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Schoolsmarine IV - Heles on top!

With the temperature hitting 25 degrees before 10.00 am in the morning it was clear that the fourth Schools Marine Challenge event was going to be won by the team that would best master the hot weather! In fact, as it turned out the weather became a little more forgiving as the day went on, apart from a sharp shower that disrupted the Solar Challenge mid morning.

Schools have now come to realise that what is needed to win the overall Marine Challenge is a strong entry in all areas of the competition; Solar, Electric and IC. This year's winners, Heles, certainly made sure that they gained points in all categories; they finished 4th in the Solar category, 2nd in Electric and 1st in IC. They even managed to overcome the considerable handicap of seeing their IC boat power to the far side of Roadford Lake as it lost control of it's steering. Their excellent all-round performance was appreciated by the judges who gave them high marks in all categories, in particular for IC Hull & Superstructure in which they finished first. All in all they were deserved winners.

Solar Challenge

Having tasted success last year, Kingsbridge CC were clearly in no mood to go home empty handed in 06 and concentrated their efforts and resources on winning the Solar Challenge. They qualified comfortably for the final and in a nail biting climax manged to pip a fast finishing West Exe by less than half a second.

It was great to see a number of more innovative solar craft this year, none more so than Pilton who used a charged capacitor to give their vessel a huge speed advantage that had the judges mulling over their rule books! Cullompton's attractive design (above) also caught the eye.

Electric Challenge

With the reliabilty of the electric boats the large crowd were treated to some excting action as around 16 boats took to the water at the same time. At the top of the leaderboard it was a real battle between Newquay Tretharras and Heles, with the small Newquay craft pipping the seemingly more powerful Heles entry by a couple of laps. Teignmouth were the only school to get close to the top two and they were 6 laps ahead of 4th placed Kings.

In a race of many incidents two of the most memorable were Pilton colliding with the jetty causing significant damage to their craft and Launceston who may have taken the honour of being the first school to ever sink during an Electric race!

IC Challenge

As ever, the IC Challenge was a thrilling spectacle and embodied the reason why the Schools Marine Challenge takes place. It was a testament to the hard work of students and staff that so many boats made it on to the water. From the start the race was dominated by two boats, from Heles and Colyton; they both set an impressive pace around the four buoys, but it was Heles, who earlier had their boat rescued from the far side of the lake, who came out on top.

Heles set an awesome pace from the start, and although they were matched for a short time by Newquay Tretharras, they never looked likely to be caught. With as many as ten boats on the water at any one time, the rescue boat was kept busy returning the wounded to the jetty; a fate which Heles managed to avoid in an impressive victory.

One To Watch?

Doing well in your first year of entry to the Schools Marine Challenge is difficult as you're taking on some schools who have been competing for years. Teignmouth's all round performace in their rookie year was particularly creditable as they scored points in all categories and will have learnt a great deal on Race Day. They could be a force to be reckoned with in 2007.