Written by:craig
08/09/2009 22:50 

No we’re not talking about Craig’s new hair cut!

Edinburgh was a new event this year, and the first time the Zapcat’s had been back to Scotland since 2007. Incorporating the weekend’s racing around the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the biggest Art’s festival in the world, I arrived in Edinburgh early Friday to take in some of the entertainment, and see what the City had to offer. The whole city was buzzing; with no spare accommodation it was going to be an exciting weekend, with a large audience.

We were going to be racing next to the Royal Yacht Britannia outside the Ocean Terminal shopping centre which provided a perfect spectator viewing point from all the shops, restaurants and bars along the dock, with even two cruise liners stopping off to watch over the weekend.

The dock we were racing on was flat water, about half salt, half fresh water, with the close proximity of the shopping centre providing strong gusty conditions to spice up the racing. Our speed this season has been very strong, and by far the best performance we’ve got out of these boats in our 5 years of racing. We were confident of another strong weekend, knowing good results would leave us in touching distance of the National Title. Following the obligatory discards where your two worst results were dropped our lead arriving at Edinburgh had closed dramatically with us having to drop a full 200 points, as we couldn’t drop our disqualification at Barry Island.

Saturday started off well with a technical course, and pit lap, with many of the turns into the wind, you had to keep an eye out for strong gusts catching the nose of the boat. Speedy Hire had a very strong days racing, and so did Cat in the Hat. Making sure we couldn’t take the foot off the gas. Loosing our Team Leaders vests at Barry Island meant we were determined to win them back, and with team Lost Buoys, Randall and Pain struggling with engine problems we knew between us, Dan and Nathan we had to capitalise. We finished the day’s heats on poll for the final, with the sun just about holding out, and still a strong wind whipping around within the docks.

The final got off to a quick start with Speedy Hire getting slightly in front from the line, though the long run into the first buoy we were back at the front for the first mark, though with the events in Barry Island we were aware we couldn’t afford another disqualification, we had to make sure we finished every race now. We got the clean water out in front, and by pitting on our first lap saw the rest of the fleet tucking up behind us as the laps went on. With a big crowds sitting on the balconies and watching from Britannia we crossed the finish line 1st winning our 10th race out of 11, real championship winning form. This win along with a good days racing by Dan and Nathan in Bluesheet's 2 saw us take back the Team Leaders jersey for Bluesheets Racing.

Saturday night the Ocean Terminal shopping centre looked after us well by providing a free bar, and food for all the racers, and the Zapcat team. This gave us time to have a chat to all the other racers, and reflect on the days racing. Obviously with racing the next day everyone had an early night, also making sure they didn’t miss church!

Sunday started off wet, with the wind we had on Saturday gone, it was looking very flat. Randall and Pain were hoping to have solved their engine trouble’s from Saturday, and Delta Jets changing their reeds meaning with a quick boat with broken reeds on Saturday they would be chasing us hard all day. With both boats in team Lost Buoys, we were going to have to work hard to maintain our Team Leaders jerseys.

By changing the start, now with a shorter run into the first mark, and the other boats stepping up the competition we didn’t have the racing our own way. With flat water, and the lack of wind we were struggling to make our usual impact. We had a mix of results in the heats, with two wins, a 2nd, and two 3rd’s. Speedy was again pushing us all the way, Delta Jets proving very quick off the start with a light crew, and Neil from Rana Park finding his speed again. Randall and Pain had engine problems for the second day, and had to retire from the days racing, so a solid performance from team Bluesheet’s would mean extending our Team Leaders points over team Lost Buoys.

Sunday’s final was stacking up to be another very close race, with a restart after a spectacular flip by Cat in the Hat slicing the buoy in two. From the restart the entire fleet was level, until Delta Jets suddenly picked up speed with an unbelievable turn of acceleration from outside the pack. We managed to hold them off to the first mark, taking the inside racing line. This meant we could give them our dirty water, and try and slow them down. Delta Jets stuck on our tale the entire race, and were looking for a way past every lap getting closer, managing to hold onto the lead to win round 12.

This puts us in a very strong position going into Watergate Bay at the end of September for the final race of the season. Though the Championship isn’t the only award up for grabs, missing out last year by 5 points for King of the Surf means we really want to win this too as we see ourselves as very strong in the surf we’re driving and team work are more important than speed. We also want to take home the Team Championship to make it a clean sweep for Bluesheets.

We would just like to say a big thank you to Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre, Forth Ports Plc, GMFCo, Leith Harbour Master, Edinburgh City Council and Councillor Cardownie – Chair of Festival and Events for making the event happen and to all the supporters for attending.

Rob

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