ZapCat Edinburgh Grand Prix – Blue Sheets 1 Race Report
Edinburgh Grand Prix – Race Report
By Rob Martin (co-pilot: Blue Sheets 1)
After the flat water of Belfast, it was onto another flat water race in Edinburgh with another technical course produced by the OOD with severe weather due over the weekend requiring high levels of concentration trust and co-ordination to keep the boat on its limit without loosing control!
The windy course consisted of two technical legs, a pit lap, and a long drag into a crosswind with considerable gusts really testing the crews. The laps were draining, and with the weather closing in over the weekend, really tested the teams adaptability to the changing conditions whilst maintaining a consistent lap.
Saturday – Round 5:
Saturday produced the better weather of the two days with plenty of support lining Leith Docks along side Britannia, and the extreme fairground rides.
The racing was fierce particularly in division 1, with many teams pushing for top spot, with SeaVacation trying to make up for an their performance in Belfast and Blue Sheets 2, Dan and Naomi making their way up into division 1 for the first time in 2010, and looking to push Blue Sheets 1 all the way and make a name in their own right.
Blue Sheets 1 didn’t get it all their own way with Team Bladerun having the edge over them in the heats, with particularly very quick starts off the line into the first corner.
The first corner was proving to be a hot spot for action, overtaking, and bumping to get into the best racing lines, and proved to Blue Sheets 1’s downfall with a collision in heats resulting in bent engine mounts causing the steering and straight line speed to be affected in the technical course.
The boys did well however in their remaining heats but could not keep up with the pace being set by Team Bladerun, who took poll in division 1 for the Saturday final, with Blue Sheets 1 in second place.
Blue Sheets 2 also had a very strong day with a consistent top three position in most of their heats, not bad for a division 1 debut. Team Speedy Hire absent from Belfast also produced a strong performance as well as Delta Jets and Team Suffolk fighting for positions as well for the days final.
The Saturday final produced some very close racing with all boats very evenly matched, and the pit lap requiring close attention to be able to react with the decisions of the other teams around to pit at the right time to take full advantage of clean water or blocking off other boats from getting past.
Blue Sheets 1 had a good start outside of Team Bladerun, but could not quite find a way past. Blue Sheets were particularly attacking Bladerun through the technical parts of the course really displaying superior boat control, and attacking the course, but could not find the final push to get past Bladerun.
Blue Sheets 1 showed great skill, and finished a deserved second, while Dan and Naomi in Blue Sheets 2 finished a seasons best of fourth in division 1, picking up valuable team points for the Blue Sheets team as well.
Blue Sheets 1 discovered while pulling the boat out of the water on Saturday night they also had a broken prop guard as well as engine mounts, and so a long evening pursued to fix the problems, knowing that the weekend could still be achievable with a good performance on Sunday.
Sunday – Round 6:
With changes made, and hopefully engine fixed, Blue Sheets 1 came back more determined to secure the number one spot than before, and to prove to Team Bladerun who are the team to watch.
The racing was close and frantic again with severe weather due in as the day progressed requiring constant monitoring by the teams.
Blue Sheets 1 were more competitive and pushing Bladerun into mistakes, and taking advantage with some good wins throughout the day, pushing hard, and even almost flipping as the tried to barrel roll in a straight with up to 70mph side gusts keeping the teams on their toes.
Blue Sheets 1 just managed to head the racing from Bladerun to take pole for the Sunday’s final which is a huge advantage for the first corner and taking a clean line.
Blue Sheets 2 produced another spectacular flip on the first corner off the start going airborne over Team Relentless, and unfortunately resulting in them missing out on the Sunday final.
Sundays final was another very close battle between Blue Sheets 1 trying to make up from their second place on Saturday, and Bladerun going for s second successive victory, and the weekend title.
Blue Sheets 1 got the got a good start with a drag race to the first corner, taking the inside line just ahead of Bladerun, though trying to push into the wind along the back straight Blue Sheets almost flipped getting court out by a strong gust of wind with the nose up in the air, but they managed to pull it back and maintain their first place.
The wind and weather had really picked up, and the teams were having to really work to just keep the boats in the water with up to a 70mph head on wind trying to flip the cats over. Blue Sheets took a tactical pit-lap which spread the two teams out, with Bladerun looking to take their pit-lap on the last lap.
The race was very close, and Blue Sheets just edged the win with a drag to the finish line.
Bladerun really came alive this weekend, and finally showed a consistent speed all weekend, but with Blue Sheets 1 finding another broken prop guard at the end of Sunday’s racing meaning they are confident more speed can be found for the next grand prix’s in Wales to try and build on their 2010 title push even more.
Current Standings:
Blue Sheets 1: 1st 590 points
Blue Sheets 2 8th 375 points
Blue Sheets 3 14th 206 points
Blue Sheets Racing is currently leading:
UK Championship
Team Championship
King of Surf
City Championship
Celtic Championship
Looking ahead to Prestatyn
The Welsh legs of the 2010 National Championships are quickly arriving, with Blue Sheets never racing on the North Wales coast before, and a return back to last years highly enjoyable event at Barry Island.
The North Wales coast can get very choppy, and produce good surf at times as well resulting in hopefully a lively and exciting weekends racing to really test the teams.
Blue Sheets 1 will be out practicing trying to get back to their levels of last year, hitting the top speeds, and really putting their new Gill race kit through its paces.
The Drysuits have really come into their own for the City Championship, but now we’re heading back to the favoured beaches it’s the wetsuits that will be tested in the extreme conditions.
Prestatyn looks a great location with plenty of activities going on around the event at the Pontins holiday park on the beach front.
All the Blue Sheets teams are looking forward to getting back to the beaches again after a long time away since Fistral at the beginning of the season.
Article and pictures courtesy of Blue Sheets Racing. For more information on Blue Sheets and the Blue Sheets racing teams please visit the Blue Sheets website.
