Three Peaks Yacht Race
In and Out of Whitehaven
Rob Howard / 18.06.2012
For most of Monday the race leaders ‘Kugel Motion’ were the only team at Whitehaven and on Scafell Pike. It wasn’t until shortly after 8pm that the chasing pack of 5 boats finally arrived, having had wait outside the sea lock for the tide to rise.
Shortly after their cyclists set off they passed the pair from Kugel Motion returning from their trip to Scafell Pike. After they had checked in on their return to Whitehaven and met their 3 sailors a smiling Aladair Fraser said, “It was good to see them all setting off the other way when we were nearly back!” His running partner Stuart Bramfeld looked very weary after the longest stage of the race and just said, “Thank heavens that is over!” Their team met them with a towel and some shower gel, taking 5 minutes to allow them to shower at the marina before getting back on the boat.
The chasing group of 5 were lead away by ‘We Love MCR’ who raced along the promenade at high speed. They were determined to try and set a 7 hour time which would allow them get back out before low water in the early hours of the morning, but to do this overnight is a tough challenge. (The pair from Kugel Motion took just under 9 hours.)
Within a minute the rest of the teams were following them along the promenade to start the longest land stage of the race. This group included Stormwind, Rho, Sea Fever and Quickstep, with Beach Fox following some time later. All the runners from these teams are in for a long night in the mountains and the good news is that it will stay dry, though it’s surprisingly cold for the time of year.
The remaining boats are still making their way into Whitehaven and are some distance behind but have now picked up speed and should arrive before low water early tomorrow morning. After their grounding off Anglesey Thor has now caught up and is with the final group of boats, while Kithross II is continuing on its inshore route, a tactic which hasn’t seemed to find them any more wind.
SleepMonsters
