Thundercat Racing UK

This weekend saw rounds 7 & 8 of the RYA ThunderCat National Championship at Watergate Bay in Newquay. The 2 man teams from across the UK battled through the infamous surf for that all important ‘King of Surf’ title.  This is the 2^nd event that ThunderCat Racing has held at Watergate Bay this year and they are already planning their return for 2013 that is set to be bigger and better.

The sport is certainly not a new concept, nor constrained to the UK. Born out of South Africa over 20 years ago, the sport has now spanned to more than 12 countries all adopting the same rules and classifications. It is the ultimate spectators sport, it’s close to shore circuits ensure all the action can be seen from the comfort of your deck chair.

Teams from across the UK have been battling it out at various beach locations across the country to become the 2012 ThunderCat National Champion. The most recent event at Watergate Bay last weekend proved to be the toughest event of the season with perfect surf conditions to show what these inflatable catamarans are capable of.

James Tapp from team Peters & May, current World Surf Champion explained the conditions as ‘EPIC’ he said ‘we knew leading up to the event the waves were going to be big and perfectly formed, checking the surf reports became a daily habit. They didn’t let us down, negotiating the 5-7ft waves proved tricky but the ultimate adrenaline rush, especially when you are hanging 6ft in the air!.’

The ThunderCat series is made up of two classes, with new comers encouraged to join the ‘Stock’ out of the box class where minor modifications are permitted. Equally competitive is the ‘Pro-Stock’ class where competitors can increase engine capacity to push speeds in excess of 60mph.

Championship leaders Sean Fisher & Tilly Long, Team Microlink PC were crowned King and Queen of the Surf for the Pro Stock class winning 7 out of 8 heats. Team Wales, Simon Harding and Tom Hamilton won the stock class, “keeping the boat upright and being consistent is the key to winning a surf event” says Simon Harding.

ThunderCat Racing would like to thank Watergate Bay and Extreme Academy for hosting another fantastic event. The racing conditions were perfect to show off the thrills and spills of ThunderCat Racing keeping all spectators on the edge of their deck chairs. The action packed weekend showed boats pushing to limits getting extreme air. We are planning on coming back to Watergate Bay again for the 2013 season, but in the meantime come and enjoy the action at our next event -  Gyllyngvase Beach Falmouth on the 6^th – 7^th October.

Prostock Results Overall:
1st – Microlink PC, Sean Fisher and Tilly Long
2nd – Peters & May Racing, James Tapp and Murray McGregor
3rd – English Heritage Buildings, Basil Cook and John O’Rourke
Stock Results Overall:
1st – Team Wales, Simon Harding and Tom Hamilton
2nd – Cat-a-tonic, Tim Spink and Jacob Bellas
3rd – Bulletproof, Marc Newton and Martin Pullen

Mike and Joe are both based in Southampton and have been working closely with Propeller Solutions based in Dorset to get the maximum performance out of their rig, Joe commented “In Stock class no engine tuning is allowed meaning that to get a competitive edge you have to spend time developing the areas that you can play with.”

ThunderCat Racing is back at Watergate Bay on 15-16 September for rounds 7-8 of their RYA National Championship due to popular demand! The 2 man teams from across the globe will be battling through the surf for that all important title. Not to be confused with any other sport ThunderCat Racing is the ultimate in Inflatable Boat Racing – faster and harder than ever seen before.

Team Ahmad Tea, Mike Littler and Joe Farley a local Southampton team are returning to the Cornish coast to defend their title of King of the Surf. The pair first took on the challenge of the renowned Watergate surf in May where they won the overall Stock Class, but conditions were only 3ft waves, Mike reported “I’m hoping for the infamous Watergate Bay big surf conditions to show the crowds what the boats can really do and of course get the adrenalin pumping again after the summer break from racing.”

The series is made up of two classes, with new comers encouraged to join the ‘Stock’ out of the box class where minor modifications are permitted. Equally competitive is the ‘Pro-stock’ class where competitors can increase engine capacity to push speeds in excess of 60mph!

Competition in both classes is extremely tight, keep an eye out for these front runners over the weekend. With only a few points between the top runners, Team Ahmad Tea and Team Wales are battling for their championship in Stock Class and Microlink PC and Peters & May Racing in ProStock. Team Peters and May are definitely a team to watch after recently bringing home a silver medal from the World Championship held in Norway last month. James Tapp, Team Peters & May said “We had a brilliant week at the World Championship and are looking forward to getting back to racing ‘the best of british’ at the forthcoming event in Newquay’.                                                                             .

Fiona Pascoe, head of ThunderCat Racing UK was extremely pleased with the success of the previous event held earlier in the year and is looking forward to coming back. “The reception we received from Watergate Bay has been absolutely fantastic … it’s about getting bigger and better, we are also looking forward to coming back to Cornwall in October to Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth on the 5th – 7th.

Microlink PC the series sponsor will also be running their ‘Race 4 Inclusivity’ project during the weekends activities which see’s their new tour bus demonstrate various assistive technologies to people with learning difficulties, members of local schools and institutes alike.

We would like to thank the student production team that attended our event this weekend. You all did an excellent job and we hope to see more of you over the season. We cant wait to see all the photos and footage below is a sneak preview of some images taken by Henry Osman from the production team!

Photo taken by Henry Osman please email him if you would like a copy henryosman1@gmail.com

Below is a Press Release written by Isis O’Regan and Georgia Paine both Journalist students at Falmouth Uni (Thanks girls for also keeping the blog upto date over the weekend)

The results are in for the first two rounds for the ThunderCats national championships held in Watergate Bay this weekend. In the Pro Stock series, Team Microlink came first place in both rounds reaching an impressive 82 kph and Team Wales Etienne Burnett (stand in driver for Simon Harding) and Tom Hamilton reached first place in the stock series.

Team Microlink’s driver and navigator, Sean Fisher and Grant Pittard say the results were unexpected, “We’re really surprised as we’ve been having a few issues, but we went for consistency which has paid off.”

The pair added, “We will be going back to the drawing board for the next round”.

The atmosphere was particularly electric this weekend as team Microlink were neck and neck with Peter’s and May, who came second place in the Pro Stock series.

Fiona Pascoe, head of ThunderCats was extremely pleased with the success of the weekend and looks forward to coming back. “This weekend has been wonderful and so has the reception we received from Watergate Bay … it’s about getting bigger and better, we’ll be back here in September and in Falmouth in October.”

ThunderCats’ sponsor, Microlink also had an event on the Saturday that involved a presentation and demonstration of their new product the ‘Ubi Duo’. The communication device that will assist the deaf was presented to a class of teenagers from an Exeter boarding school for the hearing impaired.

The teenagers were brought on to the beach and were introduced to the drivers and shown the speedboats.

Students from University College Falmouth also got involved and together a production team and covered the weekend event. The media production team consists of creative event management, journalism and photography students.

Another photo taken by Henry Osman for a copy of this image email henryosman1@gmail.com