When Sarah asked me to join her in the Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race 2008, I leapt at the chance to take part. I had never done anything like it before but I felt it would be an amazing challenge and the experience of a lifetime. Having known Sarah since my teens I had complete faith in her abilities on the sea and felt that, were I to do this with anyone, it would have to be her.
The fear of having only light weather training was eased by the incredible boat (Rosy B) which we were lent. She gave me belief that we could get round, although at the time I had no understanding of just how uncomfortable it would be in high, lumpy seas!!
The build up to the start was an experience in itself. The press attention we were getting was somewhat dazzling. So much so that at one point I did seriously wonder what on earth I had let myself in for! After the initial press, TV and radio interviews, and the fantastic help and support from Hicky Gibbs, Sarah and I felt so much more at ease with having to deal with it all. In fact by the end of the Race – we were almost Pro’s (well almost).
The day of the start dawned and the nerves really kicked in. Our sponsors had provided so much help and support that I was terrified of letting them down. Being on the start line with so many incredibly powerful, fast powerboats was such an amazing experience – but having done so many yacht races before, I didn’t find it too daunting (at least you can stop a powerboat, you can’t stop a 70ft yacht!). The trip down the Solent in reasonably flat water gave us a false sense of security, waiting for us in Lyme Bay was a sea that, at best, should be described as … HORRIBLE! Having made it through, the thrill of the chequered flag was fantastic and almost made me forget how ghastly the previous 2 hours had been.
2 days later, back out on the start line and heading out of Milford Haven. We had been given an exclusion zone to go round which meant the first 20 miles was powering through a nasty head sea. With no experience of driving through this we found it difficult to keep up momentum and find any rhythm in the wave pattern. Heading north up the Irish Sea it started to get easier and after crossing to the Irish Coast we found calmer waters and more speed. 9th (out of 48) to cross the finish line at Bangor, Northern Ireland, was our best result. Sarah and I had been given a couple of extremely good weather and wave pattern websites to look at by a friend, Andrew Cape, who is an internationally renowned navigator on yachts. We studiously looked at these every night and morning to decide the best route to take for the following leg. I believe this was one of the reasons we did so well as none of the other competitors seemed to take weather or sea state seriously (fellow Lymington competitors excluded).
By the time we arrived in Oban, we both felt a lot more confident in our abilities, Sarah in driving the boat and dealing with various sea states, and me with the navigation, something I had not done for about 15 years!
The legs from Inverness to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Newcastle and Newcastle to Lowestoft were amazing. We kept well into the coast and out of the higher seas further out. I had finally mastered the Garmin touch screen chartplotter and was able to navigate Sarah from rock to rock and we saw some of the most beautiful deserted coastline in Britain – although dodging lobster pots and guillimots kept us concentrating hard on the route ahead.
For the last leg from Lowestoft to Portsmouth, we really went for it. We had the most amazing start – after the last 6 starts, we knew what to do – watch the start boat from the moment the green 2 minute flag goes up and passes in front of the fleet from right to left. As it comes back to the right it starts to throttle on, at which point we also sped up so that by the time the flag was lowered we were almost at full speed and jostling with the fastest boats for the best clear water. Then, when the start boat peeled off, we were in the best position and going at full speed (50 knots). Sarah didn’t touch the throttles again until we passed the finishing line and were told we were the 10th boat to finish. We were ecstatic. We had completed the Round Britain Race. We had actually got the whole way round, in one piece! On top of this, we had done so incredibly well, exceeding all our expectations.
We had had such fun taking part in this Race. We met some amazing people and received wonderful encouragement, banter and comments about our bunny ears and angel wings from our fellow competitors! All in all it was an unforgettable experience, a genuine once in a lifetime.
I have to mention special thanks to our sponsors, without whom we would never made it to the start line. Also to the very amazing Richard and Gino who greeted us at every port with wonderful welcoming smiles; took our bags; drove us to hotels; somehow found sandwiches and coffee at six or seven in the morning; put up with us chatting on mobiles and fast asleep on the back seat; the absolutely fantastic massages Gino gave us every evening. They really were true heroes who utterly spoilt us and kept us going!!!
Lastly my thanks to Sarah for asking me to join her and trusting me to get us round without hitting anything. I realised quite early on that we had to have 100% faith in each other because our lives were in each others hands, especially if things started to go wrong. I had total faith in Sarah and I thank her for having the same in me. She was the most fantastic team mate that anyone could ask for; huge fun, always cheerful, extremely positive and above all, a brilliant driver. (I’m so glad she drove because I don’t think I would have kept going through some of those challenging seas!).
So, to sum up how I feel about completing the Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race 2008; exhilarated, amazed and astounded that we managed to do so well … you could say brimming with pride!
