2018 SOUTH AFRICAN MODEL POWERBOAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.

After a year of uncertainty on where the championship would be held, luckily for the Durban based guys, the event arrived in Durban. Mention must go to the local guys, Gary Seach, Rob Allen, Rowan Brink and Lionel Olivier for turning a bank on a quarry into an absolutely stunning venue. The hours were not wasted as so many people were very complementary on the beautiful setting for the nationals. The weather gods played along as well, as the guys were treated to a week of delightful weather, albeit for some, with not enough wind.

For the guys that travelled there was a fair amount of mayhem, what with missing cows by a whisker and avoiding police cars etc. Pity they couldn't find the cow as, apparently, they were not overly impressed with our steaks down here. Chicken didn't seem to be very well supported either.

DAY ONE.

Tuesday, unofficial practice, thank goodness. The Namibian contingent was not about to be overshadowed by their illustrious mates from the Cape and showed that their driving skills on the rescue boat were second to none, Burgert spent most of his day seeing the sites of the quarry as he just could not get his boats to run. And then we had John, John was warned about the water hyacinth, but anybody knowing John, John had to find out for himself what the weed was all about. After claiming a radio fault, John spent the next half hour trying to find his boat amongst the aforementioned water hyacinth. Luckily Gary was the pilot of the boat and knew his way through the weed after spending so much time trying to kill the stuff before the nationals. The rest of the Cape contingent seemed quite laid back and well prepared and also a bit smug. Dell was all about showing how fast his boats were, but more on Dell a bit later. The locals were lying low, looking in their wallets to see if they could buy some pace. A fun trophy was put up for the cock up of the day and, to much mirth and leg pulling John managed to take the chicken home with him.

DAY TWO.

Official practice. Unfortunately, same old story, some going well, a lot spannering. Let's go back to Del. Del was warned that due to the wind conditions changing, the water hyacinth had moved in a bit and that he couldn't run the wide line on his hydro. Maybe Del had his ear plugs in, but showed that even his hydro couldn't match the strength of said weed. And then along came Henri, the cardinal sin in RC boating, do not, I repeat, do not, hit the rescue boat. Well Henri managed that feat and secured the chicken for the day, albeit closely followed by the Namibian contingent again, with De Waal arriving from the airport and showing one and all how you can manouevre an inboard F1 boat over the bank, ala motocross style, and then quite literally giving the clerk of the course a secondary heart failure by trying to run over and through Del's boat.

DAY THREE.

Finally racing. First out were the hydros, and although these boats are magnificently fast, they do have a lot of problems staying above the water.

The local man Rowan Brink taking day one honors followed by Andy Hall and Andy's son,

Adam third.

7.5cc F1 Nitro.

From the fastest to the slowest, but some very good racing in these small boats. You don't need to go fast to have fun. With three different winners over the first three races, this was going to be a tight class to win.

Local man, Dieter Schauerte took the first race, followed by the man that said he would rather not race then drive one of these boats, Clive Cohen second and Adam Hall, third.

Second race went to Andy Hall followed by Clive with Dieter third.

Third race, Dave Wiseman finally got his boat running to beat Andy and Clive. After DayOne, Andy led the crowd with 51 points from Dieter and Clive tied on  49 points. Day two was going to be good.

STOCK MONO.

The first of the big guns and, boy, did they come out fighting. John Addinal and Johan Leonard are the main players in this sport and very closely matched. They both went at it hammer and tongs, but forgot about the local fellow in Rowan Brink, who snatched the first race from under their noses. John finished second and Johan third.

Second race. Johan pulled the plug beating John and Tienie Roos to the line.

Third race went the same way as the second, but close racing was the order of the day throughout.

STOCK CAT.

A big entry of thirteen boats entered in this class which entailed splitting the field. Unfortunately, the writer hasn't got the split, so you guys will just have to bear with me.

Race One went to Johan Leonard with what looked like an easy to win class for the man, Adam Hall running a brand new hull, locally produced in the Cape was second and local man, down on power, Rowan Brink, third.

Race Two went the way of the man that borrows more boats then he races, Clive Cohen, followed by Tienie Roos and Hugo Britz, third. More on Hugo later.

Race Three went to Johan again with Burgert Terblanche finally getting a boat to the finish, second, and Adam Hall third.

MOD MONO.

The two J's were out to resume their dispute over the mono classes, but this time the boot was on the other foot.

Race One went the way of John Addinal followed by Tienie Roos and Clive Cohen, third.

