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104mph with your face about 6
inches off the water – you must be mad! No, he’s
Nigel Edwards and he’s just got another new National
Record at the 34th Windermere Speed
Week.
Windermere in October was never
quite going to be the South of France but it had
become fairly traditional that the week enjoyed good
settled weather – 2002 clearly felt the need to be
different! Driving rain and strong winds welcomed us
to the shores of Windermere where the Low Wood Hotel
played host to what has become a famous tradition. A
tradition though that will end in 2005 unless some
agreement is reached about boating on the lake (see
inset).
Windermere Speed Week is one of
those uniquely English institutions where
professional powerboat racing teams mix it with the
eccentricity of some teams – how else do you explain
someone turning up to a speed trial in a boat that
only does 34mph!
There were 21 entries for the
week’s trials which considering the dubious weather
was considered a pretty good turnout. Boats ranged
from Vicky Crump in her Formula Two cat “Miss Poole”
who ended up ‘Fastest Lady of the Lake 2002’ with
105.42mph, through a Zapcat to the aforementioned
Nigel Edwards in his 350cc wooden hydroplane.
Entrants split between those who simply like going
fast and stand no real chance of setting anything
other than a personal best to those who are going
after National or even class World Records. To get a
record each entrant needs to make two runs over a
measured mile (the first south down the lake the
second back up the lake) at which stage the times
are added and averaged. During the week the 21
entrants managed 106 runs between them and with many
records set, the top speed being recorded by Alan
Marshall. Alan’s 2.5l Iveco sponsored Seebold
catamaran coupled to a 2.5l Mercury propelled him at
a whopping 145.90mph which grabbed him a World &
National record and the unique record of
concurrently holding the 2.5l, 2l & 3l records. Alan
had started the week at 100.62 mph which was a new
record and steadily raised the bar during the course
of his five days on the lake. His record at 145mph
makes him the second fastest person ever at
Windermere. Mick Archer in his offshore monohull
added the event record at 82mph to the National
Record he already holds at 84.99mph whilst plenty of
other competitors turned in personal bests and class
records.
RIBs have really come to the fore
in offshore racing over the last few years with a
good percentage of the top offshore racing boats
being RIBs of various sizes & configurations. The
RIBs decided to hit Windermere mainly on the
Wednesday and the weather didn’t let them down with
a good chop to make them feel at home! The record
most RIB entrants were after was John Puddifoot’s
84.81mph F1 record. Stuart Anthony in ‘Bridge
Motorcycles’ was the first to beat it achieving
86.25mph in his twin Mercury 200XS powered Revenger
29. Jamie Edwards’ Pascoe SportRIB SR9 with twin
Optimaxes also had a crack achieving 83mph. Another
SR9 – ‘Electrifying’ - helmed by Martin Purnell
managed 95 & 92mph to give an average of 93mph which
was pretty impressive for a boat that typically
operates as a safety boat.
As you would expect with 34 years
practice the organisation of the event is superb.
The week runs from 10am on the Monday until
lunchtime on the Friday with sessions in the morning
and afternoon. At each end of the measured mile are
electronic timing facilities, Rescue cover is
provided by the Osprey Powerboat Racing support team
alongside 3-4 other RIBs & powerboats from the
racing club.
Each team can run as many times
as they wish and pay an entry fee and then a sum per
each run that they attempt