The fear of having only light weather training was eased by the incredible boat (Rosy B) which we were lent. She gave me belief that we could get round, although at the time I had no understanding of just how uncomfortable it would be in high, lumpy seas!!
The build up to the start was an experience in itself. The press attention we were getting was somewhat dazzling. So much so that at one point I did seriously wonder what on earth I had let myself in for! After the initial press, TV and radio interviews, and the fantastic help and support from Hicky Gibbs, Sarah and I felt so much more at ease with having to deal with it all. In fact by the end of the Race – we were almost Pro’s (well almost).
The day of the start dawned and the nerves really kicked in. Our sponsors had provided so much help and support that I was terrified of letting them down. Being on the start line with so many incredibly powerful, fast powerboats was such an amazing experience – but having done so many yacht races before, I didn’t find it too daunting (at least you can stop a powerboat, you can’t stop a 70ft yacht!). The trip down the Solent in reasonably flat water gave us a false sense of security, waiting for us in Lyme Bay was a sea that, at best, should be described as … HORRIBLE! Having made it through, the thrill of the chequered flag was fantastic and almost made me forget how ghastly the previous 2 hours had been.
2 days later, back out on the start line and heading out of Milford Haven. We had been given an exclusion zone to go round which meant the first 20 miles was powering through a nasty head sea. With no experience of driving through this we found it difficult to keep up momentum and find any rhythm in the wave pattern. Heading north up the Irish Sea it started to get easier and after crossing to the Irish Coast we found calmer waters and more speed. 9th (out of 48) to cross the finish line at Bangor, Northern Ireland, was our best result. Sarah and I had been given a couple of extremely good weather and wave pattern websites to look at by a friend, Andrew Cape, who is an internationally renowned navigator on yachts. We studiously looked at these every night and morning to decide the best route to take for the following leg. I believe this was one of the reasons we did so well as none of the other competitors seemed to take weather or sea state seriously (fellow Lymington competitors excluded).
By the time we arrived in Oban, we both felt a lot more confident in our abilities, Sarah in driving the boat and dealing with various sea states, and me with the navigation, something I had not done for about 15 years!
The legs from Inverness to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Newcastle and Newcastle to Lowestoft were amazing. We kept well into the coast and out of the higher seas further out. I had finally mastered the Garmin touch screen chartplotter and was able to navigate Sarah from rock to rock and we saw some of the most beautiful deserted coastline in Britain – although dodging lobster pots and guillimots kept us concentrating hard on the route ahead.
For the last leg from Lowestoft to Portsmouth, we really went for it. We had the most amazing start – after the last 6 starts, we knew what to do – watch the start boat from the moment the green 2 minute flag goes up and passes in front of the fleet from right to left. As it comes back to the right it starts to throttle on, at which point we also sped up so that by the time the flag was lowered we were almost at full speed and jostling with the fastest boats for the best clear water. Then, when the start boat peeled off, we were in the best position and going at full speed (50 knots). Sarah didn’t touch the throttles again until we passed the finishing line and were told we were the 10th boat to finish. We were ecstatic. We had completed the Round Britain Race. We had actually got the whole way round, in one piece! On top of this, we had done so incredibly well, exceeding all our expectations.
We had had such fun taking part in this Race. We met some amazing people and received wonderful encouragement, banter and comments about our bunny ears and angel wings from our fellow competitors! All in all it was an unforgettable experience, a genuine once in a lifetime.
I have to mention special thanks to our sponsors, without whom we would never made it to the start line. Also to the very amazing Richard and Gino who greeted us at every port with wonderful welcoming smiles; took our bags; drove us to hotels; somehow found sandwiches and coffee at six or seven in the morning; put up with us chatting on mobiles and fast asleep on the back seat; the absolutely fantastic massages Gino gave us every evening. They really were true heroes who utterly spoilt us and kept us going!!!
Lastly my thanks to Sarah for asking me to join her and trusting me to get us round without hitting anything. I realised quite early on that we had to have 100% faith in each other because our lives were in each others hands, especially if things started to go wrong. I had total faith in Sarah and I thank her for having the same in me. She was the most fantastic team mate that anyone could ask for; huge fun, always cheerful, extremely positive and above all, a brilliant driver. (I’m so glad she drove because I don’t think I would have kept going through some of those challenging seas!).
So, to sum up how I feel about completing the Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race 2008; exhilarated, amazed and astounded that we managed to do so well … you could say brimming with pride!
1 comment:
A great account, Miranda. What a grand partnership you and Sarah have been. We are full of admiration for your navigating skills. Cant think of anything worse than dealing with electronic charts bumping along at 50 knots.
Love Carol
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