had at least 100mtr advantage on us. Mid heat A30 seemed to take buoy 6 too tight and squeeze through the gap between B15 driven by Wayne Parsons and navigated by Mark Shear who at the time were taking the turn with A25 Avago racing on their starboard side. Wayne had nowhere to go other than try and keep a straight line. Stuarts prop picked up the buoy and A30 came to a sudden stop. Now Mark and I were in the lead, with A2 still in second place and A13 in third with a considerable distance between each boat. The only way that any overtaking would happen at that stage was if any of the lead boats would cease to race.

Heat 2 saw the boats take a standing start, Mark and I in A11 The Rock took the lead from the start and maintained it with Steve and Ali hot on our heels. The Lawton brothers in A13 and Bernico Bob and Nigel Couch in A9 battled it out for a while to take the third place with Bernico Bob taking it in this heat.

Due to the weather and sea conditions the racing on Sunday was postponed until Monday, however the plug was pulled too soon and by 3pm the sea was race-able by this time it was too late the crews were out and about doing their own thing. Unfortunately the A2 crew were not able to race on Monday and had to leave. Dare I say that had they remained in Teignmouth they would have certainly put on another good show.

On the Monday the weather was similar to that of Saturday. A30 was now back and ready to race. Again Stuart and Steve arrived at the first turn buoy ahead of every other boat and took a considerable lead. Mark and I followed in second place with A13 in third. We managed to keep our placing and I was now convinced that the final heat would be a photocopy of the one we had just run. How wrong was I !

The Start of heat 4 was identical to heat 3 all the boats in the same positions, however we suffered a set back. Part of the electrics on the boat failed the trim and rev counter failed us, the screen was blank. Mark was hoping to get a feel for the trim without the visual on the counter, to make matters worse the trim was not responding. The boat was doing every thing except what it should have been doing. A30 now obtained a greater lead and the pack was catching up. Eventually A9 and A13 overtook us, as we waved A29 past our electrics came on again and we were off. Apologies to Richard and Jake in A29 who must have thought that we were being cheeky and playing with them. We soon caught up with A9 and A13 we ran the back straight 3 abreast and took buoy 5 in a perfect horizontal line. We then saw A9 slow down he was also suffering a set back. The Lawtons now held the inside line and the boat seemed to be gaining more speed. Slowly but surely they were getting away from us. We would have to be content with a third place. A9 by now was back on track and managed to take a fourth place.

The placing for the weekend for the top 3 boats are as follow;
1ST A11 The Rock = 742 Pts. 2ND A13 Voodoo = 650 Pts. 3RD Bernico Racing = 600Pts.

Writen brilliantly by Gingo J