Bournemouth’s bustling beaches played host to round 5 of the Zapcat National championship today, and as hoards of people descended on the beach 26 teams lined up to do battle.
Conditions were perfect with blue skies and an onshore breeze producing Bournemouth’s famous chop to make racing that little bit more interesting for the teams. Organisers introduced a tactical course that would mean that flat out speed would not be enough racers had to think about when to take a tactical pit lap to get the clean water and hopefully take the lead.
In division 2’s heats Nine Lives, Zapcat 35 from Cornwall Charlie Brickle and Adam Bushrod got off to a storming start dominating their heats along with Seavation Zapcat 10, Alex Jordan and David Pay.
Meanwhile the tactical course was making things interesting for Blue Sheets Racing 1, Zapcat 03, Craig and Rob were having to think about what they were doing as local team Rana Park, Zapcat 25 Neil and Naz along with returning team Smart ABC Zapcat 07, Dave Paget and Tony Cooper were piling on the pressure.
The Division 2 final saw 9 boats line up for the Green flag but after the second restart only 5 teams started Poole based Contact Wait Out, Zapcat 14 brothers Mark and Paul Holt got off to a flying start that they held all the way round to take the gold medal spot with Nine Lives hot on their tail, however Nine Lives missed timed their pit lap and Blue Sheets Racing 2 and Scaredy Kitten (standing in for Cat) slipped in front of them to take Silver and Bronze respectively.
Pilot of Scaredy Kitten Andy Birch commented “It was awesome to make the podium today, we came to do our best and keep the team scoring points, it’s the first time Jenny my co-pilots raced and she’s done really well and to walk away with a medal’s fantastic I just hope we can keep it up tomorrow”
Division 1’s final saw positions change every lap with Zapcat 25 and Zapcat 03 battling it out for pole, Blue Sheets racing 1 had the tactical advantage and on the third lap stole the lead from Rana Park. They kept the pressure on and followed them into the second podium position. Bronze medal position went to Father and Son Cat in the Hat Jim and CJ Crooks.
Pilot of Blue Sheets Racing 1 told us “We were disqualified in our last heat of the day, which cost us valuable places in the final, the other teams had raced a very tactical race today going into the final we had to remain focused and not do anything stupid we were right in the middle of the pack and a good start is vital. Rana Park raced really well today and got a flying start it was a battle all the way round” he continued “Tomorrow will be really interesting they know they can catch us and it will make things really interesting.”