‘Fistral mixes it up’

ZapCat first racing weekend in Fistral Beach, Newquay is behind us. Who better to talk us through the weekend than Rob Martin, co-pilot of Blue Sheets 1 and current ZapCat Champion in several championships.

“Sun’s out, boats on the beach, all we were waiting for was the surf!”

Friday started with a press and warm up day, getting used to the beach, and the conditions, which provided a great opportunity to get some early season shots of the new boats. The Blue Sheets teams had a strong showing with Nials’ new race truck taking centre stage in the pits, Naomi’s first race in Blue Sheets II with their new pink boat, and a new boat for blue Sheets I. The conditions provided some small rollers with an offshore breeze providing some great photo opportunities, and a chance for the teams to get a feel for the new boats, and their competition.

The predicted small surf did not materialise Saturday with the wind blowing the sea flat, but the slight breeze, and flat water produced very quick, close racing. Blue Sheets I had mixed heat results taking time to adapt to their new boat, and fine tuning their race skills back to the levels that saw them secure the 2009 title. The competition had stepped up to the plate, and were making themselves shown as strong 2010 contenders with Delta Jets and Team Suffolk showing outstanding pace to name a couple.

The heat wins were shared between these boats, and made points for poll in the day’s final very close. In the flat water the inside positions were going to be a real advantage. The teams lined up for the days final with all the top 3 teams showing good quick beach starts during the day, attacking the clean water in front of them.

Blue Sheets I qualified on pole, with Delta Jets, and Suffolk just inside, all teams looking to capitalise on any mistakes. Blue Sheets made a great start holding their inside line going into the first mark three abreast, slowly pulling into a boat lengths lead coming back into the beach. Delta Jets challenged through the tight ‘M’ section along the beach, but Blue Sheets held it off, and slowly stretched out a couple of boat lengths on the trailing boats to take the chequered flag. A tough days heats, and slow start, but the boys showed their maturity by making the grade, and stepping their performance up for the days final.

Sunday brought the waves that Fistral promised, and with it a strong gusty side wind trying to twist the boats as they were going out to sea. A strong rip along the beach also made the beach starts challenging, and really showed which teams had been practicing over the winter.

The waves brought close, exciting racing to the beach, and was worth waiting for, with racers coming out and boats flipping even in the days practices. Blue Sheets I had a tough couple of first heats having to work really hard to keep the boat in the water, and battling the powerful surf. Although not showing the dominating start to the season they had shown in 2009, the boys were consistent, and making sure they made the final.

The third heat brought problems, sitting behind Delta Jets, the boys were pushing for a way past until they believed they took on a bit of water through a wave, but managing to hold onto second place to maintain a solid performance.

The boys were out again in the next race straight after, and thought they had cleared out the problem from the last race, but sitting on the start line it became apparent that a coil had gone, and the boat was only running half throttle. There was nothing the boys could do but just finish the race, and try to get a win in the final heat to make sure of qualification for the days final, with a dominating days performance from Rookie team leaders boat 69 SeaVacation a team to look out for. A quick turn around, and the boys got the boat up and running just in time for their final heat of the day, and put in a dominating performance to make sure they qualified for the days final.

The final saw Rookie leaders SeaVacation take pole position, and a hot team to watch out for, while Blue Sheets I sat in the middle of the pack in 5th. A heavy shore dump made for a tricky beach start, and Blue Sheets were handed a tough card as the flags dropped and 3 real stopper waves left the boys at the back of the pack, while the boats on pole had a good run up to the first mark.

The conditions were tough, and the boys although slowly making their way up were struggling to find any speed in the rough conditions, until on the second lap Team Relentless caught a rogue wave going back out to sea causing them to loose their pilot over the side resulting in a restart.

Blue Sheets saw this as their opportunity to make sure they had a quick start the second time. The flags dropped for the second time in the days final, and saw Blue Sheets have a great start taking the lead into the first mark, though being closely followed by the rest of the pack in the now very choppy conditions. Blue Sheets saw off a couple of attacks as the boats tussled for positions, and spotting the marks in the large swell, but held on to take a well deserved win, all be it hugely thankful for the restart.

Blue Sheets retained their unstoppable run from 2009 by taking both the first two rounds of the 2010 National Championship, and the Blue Chip Newquay Grand Prix. The boys opened their 2010 campaign strongly all be it not convincingly throughout, with the competition really challenging hard, and pushing them all the way in flat and rough conditions.

A big thank you has to go out to Blue Sheets Marine Directory for their continuing support in the 2010 season, and to Rip Raw Clothing for their helmet sponsorship for the new season. Fistral was a great venue providing a vast natural amphitheatre for the racing, and spectacular racing conditions to test the racers.

Blue Sheets 1

Rob Martin
Blue Sheets Racing 1

2009 National Zapcat Champions
2009 National King of Surf Champions
2009 National Zapcat Team Champions

BlueSheets Racing website