An action-packed race for Pål Virik Nilsen and Tom Barry-Cotter today. They did not have a great day witch ended with a spectacular crash. Just when the start was going they got problems with the powersteering. A hose was leaking oil and the boys had to go straight into the pit for repair, and lost valuable time.
After the repair they got out again three laps behind the competitors. Outside it was amazing waves up to 3,5 - 4 meters! Timewise Pal and Tom catched up the others with approx 20 seconds every lap, but they knew it was "mission impossible" to go for the win.
On the 14th lap the Mustang Aus1 boat had a big jump and landed into the next wave. That wave hit the boat in the back and as a result they nose dived the boat bigtime in the third wave. The boat was completely under water for a while. Boat went up but it was missing the engine hatch and a mirror. It could have been so much worse.... Then the day was over for Pal and Tom.
Pal says: It just was not our day. Very bad luck that the steering was broken just on the start straight. The crew fixed the problem fast and we got on the course again. I tried to find a good rhythmn out there but it was very hard to read the water. It was over three-four meters waves with deep holes on the back. Sometimes is better with higher speed and keep the boat on the top but it was a challenge. And then we just hit a wave to hard. First i thought the boat would flip backwards, but then it got down a little before the next wave. A second later we where under water and looking for sharks. Glady it came the right side up. After pole position we moved some weight forward, but it was just not enought to keep the nose down in the rought water. The main thing is that we are alright with just some bruises and some sore bodies.
Now we look forward to the Mackay races and i must thank all the crew in the Maritimo team.
I also congratulate Luke and Rossco with their win today!
It was a good organized event with many spectators and sunny weather almost all the time.
Action images from the chopper coming soon!
