"The bullett' was duty boat for the day driven by Neil Mackechnie with flags and time keeping being covered by Geoff Watson and Mike Walker. Den Jones and Anne Madge also come out in the cold to take photos, probably shooting off a good 1000 snaps between them!
Once the course was set out it was a "draw of straws" for the first one to get in the water. Dave Owens volunteered to take the plunge first with Simon Binks observing. Dave set a good pace at the start with a 45 second first lap which was a little wide on the top turn. A few tighter turns saw him through the half way mark at 3 mins 34 seconds. With a consistent pace through each lap he took the last lap flag on 4 mins 58 seconds and the finish flag on 5 mins 38. This time was the bench mark for the rest to chase.
Simon went next. Although his first few laps were slower the turns were a little tighter. He was therefore able to keep pace with Dave's time's more or less covering the first few laps more or less at the same speed. By halfway at lap 4 he was only 7 seconds adrift. The slightly slower speed began to show though over the second half of the run and by the end of lap 7 coming to the final lap he was 5 mins 19 seconds, 11 seconds adrift. At the chequered flag his final time was 6 minutes 4 seconds.
Paul Rudland was the penultimate skier. With a few miles under his belt this year on the skis Paul was looking to put in a good time for the 8 laps. Getting up and away without a problem disaster struck on the beginning of the back leg where he fell and lost the skis. Although he had the skis on his feet and up in good time there was no way to claw back lost time and he finished the first lap in 3 mins 14 secs. Halfway saw him through at 6 mins 4 seconds with a finish time of 9 mins 57 seconds. Without the fall the time might have been around the 6:30 mark.
Last to go was Geoff with the time firmly in his sights. A cruiser pottering about in the basin was causing some concern due to it's wake but the final run got started and the cruiser left after 2 laps. Again the first lap was on the same mark as Dave and Simon in 45 seconds. At the second lap it was still level pegging with Dave and by lap 4 at half way there was only a second in it at 2 mins 53 seconds. By the end of lap 6 the time was only 2 seconds adrift at 4.18, could this go all the way? Towards the end of the 6th lap the cruiser re-emerged and headed out to sea. Although only trawling it pushed up enough of a wake to slow the boat on the pier end of the basin giving the skier a very bumpy ride round the turn. This was enough it seemed to take more time out of the lap and although there was only 2 seconds in it at the end of lap 7 (5 mins 00 secs) the last lap looked lik another 3 seconds with Geoff finishing in 5 mins 43 seconds. The breakdown of the lap times portrayed a different story. Although the cruiser wake seemed to have slowed the penultimate lap there wasn't actually much difference in the lap times. Dave had in fact put in the fastest lap at the end which accounted for more of the deficit. Dave duly retains the Frostbite trophy for another year! But the pressure is on for next year!
Many thanks to Mike Walker who helped with launch and covered the flagS and timing on the last run. Thanks also to Den and Anne who came along and stood in the weather to take photos. Thanks to those also who came along to spectate and cheer on the skiers in the cold. More photos to follow.
Full results
