V24s Spectacular in Scotland

Having driven from sunny Norway, the V24 fleet arrived in Scotland to be met with wind and rain. Poor visibility forced Saturdays (23/7) raced to be red flagged after just one lap of an already shortened course. A decision was taken to run the RYA Championship race the following day together with the V24 Championship race.

Sunday dawned fine as Scotland redeemed herself in fine style and racing was a 'go' amid the stunning Largs scenery.

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Ten V24s set off, all determined to gain more points for the two championships. The start could not have been closer with the entire pack running perfectly behind the start boat. Running up to the first mark Martyn Weeks and Jason Nichols (V1 Lamco Design) stormed up the fleet to head the pack with Tom Powell and Danielle Strawford (V7 Playfair Offshore) but there was little between all 10 boats. V7 took the clear water and raced head to head with V7's Ricky Hill and Alan Layton (ColourPro/ColourMet) and Mark and Odette Priestley (V16 Express Logistics).

Sadly the fleet were out of site while they raced around an island. Despite not being able to see much of the action, the boats did race very close to Fairlie Quay and spectators were treated to V24 racing at its best. After the first lap and 10 miles of flat out racing, all 10 boats passed the lap line with a mere 21 seconds separating them.

Tom Powell (V7) had just about stolen the lead from Ricky Hill and Alan Layton (V9) but they passed the turn buoy neck and neck with Ricky giving everything to gain on V7. The Priestley's V16 was hot on their heels never giving a second's respite to the two lead boats.

Waiting eagerly for the boats to round the island again, spectators were not disappointed as again they thundered to the lap line a little more spread out but still with just a few seconds between them. The lead boats were still V7, V9 and V16 and within seconds of them, Mark Pascoe and Peter Phillipson (V11 Sportrib.com) and Terry and son Mick Mills (V3 It Wasn't Us) battled it out for 4th place.

Bat Out of Hell (V2), with driver Cliff Smith and navigator Mark Bridges, lived up to her name as they chased Charles Gardiner and James Sydenham (V24) to the turn buoy. Gardiner was a few boat lengths ahead of Smith and ran wide on the mark. Smith decided to go for the gap on the inside but with the boat running at full tilt and a little too trimmed out, they barrel-rolled and finished bottom up.

With the fleet racing so close together it was just a few seconds before the remaining boats V1 (Lamco Design), V69 (Seahorse.org) and V4 (Spirit of Gibraltar) were at the scene and all pulled up to offer assistance.

Cliff and Mark had not yet appeared and with the safety boat en route to the scene, Mifi Mifsud (V4 Spirit of Gibraltar) donned his diving goggles and jumped in to check on the crew. Cliff and Mark emerged from their upturned boat totally unharmed. They had used their air supplies and, following their evacuation training, they waited until the boat had filled with water before attempting to escape, a manoeuvre that was not totally appreciated by Mark's fiancée Ali, watching from the Quay!

Once they had appeared unharmed V4, complete with a rather wet Mifi, and V69 set off to complete the race. V1 decided to call it a day and headed back to the pits.

In the meantime, hard racing had continued round the island with the boats all still running close together giving spectacular action at each lap marker. Tom Powell and Danielle Strawford managed to just hold off Ricky Hill and Alan Layton to take the chequered flag with the Priestleys in 3rd place. Mark Pascoe held onto 4th position and Terry and Mick Mills took 5th which they were happy with as they are running a new engine.

Mifi's quick actions were applauded by his fellow competitors. 'I was sure they were OK,' he explained. 'But they had taken a while to come out and it is no good waiting, so I just went in after them.'

Cliff emerged triumphant from the incident explaining, 'I'm one happy man that I'm racing in a canopied boat. I had an accident like this is in an open boat a few years ago and ended up in hospital for 3 months. I'll be back at work tomorrow so you can't say better than that!'

They are now working hard to prepare the boat for the Cowes Classic at the end of August. Meanwhile, 9 boats will be making the journey to Oregrund, Sweden for the final round in the UIM European Championship on 13-15 August.

Results:

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