Thanks again to Alan and Suzanne Whitewood for another report, this time from the RB12 British Powerboat Festival, in their own words. Ed
Island powerboat racer/designer Adam Younger endured mixed fortunes in the RB12 British Powerboat Festival held in Cowes over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
Piloting his entry Technohull 888, a 28 foot RIB, in the under 300hp category of the Cowes-Poole-Cowes race his boat sustained a broken propeller before reaching Poole.
After being towed back to Cowes Yacht Haven he learnt a fellow powerboater had been injured and required attention in hospital. Adam volunteered to drive the racer to St. Mary’s Hospital and played down his ‘hero’ accolade saying he knew the way there.
Best Designer Award for Islander, Adam
Finally, at the evening’s prizegiving held at the Royal Yacht Squadron, Adam toasted success. He was rewarded with the Best Designer award in respect of PPG Print, a 10 metre Younger RIB, which competed in Class C of the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes Endurance marathon Race.
Meanwhile in the P1 Series Darren Hook (East Sussex) and David John Harwood (London) took the P1 250 Panther honours in the P1 SuperStock Championship’s Cowes-Poole-Cowes in the new Peters & May. Several boats in P1 250 Panther and the P1 150 class encountered problems in the rough conditions, leaving event organisers to make the decision to curtail the planned two laps of the course.
Popular local racer Shelley Jory-Leigh (Southampton) and navigator Dan Smith (Southampton) made a welcome return to the podium – the first time Shelley has tasted the champagne since her comeback from a career-threatening injury. Powerboat racing rookies Simon Bayles (Battersea) and Philippa Baker (Kensington) achieved a richly deserved third place.
Outstanding performances in P1 150
In P1 150, Rose Lores (Hampshire) and rookie Lucci Levi (Cowes) looked to have taken a famous victory with an outstanding performance on their first outing together before there was a change in the Provisional Results.
For 17-year-old Lucci, her first navigational experience was thrilling and exhilarating and marked the beginning of a new chapter in the famous Aitken/Levi family history.
Her Grandfather Sir Max Aitken instigated Powerboating in the UK boating scene in the 1960’s.
Provisional Cowes-Poole-Cowes Result: P1 250: 1 Peters & May; 2 Helvetia Wealth; 3 Team 88. P1 150: 1 Team Purple; 2 Eclipse; 3 Team Fox.
Cowes-Torquay-Cowes results
In the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race, for larger powerboats, the winning boat was Cinzano (M. Hendricks.S.Wood-Power & E Smillie) in a time of two Hours 53mins and 44 secs.
This was closely followed just nine seconds later by Powerboat Asia (M.Lai, CK Siu, T Williams-Hawes).
In third place was Pippa in a time of 3Hours 19mins and 4 secs. On board Pippa were R. Gray, M. Bontoft, S. Hemsley and well known Yarmouth resident John Caulcutt.
This weekend’s racing programme was organised by the British Powerboat Racing Club with support from RB12.
