The spectacular Lowestoft event (25th/26th July) left the all-female team with black eyes and bruised arms – but with their spirits intact. The team currently lies in seventh place in the competition with a total of 79 points.
Driver Rose Lores is making her third bid to win the championship this year with new navigator Sara Cureton, a new engine and new sponsor, Eclipse Marketing.
Rose, now sporting two black eyes and two badly bruised arms, says: “I must be mad, but I can honestly say that I enjoyed the weekend. Sara, my navigator is also black and blue but that won’t be stopping us, don’t worry.
“Lowestoft is a notoriously rough venue but I have to say that conditions were particularly nasty. We had three races in all to do – on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and Sunday midday.”
Choppy conditions made the first race long and hard but the team made it through, coming in eighth and picking up 10 points. Conditions deteriorated even further for the second race.
Rose takes up the story: “For this one we got a much better start but the seas were even worse than earlier – the tide had turned and everything was different. Boats around us were leaping up out of the water, noses to the air and some awkward landings.”
Despite the difficulties, H-7 Team Eclipse battled on and was doing well until lap 3 when their boat hit a particularly treacherous stretch of water.
Rose remembers: “The nose of our boat went skywards, the boat twisted, landed to one side, then as the propeller got a grip again in the water, hooked round hard to the other side. At 53mph, this results in a pretty battered crew!”
Understandably, Rose and Sara took the rest of the race fairly cautiously and finished without further incident, again in eighth place and gaining another 10 points.
Though the team’s injuries were judged by paramedics to be superficial, their powerboat fared less well. An inspection revealed the incident had damaged the bottom of the boat, tearing off a large chunk of gel-coat. So a frustrated H-7 Team Eclipse was forced to sit out the third race on Sunday.
Says Rose: “Watching the others race in even worse conditions than the previous day was almost as painful as taking part. Our own experience meant that we could imagine every bump and bash as we watched the boats battling their way around the course.”
Far from taking it easy after such a battering experience, the team is raring to go and already preparing for the next event in the series, the Cowes Grand Prix which takes place on the August bank holiday weekend (29th August).
As Rose explains: “Next steps are urgent repairs to the bottom of the boat, followed by some serious training out in the Solent to familiarise ourselves with the course we are set for the next race – from Cowes to Poole and back. A very different type of race to what we are used to. So preparation and familiarisation are key for this new challenge.”
To follow H-7 Team Eclipse progress visit www.eclipsemarketing.co.uk
