Diary
Plymouth
26 Jul 2005
Well, the fourth round in Plymouth of the Honda Formula Four Stroke series proved to be an eventful one for Team Raymarine.
We faced our toughest challenges yet and, although our results were not as good as the past two race weekends, we have retained our second place in the championships and are really fired up for Liverpool. So what happened to us last weekend?...
We left Southampton early on Friday morning with an ever-increasing entourage...Jennifer Lopez has nothing on us!!! We were accompanied by our race engineer Geoff, and his partner and our 'race manager' Amber, Shelley's Mum and Dad, Pete, and Mike (a friend of the team). We were met in Plymouth by Libby's Mum and Dad, our great friend Jacqui, and last but certainly not least, the man himself, Neil Holmes, our coach. Raymarine were all there and ready to race!
Our class reps had negotiated the dubious privilege of free entry for all into Plymouth's finest pole-dancing club (?!?) and both of us had been threatened with being invited to have a go! As a result, we were slightly more quiet than normal in briefing...we didn't want to draw too much unnecessary attention to ourselves! As it happened, it was such a kick to sit in the briefing room with the Class 1 boys and both Honda classes. WE WERE THE ONLY GIRLS...AND WE'RE GOOD!!! We were very proud of ourselves! The presence of the Class 1 boys added an extra dimension to the weekend. The boats are an amazing sight, and the support they bring with them is phenomenal - its nearly as big as ours! The Class One racing also brought huge crowds of spectators...we were watched by over 60,000 people on Sunday!!!
Saturday's race day dawned bright and beautiful. The conditions over the weekend were almost too good - the water was dead calm both days. We arrived at the boat to find a blow-up dolphin sitting on the helm. The Fat Boy team had decided to remind Shelley of her run-in with nature at Plymouth last year! We were next to the Fat Boy team on the start line and, after a slightly chaotic start, we came round the first of many difficult right turns in fifth position. The two of us put up a good fight, however, and inched up to third position by the end of the race. Fat Boy managed to clinch a first, and Warm Up - smarting from some very dodgy results earlier in the season - had come out all guns blazing to grab second.
Although we were pleased with a podium position, both of us felt that we needed to work on the boat and ourselves to give us a better chance the next day. This was a view supported by Geoff, Pete and Neil, who all had a number of suggestions on how this could be achieved. It was very hard to go straight back to the boat after the physically and mentally demanding race, and to maintain focus and get the work done. We polished and scrubbed, moved things around, and tried to remove everything superfluous from the boat in order to make it as light as possible. All those extra makeup and hair styling products have got the heave!!! We all worked together really well as a team on Saturday, and we are both so so grateful to everyone for pitching in and toiling away into the evening...
However, despite our work, Sunday was not our day. Warm Up had a brilliant weekend and came first, Fat Boy fought hard to retain a second and Negotiator were determined to do well in front of a home crowd and pulled in a third. Although we made several adjustments to the boat, and learned more about what works and what doesn't, we didn't tap into that extra fraction of a mile per hour that would have helped us overtake. We held on to a fifth - so close but so far!
But this was a much better race for us than appearances might suggest. Both of us felt that we had put in a better performance on the Sunday than we had on the Saturday - Lib kept the Heights of Abraham team in view all the time and didn't let them past, and Shelley drove out of her skin. She was better and faster round some of the corners than she has ever been before - we were flying! Both of us really pulled together - it was a Team Raymarine "us against the world" effort! Although we were disappointed that we did not manage to get on the podium both days, we were both proud of the fact that we are competing at such a high level now that we have such high expectations of ourselves!!!
Nevertheless, we enjoyed our one podium finish...although Shell stood to getting herself arrested for molesting Rob Lister's leg and Lib couldn't get the cork out of her champagne!!!
We were so lucky with the support and encouragement we received from our families and supporters this weekend - we needed it more than ever and everyone was amazing. Thank you so much! We are still second on the leader board, and fully intend to hold it...if not better it. We are both determined to do you all proud in Liverpool now! Bring it on!
