Torquay II 2008

Photos and video to follow

What a difference to Torquay I back in April!!  Back then, it was snow, hail, rain, sleet and an icy North Easterly wind we had to contend with. This time around, we were met with sunshine and light winds. Perfect conditions for the second Chase Boat Race of the season.

The drive down was thankfully uneventful but a 5am wakeup call and thick fog all the way down meant that we didn't get to Torquay as early as we would have liked. When  we did arrive, all pandemonium had broken loose and the quay was blocked up with about 150 Laser dinghy racers all trying to get on the water at once. This caused us a few problems in that we couldn't get the cars to the end of the quay. Anyway, things eventually sorted themselves out and we settled in to wait for Big T and Simon to turn up.

Tony had elected to run his new hull design at this event to give it an airing and see how it ran in the rougher water. Simon was running his trusty Makara as were we. The plan was that we would all pit for one another and take video as required. Needless to say, the running order was going to be the usual alphabetical AA-D order which meant that we would be on towards the end of the day.

This gave us plenty of time to fiddle with the boats and make sure they were all as ready as they could be. We had to fit a new servo horn after the last debacle, and for next season, Simon has given us a nice new metal one to fit on the HiTec servo.  Tony and I fitted the new horn and made sure that everything else was ready to go and then we had a couple of hours to kill. Simon sat and watched the Grand Prix on the telly in the back of his car, whilst Tony got roped in to pitting for one or two other racers.

I spent half an hour or so swapping running order with some other racers as all 3 of us had been drawn very close to one another which would have made it impossible for us to pit for each other.  Problem solved however, so we were looking forward to getting stuck in.

First up was Big Tee with the Pacer, with me pitting for him and Simon doing the Cecil B DeMille. It fired up easily and went in the water nice and cleanly. The conditions for Tony's run were good - offshore wind 2-3, calm seas for the first leg up to the rocks then a bit of a chop running up to the island.  There was a little initial concern about whether or not it was pumping water effectively but Tony was happy with the way things were running and we could see a trickle of water running down the side of the hull, so all was as it should be. Tny had a good run to the rocks and the boat was fast and stable. Everything was looking good, with the boat flying nicely, shipping no water and landing cleanly, when all of a sudden, it started making a horrible noise and lost power. Tony limped it back to the Chase Boat and I pulled it in. As we took the lid off, there was a load of smoke and water in the engine bay and it looked a little hot to say the least!  Both Tony and I were poking around trying to find out if anything was amiss but could see nothing. Tony tilted the boat to one side and it immediately started to spit water out of the cooling duct which didn't look good. He turned it over, so at least it hadn't seized which was a good sign but there was a very strange noise when he did so.

I remarked that it sounded like it had a big hole in it, which Tony concurred with and it was only when he started to look at the exhaust that he noticed it had completely separated at the weld between header pipe and silencer!  The tubing had also come adrift at the transom too. Clearly it couldn't run any further like that so sadly that was the end of Tony's run for that day.  He had hoped to bring his big Catamaran down to give that a run later but last minute problems with that precluded him from doing so, so  he had planned to run the Pacer twice. Once to fettle it and once to give it some stick and go for a decent time. Clearly that wasn't going to happen now.

We were up next with Makara and Tony was to pit for me in return. All went well until we fired the boat up and chucked it in when I noticed that the new servo we had fitted was set in reverse control! I turned right and the boat would turn left!  Clearly I couldn't race like that and even had difficulty in bringing the thing back to the Chase Boat! Thankfully, it is a simple thing to fix with just a couple of buttons on the Tx which need changing and then we were off!

I wasn't comfortable to begin with and each time I tried to adjust my seating, I gave the rudder a bit of a twitch and sent the boat all over the place!  I needed to settle down into a rhythm and this we did after a moment or two. I was giving the boat about 3/4 throttle and it was flying well over the chop which had picked up a little. The offshore wind was not causing us any problems however, and as we passed the rocks at the end of the first leg all was going well so far.

