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News release 2005: Despite some good moments, last season was a difficult one with so many things happening at once. Kevin and Cookee have been working on a film on the Isle of Man which has meant the production of the leisure boat and preparation of the race boat (including some go faster modifications) have had to take a back seat. 

2004 Racing Season:

Torquay, which is the traditional first race of the season, was going very well until we had to retire from a very strong second place. Ramsgate is a venue we have done well at in previous seasons and once again Cookee and Graham were on the podium although only in 3^rd place instead of our usual 1^st!

We then had a break, which was spent modifying a Seadoo jet boat for filming and which ended up with Cookee doubling for Billy Boyd of Lord of the Rings fame (he was a Hobbit) and driving the boat repeatedly up the beach! The weekend after we had finished 3 weeks filming Graham and Cookee set off for a 2 race weekend at Fairlie, which is situated on the Clyde in Scotland, where the water can be very nasty indeed.

The first race on the Saturday was to take place after the V24 race, which was stopped before they could complete the first lap due to a huge rainsquall, which limited visibility to around 100 metres!
Needless to say we were less than enthusiastic when it came to our race, but at least we were only facing a force 5 gusting up to force 6 at times and the rain looked as if it had passed for the time being.

We set off on the start run and whilst we led our class to the first mark, as soon as we rounded the corner of the first island it was obviously going to be a day for the big diesel boats as we were struggling to keep the boat in the water at times. We ended up with a 5^th place, which was well earnt in the conditions.

Sunday saw a much quieter day with the rain holding off and less wind. The team had a dream start pulling away in the lead and around the other rougher side of the island extended that lead to around 35 to 40 seconds when about ¾ of the way round the first lap the steering developed a fault and they had to retire.The Cowes classic once again proved to be the enormous challenge it always is with very varied conditions all around the Isle of Wight in the Round the Island race on Saturday. The last leg coming around the No Mans Land Fort we had to cross the Solent to the Northern side, crossing over the shipping lane whilst swapping places with “Ribellion” for 4^th place – As we were approaching NE Gurnard it was obvious to both of us a very large container ship was on a collision course with us, we just managed to squeeze in between the ship and the buoy with barely 25 metres to spare at around 65 mph!

It was then a race back across the Solent, around East Lepe and then a run in towards the finish line where we lost 4^th place by 2 seconds on the official clock.

The big race on Sunday is the biggest race on the calendar with the round trip to Torquay and back totalling over 200 nautical miles.

We refuelled after the Round the Island race on Saturday with 210 litres of fuel, 50 litres of which were in an auxiliary tank made by Kevin and Paul Tilley (who is also our tube manufacturer), which was just in front of Cookees feet!

After launching we were quickly out into the Solent for the start which was due at 1100, with all of the Harmsworth Trophy boats starting at the same time it was going to be a busy start, with only 4 minutes to go before the start the start boat held out a red flag, so all the boats headed back into the marina where everyone was told there would be an hours delay. Apparently a 10 metre Scorpion cabin RIB was having difficulty getting to one of the marks to be mark boat!

After some on / off uncertainty the race was abandoned at around 1200 so the only thing left to do was pack up and head for home.

The finals in Cardiff were held in pretty bad conditions, and unfortunately we were one of the many casualties of the strong winds and difficult waters around Cardiff. Our retirement towards the end of the first race proved to be the end of our weekend and the season for us, one which had it’s usual mix of fortunes for the crew.