File - Fralick Racing

Photo by Chris Stone , colour/tweaking by Adam Sprigg
First off, thanks for the words of support from everyone, and to Steve Heuninck for pumping things up all over the internet while we
were there. Cell/internet coverage in our areas was awful so nothing was getting out. Steve often knew stuff before we did and posted it
online for people to see. Thanks!
We're still receiving pics from the event. We got a few nice ones including one that is a great surf jump picture. And some video from
our Midland XTC cameras, but on the best day (Surf cross day 3) Graham forgot one camera at our room and forgot to put a memory
card in the camera we did have... DOH! We were up at 6am almost every day and not much sleeping... we’ll blame that mistake on
mental fatigue :) There are hundreds of great pictures online and some video from other teams and fans... we have links to lots of them
on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/FralickRacing and will continue to add to them as we find more. If you see something
we don’t have a link to, let us know. There were many photographers there with huge lenses.
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Day 1, Wed Oct 2 – The Team consisted of driver Andrew Fralick, and his family/crew
Megan and Valerie, and co-pilot Graham Fralick and his family/crew Cameron, Brennan
and Virginia. We headed off to Cornwall England on a night time flight. Unfortunately
Andrew’s wife Valerie was under the weather and cancelled on the trip at the last minute,
keeping his daughter Megan home too. Ontario racer Tristan Andrew happened to be in
the Toronto airport when we arrived and dropped by to say hello and wish us luck as we
checked in. Tristan is a pilot with Air Canada and that was who we flew with thanks to
his help/tips. After a chat and drink with Tristan we boarded and the Team took off and
had a good overnight flight to London arriving at 8:30am.
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Day 2, Thurs Oct 3 – Landing at 8:30am with 5 hours of jet lag, the Team was already
having problems… someone walked off with one of our luggage bags leaving their own
suitcase behind. (Really people? You can’t pick out your own bag?) Also one of the
child car seats didn’t get on the plane in Toronto, but Air Canada gave us a free brand
new seat to use until it arrived and then they shipped ours direct to our accommodations
along with the recovered luggage. A great start. Haha. All of this held back the Team
about 2 hours from planned schedule. Now off to get SIM cards for our cell
phones/GPS/internet. Researched this online ahead of time and we knew where to go
and what carrier to get… still got lost as we tried to figure out road signs, how to drive
there, how not to get killed at Round-abouts, speed limits, parking and driving. Haha.
Once we found it we signed up for the data plan and fired up the Google Map GPS.
Another couple hours behind now. Finally knowing where we are going with the cell
GPS we could make some time. However after 10 minutes of GPS use, the cell phone went dead. Great. Turns out, Orange UK failed
to tell us the data plan is not turned on for 48 hours. So we used up all our minutes/data on the GPS in moments… no cell even now.
Haha. What a fun start. Orange did nothing to help us out when we called to complain. So finding our way to Pentewan in the rain,
using the mini map provided by the rental car company is what we had to go on… together with stops to figure things out, about another
2 hour delay. Instead of getting to the race site about 2pm, we got there at 9pm. So no working on setting up the boat today and
familiarizing ourselves with the race site. A long day, we’d been up for 32 hours now, less 2 hours sleep managed on the plane.
Along the way we did plan some sightseeing
and we still did that. Stone Henge was
pretty neat. Massive rocks that you don’t
get a feel for looking at pictures. How these
people moved the rocks I have no idea…
must have been a serious effort by
hundreds of people per rock. They said 1/3
the rock was planted in the ground too so
they didn’t fall over… these are huge!
Also, in England you drive on the opposite side of the road to Canada… that is scary. Not too bad on highways, but once you get into
the country side and towns the roads are very very narrow, in many cases only wide enough for one car. If you come up to an
oncoming car, someone has to back up until the other can get by! Also they don’t have fences… they use hedges. The hedges grow
right up to the edge of the road lane and are 8-10 feet tall and about 5’ wide. You can’t see anything around corners, haha. Very odd,
but neat and pretty at the same time. We saw big tractors with hedge trimmers that maintain the hedges or the road would close right
in. In many places where there are trees near the road it’s like driving in a tunnel. I’m not sure if the trimmers maintain that or just the
big trucks driving though! Haha. We hit the curbs in towns 4 times just trying to fit in some places. It’s crazy tight to drive around and
was extremely stressful to us. Graham did most the driving and deserves a pat on the back for getting us places alive even if there
were a couple close calls, haha. He would concentrate on staying on the road and trying not to hit stuff and Andrew would give out
directions, read signs, right of ways at the roundabouts and yelling “HEY! You’re on the wrong side of the road!!”, haha. Even walking
around was dangerous as you didn’t expect cars coming from the opposite direction compared to home.