Race Two, again John, this time Clive second and finally Henri Van Reenen getting a boat over the line in third.

Race Tree went to John for a clean sweep on Day one, Tienie second and Clive third.

MOD CAT.

Another big field.

Race One went to Johan Leonard, followed by local, Lionel Olivier with another local, Dieter Schauerte, third.

Race Two went to Dieter followed by Andy Hall and Burgert Terblanche third.

Race Three, Johan back in the front, second to Tienie and third to Burgert.

F1 INBOARD.

A total of ten boats in the field and some good racing for some.

Race One honors went to Johan Leonard, yes the same oke, from Tienie Roos and ever reliable Rowan Brink, third.

Race Two went to Del De Oliveira with Johan second and Tienie third.

Race Three, Del again, Johan second and Tienie third.

DAY FOUR.

The morning drivers briefing done, next on the agenda was the handing over of the chicken. Front and centre, cometh the man cometh the hour. After having seen the chicken up close and personal two mornings before, Burgert was about to become the new recipient of said chicken. Not only did he drive into the bank on his slow down lap at excessive speed, but he also managed to park in the same bank inches away from the finish line on his last lap, thereby losing a position or two in the process. It doesn't finish there either, the second cardinal sin in RC boating is taking out the pit buoy as this is meant to be approached at a moderate speed on entering the race track. Mr. Terblanche then took it upon himself to argue with the stewards about not hitting said buoy. Video evidence was shown to the accused and the chicken was ceremoniously handed over.

UNLIMITED HYDROS.

After a slight hiccup, Adam Hall took the first race of the day followed by Del with nobody else making the grid.

Race Two went to Del, this time with Adam in second and Rowan in third.

Race Three, Del again, Rowan second and Andy Hall third.

7.5cc F1 NITRO.

Andy Hall getting the first race win followed by Dieter in second and Clive in third.

Race Two to Dieter with Adam in second and Clive again in third.

Race Three went the way of Andy, Dave Wisey spending his weekend one points race at a time, and Dieter third.

STOCK MONO.

The manne at it again, the guys were riding hard.

Race One honors to Johan, followed by Jaco Steyn and Rowan picking up third.

Race Two, Jaco first, after a coming together of the two J's, second to Tienie and third to John.

Race Three, Johan back in the front second to Tienie and third to John again.

STOCK CAT.

Youth was the winner to start the day, Adam Hall took Race One followed by Burgert with Johan third.

Race Two went the way of Johan followed by Tienie and Clive.

Race Three, Clive finally getting a win, second to Dieter and third to Adam.

MOD MONO.

John following off from the day before, taking the win from Clive and Johan

Race Two went John's way again, followed by Johan and Tienie.

Race Three and a turn up for the books, Johan first, John second and Tienie, third.

MOD CAT.

And Johan carried on from where he left off on Thursday, winning the first race followed by Tienie and Andy.

Race Two, to Johan again, Andy second and Dieter third.

Race Three, Johan, Lionel and Dieter.

F1 INBOARD.

Dave Wisey finally getting his F1 to go took the first race followed by Rowan and Tienie.

Race Two and Hugo on the board with the win, second to Tienie and third to Lionel.

Race Three, Tienie finally, from the Namibian brush cutter, De Waal and third to Clive.

DAY FIVE.

Drivers briefing out the way, chicken time. The man that has raced everything there is to race in RC, Mr RC, Dave Wiseman, arrives at the nationals with a fleet of boats that were going to blow everyone's socks off. Well that was the idea anyway, the best laid plans often come back to bite you on the butt. Mod Mono packed away after day one race one, DNS start on 7.5cc Nitro boat race one, Broken exhaust F1 inboard, tried to be repaired with hacksaw blade whilst Dremel tool sitting comfortably in the box under the boat. Using one radio for several boats means changing programs to drive said boat, a bit of left hand steering tweek usually works if the right program has been locked into the radio, if not the old program will still be there and the boat will be driven into the bank. Hence, the chicken was proudly handed over.

UNLIMITED HYDROS.

The last two races for these speedsters.

Race One honors going to Andy Hall, second to Rowan and third, first time at a National and first time driving a hydro, Rob Allen.

Race Two went to the family, the youngster Adam from Andy from Rowan.

7.5cc F1 NITRO.

Andy taking out the first race from Dave Wisey, sulking over receiving the chicken and third to Adam

Race Two, Dave over the chicken finally, taking the win followed closely by Andy and third, having his last drive for the Wiseman RC Team, Clive third.

