Jordan and Jess head to national final 

North West Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship

Jordan Muckles won the Honda RYA Youth RIB North West Regional Final at his home club, Lancashire Powerboat Racing Club on Carr Mill Dam in St Helens on Saturday 28 July, with possibly the fastest time in the competition so far, clocking 56.81 seconds.Sixteen year old Jordan, had to steer a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) around a complex course in a time trial.

His win at the weekend means entry for the national finals at the Southampton Boat Show on 16 September. Normally, Jordan races a GP 30 Powerboat and lies in third place in the RYA National Powerboat GP Championship.

He has been racing since his first entry in the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship in 2007 , after his local fishing club saw how well he was driving and handing his father’s small fishing boat.In 2010 became World Champion in his age category in 2010 Formula Future (a RIB event) where he competed against racers from Malaysia, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Slovakia and Portugal.  

Jordan said: “I’m really pleased with my performance today. It was my first time back in a RIB boat since taking part in Formula Future in 2010. I was nervous about getting back into one these types of boats after racing my GT30, as they handle in a completely differently way.

"But after a short practice I remembered what to do and I am pleased with my time of 56.81 seconds. I hope I can do even better and improve on this time in the final to win the title both for myself and on behalf of my club, Lancashire Powerboat Racing Club".

Twelve year old Jess Pulford from West Kirby won gold in the 8-12 age group beating her big rival for honours - sister Emily who took silver in the 13-16 age category.Boating in many forms are a passion for Jess. She  also enjoys water skiing, wakeboarding and knee boarding. In yacht cruising she has achieved a RYA Competent Crew qualification, has passed RYA Keelboat and holds both the RYA 1 and 2 Dinghy. 

She and her sister became interested after dad Graham bought a boat three years ago.This was her first competitive event, having won the heat held at her home club a few weeks ago.

After the win, Jess said: “I am very surprised and really exciting about winning today. The chance to win a boat for my club (West Kirby Sailing Club) is brilliant. My sister came along as the favourite to win in the older age category for our club, but she only managed second place and I have taken the victory in the younger age group! I am really pleased as it was totally unexpected.” 

Three other competitors from the Lancashire Powerboat Racing Club also competed in the Honda Youth RIB event, two of them in the 8-12 age category and driving a RIB for the first time. Eleven-year-old Joshua Bridge from Westhoughton managed a time of four minutes seven seconds, just 30 seconds behind the winner. His sister Bethany, aged 12 struggled to get to grips with the boat in the first run – the pair had only recently joined the club to water-ski. 

But on the second run she improved her time by an impressive  70 percent, clocking five minutes, 41 seconds.Joshua really took to powerboat driving as a result of the experience and is keen to develop in the sport.

It was also first time in a Rib for Charlotte Newton, aged 14 from Lowton in Warrington. She took third place in the 13 to 16 age category. Charlotte put in a faultless performance and incurred no penalty points, she finished in an impressive time taking just 3mins and 0.6 seconds to complete the course.

Charlotte is hoping to get a lot more practice of this type of course over the next twelve months to take over from Jordan and become the new LPRC Champion for this age category.

Thanks to Championship sponsors Honda and Ribcraft.

For more information about the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship, details on how to get involved and a list of regional finals scores visit www.rya.org.uk/go/hondayouthrib

For more about this event or LPRC please contact lancashirepowerboat@gmail.com or alternatively call LPRC Media Team - Nicky Goodman on 07854 175116, or Glynn Cunliffe on 07887 791998.