Guernsey Powerboat Association - Event One Review
All the action from the first two races of the 2014 season
The first two races of the 2014 season hosted by the Guernsey Powerboat Association kicked off the race calendar in style with a successful weekend of racing, with several hundred spectators eagerly observing the races and supporting their teams.
Event One, proudly sponsored by La Grande Mare Hotel, saw 12 boats take to the water, including four new team making their debut, for Saturday’s North Beach Outer course, having familiarising themselves with the race circuits and completed the comprehensive safety training.
In a slight twist for the 2014 season, a rolling start marked the race beginning; something favoured by the drivers, whilst providing better spectator quality too, not only for the land based supporters, who were kept informed of race progress by commentator John Randall, but also for the passengers on board the visiting cruise liner Adonia, who had one of the best views of the circuit.
Despite slightly choppy, but by no means rough, conditions, a closely contested battle was undertaken by all crews wishing to start the season as they mean to go on.
Unfortunately for driver Sean Homer and navigator Dave Le Maitre in their Mercury 200XS powered B23 bat boat C7 ‘Stonetech Racing’, the race was curtailed after the pair barrel rolled at speeds close to 60mph, after having made significant progress working their way through the front pack of racers, now on track to pass the race leader of their class C4 ‘The Boat With No Name’ driven by John Richardson and navigator Scott Hicks.
The incident occurred after negotiating a particularly challenging turn buoy outside St Peter Port harbour; thankfully both crew members were relatively unscathed, just slightly bruised and shaken following the flip, whilst divers and guard boats were on scene and waiting to assist if necessary, with the recently overtaken Phantom C6 ‘Nosferatu’ crewed by Ollie and Muir Ashworth pulling over to ensure the safety of their rivals.
The upturned boat was towed into the harbour and then righted by a team of safety officials, whist the race re-started for the remaining competitors.
Ideal conditions for new racers
For the four new racers, all appeared to be going in their favour with ideal conditions for getting to grips with the handling of their boats around the physically demanding circuit, following months of testing.
It came as no surprise, being currently the only ‘DV’ group racer and effectively in a class of their own, that the V24 canopied bat boat V8 ‘Diablo Racing’ won its category having successfully completed the race, whilst Class C team C21 ‘RG Racing’, a Phantom 21 driven by Darren Leadbeater and navigator Carl Wallbridge and Class A/B boat B91 ‘In The Red’, an Evinrude 115HO powered Bernico 19 crewed by Jacques and Pierre Vermeulen, won their respective classes.
Day Two
Sunday saw 11 boats get wet once again for the Havelet Piette course, but this time with slightly more challenging conditions due to an increase in wind overnight, coupled with the notoriously confused conditions in Havelet Bay as a result of the backwash of boat wake against the breakwater wall.
C121 ‘Me Too!’, a Phantom 21 coupled with a Mercury XR2 driven by Hollie Woodhouse and navigator Bill Gladstone, successfully completed the course having worked tirelessly over the past few months in preparing the boat to what is proving to be another consistent rig on the circuit. Yet another XR2 powered Phantom, this time the 20 foot ’C5 Seaquest Marine Racing’ driven by Richard Le Feuvre and navigator Barry Culver, provided fierce competition having lead the pack at the race start following the repair of a dropped cylinder.
For one of the latest additions to the fleet B92 ‘Bad Influence’ with Gareth Keast and navigator Sue Cosgrave in their lightweight Backdraft 22/Yamaha 90 blue printed motor, the course was completed with ease, with the crew gaining more valuable experience.
Fellow Backdraft 22 racers Niall Bougourd and Ivan Lancaster in C2 ‘Arctech Racing’, a Mercury 200XS powered rig, will be a crew to watch in future. Having started the race in last place, the newly refurbished package was put through its paces, finishing a respectable second closely behind the notorious C21 ‘RG Racing’.
With V8 ‘Diablo Racing’ retiring mid-way through the race due to mechanical problems, Class DV didn’t see a race winner, whilst Class A/B was won by driver Paul Etasse and navigator Chris Stonebridge in their 3A compliant Bernico F2 Extreme A666 ‘Slayer’, powered by a brand new Evinrude 115HO, proving to be a perfectly balanced combination averaging speeds of only 5mph less than Class C competitors.
This first race event of 2014 saw a very exciting weekend of powerboat racing. Despite one major incident, the two crew members involved were relatively uninjured and will endeavour to get their boat up and running-in time for Event 2 of the season, which will see Fermain and North Beach based Races 3 and 4 take place, where additional competitors are expected to take to the water and battle it out for Class honours around a race circuit that could potentially set a local record for the amount of race teams competing at once.
Results
Race 1
A/B Class
- 1st A91 In The Red
- 2nd A59 Magnum Force
- 3rd A92 Bad Influence
- (A666 Slayer non finisher)
C Class
- 1st C21 RG Racing
- 2nd C4 Boat with no name
- 3rd C6 Nosferatu,
- 4th C5 Seaquest Marine Racing
- 5th C2 Artech Racing
- 6th C121 Me Too
- (C7 Stonetech Racing - non finisher)
DV Class
Race 2
A/B Class
- 1st A666 Slayer
- 2nd A59 Magnum Force
- 3rd A91 In The Red
- 4th A92 Bad Influence
C Class
- 1st C21 RG Racing
- 2nd C2 Artech Racing
- 3rd C4 Boat with no name
- 4th C5 Seaquest Marine Racing
- 5th C121 Me Too
- (C6 Nosferatu non finisher)
DV Class
- (V8 Diablo Racing non finisher)
Find out more about the Guernsey Powerboat Association at www.guernsey-powerboat-association.com
Article courtesy of Samuel Stoddart, Guernsey Powerboat Association