STOCK MONO.

The last two races of the most watched classes of the weekend. The “no holds barred” races of the weekend.

Race One, John Addinal took the win followed by Johan with Henri coming home third.

Race Two, John again, this time with Tienie second and Rowan third.

Some good hard racing in this class, may it long continue.

STOCK CAT.

This class was owned by Johan this past weekend, Johan took both wins on Saturday, with second in the first race going to Tienie, Adam third and vice versa in the second with Adam second and Tienie third.

MOD MONO.

Johan finally getting one over John, winning both races, second to Tieniin the first race, third to Clive. Race two, second to John and third to Tienie.

MOD CAT.

This record is stuck, Johan having an excellent Saturday, cleaned up both of these races as well followed in the first race by Tienie and Lionel and in the second race by Dave and Burgert.

F1 INBOARD.

The last races of the Nationals.

Race One went toTienie, second to De Waal and third to Hugo.

Race Two, another win for Tienie, second to Hugo and third to Rowan.

OVERALL.

UNLIMITED HYDROS.

1st. Andy Hall.

2nd. Adam Hall.

3rd. Tie.

Del De Oliveira and Rowan Brink.

7.5cc F1 NITRO.

1st. Andy Hall

2nd. Dave Wiseman.

3rd. Dieter Schauerte.

STOCK MONO.

1st. Johan Leonard.

2nd. John Addinal.

3rd. Tienie Roos.

STOCK CAT.

1st. Johan Leonard.

2nd. Adam Hall.

3rd. Tienie Roos.

MOD MONO.

1st. John Addinal.

2nd. Johan Leonard.

3rd. Tienie Roos.

MOD CAT.

1st. Johan Leonard.

2nd. Dieter Schauerte.

3rd. Andy Hall.

F1 INBOARD.

1st. Tienie Roos.

2nd. Johan Leonard.

3rd. Hugo Britz.

2018 SOUTH AFRICAN MODEL POWERBOAT ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP.

And just as you guys were going to complain about the Enduro results, well here goes.

MONOS.

The first of the Enduro's got underway with a small field of five boats. Although the field spread out to begin with, the casualties started to mount and the rescue boat was kept fairly busy. John Addinall kept the lead for a long time before the gremlins got into his motor causing the other pilots to breathe a sigh of relief as John had to retire from a race that looked easily winnable. Jaco Steyn took up the challenge in a boat that ran like clockwork for the full thirty minutes and took a fine win. Now the surprise, Henri Van Reenen, Henri spent the weekend chasing his tail with his boats, sometimes you've got to sit back and admire guys that will not give up. Finally Henri's boat ran well and he managed a credible second behind Jaco. John had done enough laps to finish third and the final spot on the podium.

CAT'S.

What started as a big field of nine quickly disappeared down to eight as Dave Wiseman's cat refused to run. Anyway eight boats made the starting line and nearly all the boats got the start right so the first corner was a great site to behold, luckily with everyone making it through the first corner. The rescue boat spent quite a bit of time picking up dead boats, but once again, the drivers were very good with their disciplines, always slowing down and not putting harm in anyone's way. Obviously, the guys were feeling the effects of racing solidly for three days and let the youngster, Adam Hall, take the win from Hugo Britz and Mias Steenkamp. Mias was maybe feeling for Hugo as in the final race on Saturday morning, Mias dived up the inside of Hugo going into buoy four and managed to break Hugo's boat into two pieces. Unperturbed, and with a big roll of duck tape, Hugo managed to put his boat back together and race it for the full thirty minutes. When the guys pulled Hugo's boat out at the end, the boat was nearly in two pieces again. A word of warning, never go anywhere without duck tape.

I would just like to apologize to people if I’ve misspelt your names and my facts are not quite correct, but it took awhile to write this report and I called it as I saw it. Please submit your names for next year's race report so that I may be able to sit back and have a small chuckle.

CONCLUSION.

Another National has passed, more friends then enemies have been made I hope. The racing was mostly done in good spirit with not too many grumbles.

To the winners, congratulations, to the guys chasing, you now know where your targets are.

From my side, I would like to thank everyone involved in the hosting of this event, a big thank you to The Quarry Ballies RC Powerboat Club for an absolutely fabulous venue and to my team for seeing that the National ran fairly smoothly.

Lastly to all the competitors, may the numbers keep building and the camaraderie go from strength to strength. I'm led to believe the chicken may make an appearance at next year's Nat.

ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU ONE AND ALL.

Go big or go home,

BigIv.