The PowerBar Three Peaks Yacht Race
Into Whitehaven and Up Scafell Pike
Rob Howard / 29.06.2008
EADS Innovation Works came into the Whitehaven sea lock, through which all boats have to enter the newly redeveloped marina, thinking they were in the lead … but they were not. Journeymaker had out sailed them and arrived first at 17.27 and their time of 12 hours 44 minutes was just 31 minutes outside the leg record. Runners Greg Marsh and Gordon Baxter were excited to find themselves in the lead and keen to get going, with the prospect of getting up and down Scafell Pike in the twilight hours, and just maybe getting back in time to exit the sea loch before low tide. Yes, once again the runners were racing the tide. The sea loch is tidal and has a sill, which depending on keel depth, limits when boats can come and go.
EADS following them in at 17.52 to get on their bikes for the ride out to Ennerdale, and while JourneyMaker estimated 9 hours for the Scafell Pike stage, Martin Beale and Andy Rankin were optimistically looking at 7 hours (the record is 6.52). They’d been told if they could get back by 01.00 EADS could get out – in which case they would be ahead of everyone else – bit it is a lot to ask. They’ll have to get the navigation right of course … but set off on their bikes the wrong way and had to be called back!
They were followed in by Hero, who had another exceptional sail, and would also have been close to the record bar their problems in the Menai Strait. They came through the lock with White Cloud, and one of their runners was introduced to a bike he’d obviously never ridden before! He was doing better than Hero’s runners however – they had no bikes at all! Their support crew had not arrived in time and Ben Dodds and Chris Cowen were stranded outside the marshals caravan until they did turn up.
Dodds said, “It’s tough. Each leg on its own would not be so bad, but together they are a different proposition. I’m still feeling the effects of the Snowdon run, and it was only this morning I was doing that!�
Still Smiling came and went, and judging by their Snowdon time, Andrew Nicoll and Robert Lawrence will be hoping to gain some places overnight. They were only just ahead of Hazard Chase, but incredibly they too were with out bikes as their back up team too had failed to arrive in time. After a while a huge motor home lumbered into view and then their bikes had to be unloaded and prepared before they could set off.
At least Killary had no problem with waiting for bikes to arrive – theirs were on the boat!
SleepMonsters
