Thursday, August 09, 2007

Slingshot racing


Slingshot
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
This isn’t my slingshot. There’s no way I’d put a couple of big ears on top even if they do help it to self-right after an accident. Good grief, the thing looks like it’s got Prince Charles stapled on it’s roof.

No, my boat is sleek and orange. And successful.

This evening was perfect for racing. The water was calm. The sky was clear and bright. It was even reasonably warm, although you’d hope that this last one would be a given in August even in Britain.

Anyway I missed the first heat but put in a couple of good runs in the next one and the final. My trick is to stay out of trouble and keep putting the laps in. Not breaking down helps too. In the end I won my first heat with 14.5 laps (in 4 minutes) and came second in the 5 minute final with 18.75 laps. I was only beaten by a single lap here and that I blame on the boat pulling to the left. I probably didn’t have the battery quite central in the hull.

OK, it’s not Formula 1 but then they probably don’t have the laugh we have either.

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