Boats may still be coming in. The race web site says only 32 finished. Two to my knowledge hit the barrier off Portsmouth - Blue Marlin, a fabulous new Swordsman 36, sank.
Some of the very top race boats are out, including Wett Punkt, and No Worries. The saddest story of all was Ocean Pirate which did the race in 1984 and had attracted a lot of support. She hit the barrier off Portsmouth.
How did our race go? We just about understood powerboat start instructions with muster areas and yellow and green flags. I tucked in behind a fellow Scorpion owner and RYA Powerboating head who I know knows the rules very well.
Soon we were off down the Solent, past familiar buoys. The so-called gates at the marks weren't always very clear. We used a bit of sailing nouse and ran up the mainland shore to keep out of the opposing Spring flood tide. At Hurst, we dived through spectator boats and avoided the main channel.
We were the only ones in sight. It gave us calmer water and a chance to catch up a bit on some of the boats ahead.
Clear of the Needles, the sea became lumpy - mainly due to the big tide, and big winds earlier in the week.
On board Black Gold, it didn't feel too impressive. I think we were doing okay in our class as we rounded Anvil Point with some racy-looking boats nearby.
The exclusion zone at Start Point put our rhumb line course well outside Portland Bill and its famous tide race. After Portland, a lumpier-than-expected Lyme Bay brought a problem. The engine alarms sounded, announcing a shortage of oil in our engine reservoir.
For a two-stroke engine, this is very serious. First we tried willing the problem away, then driving a bit slower. But we had to stop - the engine cowling had to come off despite the size of the sea.
I'm no engineer, but I could see the problem immediately. The small transparent tank was half empty.
I opened the bleed value. Roger restarted the engine. Slowly the reservoir filled. There were lot of bubbles in it. Cowling back on and with new confidence, we started the long challenge of crossing Lyme Bay.
A lot of powerboat racing is about high speeds. As a novice, I was surprised to see big race boats down to 30 knots or less in these seas.
The next challenge was seasickness. I was sick a few times. We didn't lose a lot of time but I realise you need to be careful to keep strong and you must keep up your fluid level. Tomorrow I will be using my Scopderm patches!
We are lying 4th on Day One in our class - RB4.
The winner is out of sight but the the rest aren't, so we look forward to one of the longest legs of the race tomorrow - round Lands End and up to Milford Haven. The forecast is for strong winds and big seas.
Roger has doubled his lifetime power-boating experience. He'll soon be looking for big money offers to do the throttles ...
- Gavin, June 21st
Link:
News of the race shipwrecks
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