Bad weather blights inaugural Falmouth to Scilly with Force 8 winds forcing the fleet to change course
Bad weather marred the first Falmouth to Scilly race.
The International Powerboat Race Club took the decision to abandon their original course, creating a safer route in the light of winds gusting up to Force 8 off Lands End.
A number of teams were forced to withdraw from entry because of the weather, including Martini Vector, Cougar and All Black Racing who were unable to cross the Irish Sea to get to the start line.
The revised 76 mile route turned East towards Plymouth, past the Edison Lighthouse before turning back to Fowey and home again to Falmouth.
“Halcyon/Connect” finished second overall
“Our determination has always been to make certain a race happened and we did everything we could to make that a reality” said Eugene Bari from the IPRC.
Despite the weather all four teams finished the race with Silverline, driven by Drew Langdon and Miles Jennings, in first place, Halcyon/Connect piloted by James Sheppard and Myles Dobson second followed by Biretta Due and local team HTS Perkins piloted by Nick Wilkinson in fourth.
“We are going to do this again and again and again until we have a fleet of 40 and tens of thousands of people watching us, ” said Paul Mitchell of the IPRC.
