Magellan Three Peaks Yacht Race
A Busy Night on Ben Nevis
Rob / 30.06.2004
Chilli Nomads, Sealion, Tactix (ZORAH+), Veto and Mous’le. When Chief Marshal Meic Ellis heard 8 boats were coming in close together his first reaction was, “where are we going to put them all!� The lock gates were closed until the morning and the new arrivals ended up rafted together on the pontoon and against a nearby fishing boat, with some having to anchor nearby. There were yachts all over the place.
Ahead of this group Hellefix had already finished, and Ryde Harriers came back just as Tactix (ZORAH+) arrived. 5girlsinaboat had set off at 23.37, so they had an hour lead over the chasing pack of runners, but they were no longer in the Tilman Trophy. After paddling the last few kilometres to the finish (they would have rowed but had taken the rowlocks off) they decided to send Nicky Lavery and Ali Brammall up Ben Nevis. This meant they would only get a total of 3 runners to a summit and were out of contention for the Tilman Trophy.
“We decided to be safe and keep our 3rd place,� said Wendy Dodds. “If Sue or Julie had gone up it would have taken a long time as neither are runners and it’s not wise in these terrible conditions. We’d have one person waiting for another who was much slower and if they turned an ankle or something it would not be safe. We’d probably lose a lot of places too.� They came back 4 hours and 15 minutes later and no-one had passed them, so they kept 3rd place as they’d hoped.
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