Three Peaks Yacht Race
Everyone out of Ennerdale
Rob Howard / 19.06.2012
Despite the variable weather the race is progressing well, and the good news is that all the teams are still in the event, with two legs out of three completed. (Brioche Boys, who are bringing up the rear, have just arrived back into Whitehaven.)
Although the forecast for last night was good ... the weather wasn’t. So the runners on the Scafell stage had to cope with some persistent and heavy showers. It was cold too, and the pair from Vagabond said the summit of Scafell was horrible; “misty and windy with hail and lightening ... everything but snow!”
The conditions overnight didn’t stop the runners from ‘We Love MCR’ setting a fantastic time of 7 hours 36 minutes, but it was not enough to allow their yacht to get out before the tidal lock gates closed – so they had to sit it out another few hours in the marina and leave with Stormwind, Rho and Sea Fever. This group are having a great race together and just hoping wind and tide can slow the runaway leaders, Kugel Motion.
Overnight the remaining boats on the second stage had all picked up some wind and made it into Whitehaven in the early hours. Kithross II was last in at 03.07. Their tactic of taking an inshore course wasn’t a success, but once again their runners put in a good time and they took two places back, overtaking Salty Peaknuts and Brioche Boys on the Scafell run.
When he arrived back at Gillerthwaite to collect the bikes for the ride back to Whitehaven Tim Godfrey of Salty Peaknuts said, “That was sheer hell!” His team have failed to finish the last two races, but are back to see if it’s third time lucky – and so far it’s going well. “We were not coming this time,” said Godfrey, “but the skipper from two years ago said he was putting in an entry and we all weakened. Then the runners said they were not up to it anymore ... so it was down to us to do all 3 of the runs. We got lost on the bike ride too and went 2 miles too far!”
He had a problem with his small chain ring on the bike, and when it was suggested he could stop and change it manually once he’d done the hilly section of the route his response was, “I never thought of that. If I had a brain I’d be dangerous!” And the response to that from one of the marshals was “If you had a brain you wouldn’t be here at all!” They set off, still laughing, and optimistic of beating 11 hours for the stage.
SleepMonsters
