As predicted, the 9^th. and final leg in this 1400 nautical mile odyssey around the coast of Britain kept a sting in the tail, especially for the smaller and slower boats in the fleet, still numbering 39 of the original 48 starters.

    With south westerly winds that freshened as the day progressed, passage from Lowestoft across the Thames estuary and around the Kent coast was fast in flat waters but once the boats turned west at Dungeness it was the typical short sharp Channel chop which gave no forgiveness to crews already stretched from 1200 miles of racing, repairing and occasional partying.

    On this final day, the front runners came from England, Norway and Greece and it was the home team of Andy Macateer in the Buzzi RIB, Venturer, which came home first at a tidy average of 70.80mph, followed one minute later by the Norwegian Tollefsen family in their Goldfish, Gutta Boys and the eventual overall winner of this great race, Vassilis Pateras and his Anglo-Greek crew aboard the FPT powered Buzzi 42, Blue FPT.

    The faster boats were in the wet pits at Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays in time for a 12.30 lunch but for the five competitors in the Historic Class, the day was to be long and bumpy and it was mid-afternoon before class winner, Gee, skippered by John Guille, rounded the breakwater and a further 40 minutes before Team 747 came home.

    Neither boat had enjoyed the best of rides as both had lost trim tabs along the way but it was the much bigger and heavier Gee, now in its 40^th. year, that could push on hardest and take today’s 190 nautical mile leg and the overall Historic Class prize in an elapsed time of 34 hours, 17 minutes and 21 seconds, some 2 hours 5 minutes faster that the much smaller Fairey Spearfish.

    Naturally disappointed, Team 747’s owner/driver, Jonathan Napier summed it up thus: “Good for Gee’s crew that they have brought their older warhorse home in such good order. We had our fourth crew member, Mark Jealous, back on board for this final leg, having left him in Weymouth on the first leg with tweaked ribs, but short of putting him in the forepeak, there was no way of keeping the bow down in the head sea and we had to run in sheltered waters and even then were down to 24 knots at times.

    “We were a good 10 miles ahead of Gee when we got to Dover but they just kept coming back at us along the south coast and we could do nothing to hold them off. Even with all our problems along the way, I am so pleased that we entered and finished this unbelievable race and now it is back to work for all of us on the flight decks of our 747s.”

    Co-driver, Andy Fielding, had a similar take on proceedings: “I had no real idea of what to expect when we started this race but the sheer enormity of what we have achieved, the great camaraderie we have experienced and the daily fight with Gee has been a great experience. It has to be ten out of ten.”

    Third regular crewman, Cormac Lundy, came gingerly ashore but when asked if this leg had been particularly painful replied that it was no worse than a good Friday night out in Belfast. Such is the perseverence of this crew.

    Today’s leg proved equally challenging for the other members of the Fairey Owners Club. John Skuse in Xanthyus anf Jonathan Townsend in Swordsman were both fighting to beat the 9 hour 30 minute time limit and Mike Barlow took Ocean Pirate into Newhaven for repairs to his seat and windscreen wipers, before coming along the coast to Portsmouth and tonight’s prize giving celebrations. Greater love of racing hath no men.

    In reality, it was the 2 hour deficit on Gee that emerged on day one after the diversion to Weymouth to drop off their injured crewman that put Team 747 on the back foot throughout the racing that followed and the great truism that says that you can’t win the race on the first day but you can certainly lose it held good once again.

    The Team 747 Fairey Spearfish with its twin Cummins Mercruiser Diesel QSB 5.9 litre, 380hp turbo-diesels has proved once again that these Alan Burnard designs are still fit for purpose; the purpose of fast cruising in open seaways and there is likely to be no greater test than the 2008 Round Britain Powerboat Race.

Note: a selection of pictures of Team 747 and the Historic Class runners and any further information should be posted on this site within 48 hours.