Littlehampton Regatta -
when the going gets tough... the tough race V24s!

The weather not only affected Wimbledon this weekend but 'rain also stopped play' at the Littlehampton Regatta. Well, not exactly rain, but bad weather, wind and rough seas put paid to any hopes of racing on Saturday. After much debating, it was finally agreed that the National race would be postponed until Sunday. Fortunately, the wind let up over night and it was all systems go for yet another tough race in the RYA V24 National Championship.

Nine boats were on the start line but sadly Tom Powell and Danielle Strawford's V7 (Playfair Offshore) did not play fair and refused to start having stopped in the muster area. When the green flag dropped the eight boats left to race thundered down to the first mark closely bunched with Cliff Smith and Mark Bridges (V2) and Mark Pascoe and Peter Phillipson (V11) reaching the mark first hounded by the rest of the pack.

A few navigational hiccups (not helped by turn mark 6 sinking!) spread the fleet out a little over the first circuit. Mark and Odette Priestley (V16) and Ricky Hill and Alan Layton (V9) were racing neck and neck both gaining advantage and then loosing it to the other. Pascoe and Phillipson were in hot pursuit, followed by Charles Gardiner and Lee Booth (V24) who were gradually making up ground after an unfortunate start. Spirit of Gibraltar (Glen Mir and Mifi Mifsud) lived up to their name coming out with fighting spirit for a number of tussles with V24 over the first few laps.

Gardiner and Booth managed to gain on V11 on each lap and finally overtook Pascoe and Phillipson on the 5th lap and continued to make steady progress on Hill and Layton.

With the conditions worsening as the race progressed, there were plenty of nerve-racking moments, not least of which when the then leaders Mark and Odette Priestley headed skyward and had a nasty landing giving Hill and Layton another opportunity to fight back at them. The first four boats continued to provide excellent highly competitive, close racing with the leaders (V16 and V9) constantly changing position.

On the 5th of the seven lap race Gardiner and Booth (V24) pulled out all the stops to overtake Pascoe and Phillipson, clawing their way to third position. The penultimate lap saw the Priestley's gain a heathly lead when V9 (Hill and Layton) had a mechanical problem. Gardiner and Booth were able to take 2nd position to finish just 5 seconds ahead of Hill and Layton.

Further down the fleet Terry Mills and son Mick were having a rather uncomfortable ride following Terry's cracked ribs sustained in Ramsgate but they stayed the course, finishing 7th and gaining more championship points in the process. Cliff Smith and Mark Bridges were not having the best of races, having started with such promise, they soon faded from the main action and finished in 6th position. New team Marc Lamont and Ana Banet (V69 Seahorse.org) ran a sensible race gaining more experience in readiness for the trip to Norway in two weeks for the second round of the European Championship.

Positions

V24s in a class of their own

Just half an hour after their difficult National race, four of the V24s were back in action again in the Basic race (which is open to any raceboat). Doritos Extreme (V24), with driver Charles Gardiner and new navigator Richard Agnew, had problems starting due to a fuse wire coming loose in the previous race and started late well behind the rest of the fleet.

Meanwhile, V11 took control of the entire race, leading from the moment the green flag was dropped. Richard Bendy and Lee Booth (V6 PolePosition) putting up a superb fight the entire way in just their second outing of the season and local hero Cliff Smith and daughter Erin (V2 Bat out of Hell) stuck with them to finally take third place.

While Gardiner and Agnew (V24) stormed through the rest of the Basic race fleet to catch the other V24s, V6 had some interesting airborne moments while desperately trying to take the lead from V11. The first three V24s stayed together as a tight pack throughout the race and finally finished with just a few seconds between them. Gardiner and Agnew managed to move up the fleet finally finishing a creditable 5th position.

Pascoe and Phillipson collected the Littlehampton Regatta Trophy as overall race winners as well as being winners of the Unlimited Class.

Positions

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For more information and pictures, please contact:
Bambi Gardiner
V24 Powerboats Ltd
Tel 023 92 221133
Mobile 07768 698070
Email pr@v24powerboats.co.uk

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