The water became a bit more choppy here and I had to back off a bit as the boat was kicking up quite a bit and was in danger of burying it's nose which it did on one occasion, submarining nicely, but thankfully keeping going. Things were like this all the way to the island with a long swell adding to the situation but the boat was handling things well providing I didn't push too hard, which of course I did once or twice to find the limit! As we started around the island, the water flattened off a bit and I pushed on harder, with the Chase Boat having to increase speed to keep up, but this didn't last long as we were soon back into the chop, this time with the wind against us. This meant constant throttling and Tony got me working the throttle hard to stop the carb from icing up.

The boat was still going strong, with an occasional big jump, when about half way back, after a particularly big jump, the engine died.  Tony pulled it back in and whipped the lid off only to find that all looked to be fine - Very little water in the hull, [the Bernoulli bailer was obviously working] and it wasn't looking too hot. He was just about to fire it back up again when he noticed that the throttle linkage had come adrift from the top of the carb. He managed to find one of the screws and screwed it back in again with the plug spanner. We tried it and it held. A quick fire up later and it was back in the water and on its way again. Needless to say, I couldn't give it full chat as it would have meant throttling hard again over the rough stuff and with only one screw holding the thing together, I elected to find a pace which meant I didn't have to keep moving the stick. A steady run back then until just before the line when I opened it up again just at the last. Our time was 11mins 13secs, more than 2 seconds quicker than our run at the start of the year but sadly not enough to get us on the podium but a useful 4 championship points which are not to be sniffed at!

Simon was next up and was determined to have a bit of fun with his boat. I had drawn the video straw and was hunkered down just inside the Rib's sponson with the camera strap between my teeth to stop if from flapping all over the place! Simon was off like a scalded cat! He was giving his boat some serious stick and it was really flying - literally!  At one point going through the chop by the rocks at the end of the first leg, he jumped off a wave and had a major submarine moment which stopped it in no uncertain terms. I didn't think it was going to come back up!  This caused a major water issue and Tony had the Devil's own job of trying to get Simon's boat started again. Time and again, Tony would fire it up and tip it on its tail to try to get as much water out of the engine as possible only for it to be launched and then stop after about 10 yards. He did this over and over but eventually got it going again. 

Simon's Makara was off again like a rat out of an aqueduct, and after passing the island he was really going for it on the way back, adopting some really entertaining driving, which hopefully we captured on film!  It all ended badly however after a huge jump and then a big barrel roll which was most spectacular to watch. I hope I got it on the footage! Marks out of 10 for the dismount Simon? 11! Definitely! After wrestling it back aboard, it looked a little worse for wear, with scale drivers ripped off, steering wheel off, cracks in the hull and even the louvres on the vents bent back! Considering Simon took a good few concours gongs this year, his poor boat now looked a far cry from the beautifully finished craft he had turned up with at Torquay back in April. Having said that, we have all seen a bit of bump and grind throughout the season in that regard!

So of the 3 of us, the Blagspeed Makara was the only one to finish the course on the day with all 3 of us suffering from one problem or another.

There were some seriously quick times set however, with both Mark Copley and Gary Darch setting times in the 7 - 8 minute range in their very well developed Phantoms.

So this event brings our first season to a close with a final score of 51 points which at this stage of the game puts us level with Simon and Geoff Stent. There is one more round to go however in Penzance which we can't get to due to work commitments, so either Simon or Geoff could nick a couple more points and change the situation. John Smith could pip us if he picks up 2nd or better at Penzance, which is entirely possible so things are still very much up in the air as to what our final position in the championship will be.  We have achieved a few objectives however and those are: to try to be in the points at each race we take part in, to try to finish in the top 10 in the championship in our rookie year [not just with OMRA but with model racing of any kind!] and to have a reliable and competitive boat by the end of our first season.

Overall, it's been a great deal of fun, and we have made some good friends along the way. Next year is another story and the learning curve won't be so steep so we are looking forward to fielding at least one new boat and to having a serious crack at a better position in the championship! Roll on 2009!