2016 UIM Class 3 World Championship – Race 1

Differing weather predictions gave the organising committee of the UIM Class 3 A and B World Championships a tough time knowing exactly what course to run.

At the morning race briefing, the competitors were informed that no firm decision was going to be made on the course and number of laps until just before the boats left for the start line.

With a strong wind getting up and sea conditions worsening, the call was to run 5 B laps of 7 nm length.

The start run was in a narrow fjord and because of this the A and B classes couldn’t start together.

Once the 3B fleet were released first from the calm and sheltered waters, no one could have predicted the boat and engine damage, mass navigational errors and disqualifications galore.

Fortunately in both A and B Classes, the overall winners on the water, were the overall winners on the official results.

Gustaf Linden and Malin Lange drove a superb race, battling their 3B Twister cat through the horrible seas, all the more sweet considering the team had, had a break-in some weeks earlier with all of their race props being stolen.

Behind Linden and Lange in the ‘Official Results’ was Fredrik Groth in a similar Twister hull.

Dennis Søderman and Tommy Attermo made an inspired move to enter an Ocke Mannerfelt mono in a catamaran dominated class and this paid off with a third position. The Swedish team were dominant in the rough but lost ground in the calm fjord.

In Class 3A, the 2 Phantom 19 G hulls were the class of the field.

Jack Bobin and Barry Culver diced with Paul Etasse and Chris Stonebridge throughout the first lap before putting on a masterclass of rough water driving in Motorvated Racing.

The team pulled out a 3 minute lead on their Guernsey rivals when their fuel tank split on lap 5 and the Brits simply didn’t have enough juice to get to the finish flag.

Paul Etasse who had been pushing his new race deck ‘Slayer’ through the filthy conditions took the win in what he later described as, ‘Brutal Conditions’.

Rasmus Harem and Filip Eriksson were the only other ‘Official’ finishers in the class taking second in their Evinrude powered Hotshot.

After the race there were reports of boats missing marks and hours later, a set of ‘results’ were posted and then amended and re-posted showing a plethora of DQ’s.

The confused ‘organisation’ by the ‘Officials’ left most competitors scratching their heads with their decisions and hoping things improve for Race 2 on Monday.

(Official Results still haven’t been sent to us).

Photos by Jesper Zander and Terry O’Neil