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Day 3, Friday Oct 4 – Up early. Down to the pits. We
discovered the boat we were expecting was not there (Our
own engine did not meet the UIM rules, so the host club,
ThunderCat UK, supplied us with a legal engine and boat
the same as ours to save us from shipping ours there)… it
was supposed to be blue and without graphics on it so we
could place our own sponsors on it. Colour wasn’t an
issue, but the boat waiting for us was covered in a sponsor
already, actually the paint was still drying. Only half the
boat was covered at this point, so we placed our sponsors
on the other side until later in the week when they painted
the other side of the hull. Not good news for us but it was
a last minute big sponsor for the event… what ya gunna
do? It’s their boat after all. We were happy to have one.
Also, the steering damper was not installed properly and
missing a couple minor parts. Not a big issue when you
know where everything is, but when it’s not yours, you are
stuck waiting on someone else who is also trying to set their own stuff up and hit the
practice sessions. So we began unpacking our equipment, safety gear, helmets, HydroTurf
mat, positioning the RAM Mounts and surf mounts for our Midland action cameras, put up
Canada flags, our sponsor banners and Team info sign, making it feel like home, etc. That
was all a job in itself, haha. Once the boat was setup (big thanks to James Tapp), we
registered and got inspected, the day was shot and we missed the practice sessions for the
Long Haul (Marathon). We’ve only done a marathon once before at the Top O Michigan
USA Championships, and we did that without touching the water prior the green flag… so
this felt normal to us. Haha.
We watched and learned some from other teams practicing and got to know some people. Many were very helpful. Nigel Gower and
Steve Curtis from #69 White Spider Racing and Marc Newton and Martin Pullen from #46 Team Bullet Proof were UK Teams that went
above and beyond and were a terrific help to Team Canada during the whole event. Lars Lutzka also helped out with some equipment.
We had several shipments delivered to a local friend we made online prior the race. Miles, the owner at Pentewan Ocean Sports, was
a great help and let us use his address for deliveries. NGK Spark Plugs UK, Amsoil UK, and Coleman UK saved us a lot of headache
by drop shipping supplies to Miles directly. I also bought my Typhoon dry suit through him. Rules for this particular event stated you
had to wear a wet or dry suit since the ocean was cold this time of year. If you are ever in the area, Miles has anything you could need
in his shop to do with watersports and is great to deal with.
As the day finished it was time to head off site to The Cornwall Hotel for a drivers briefing for the Long Haul taking place the next day.
All the drivers meetings were very well organized. They take safety very serious and followed the UIM rulebook to the letter. Was great
to see such a well organized group of staff. The room was packed with competitors from all over the world including Russia, Sweden,
Norway, South Africa, Germany, Belgium, England, Ireland and of course Canada. There were about 30 teams in 3 classes, but still
about half what the event had originally expected. Hard times are everywhere in the world I guess and it’s a costly (but worthwhile) trip.
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Day 4, Sat Oct 5 – Up early. Most days we have to get up at 6:00 AM even though racing usually starts at Noon. Every day you have
to sign in, attend drivers meeting, safety meeting, a weather briefing and get your outfit inspected before you head to the beach. Also
practice sessions are held in the mornings. Today is the first time we get in our boat. It is an Aquarius Aqua-Cat the same as we have
at home as promised so that is great for us. No learning curve there. Graham and Andrew are still under the gun getting last minute
things sorted since we missed practice the day before. We elect to just do just a couple laps on the test loop to ensure the outfit works
and then wait for the green flag saving our energy for the 110 km race. Test firing everything was great, sounded snappy and crisp,
nice. On the water the engine was a dog. We fiddle with things as we went and after a lap it cleared itself out and took off! Great!
Now were in a race boat! It felt strong and handled great. Thanks to Fiona Pascoe and James Tapp for hooking us up with this outfit.
For the Long Haul most teams used big props like we would use at events in Canada, 16, 17 or 18” props and the odd team had 15’s.
We put on our race tuned 16” and it was a slug. The engine was way too low for it (our fault). Engine setup heights to the Tohatsu are
greatly different from our normal Yamaha engine we’d discovered. Where we would setup at 37 mm above the transom or so with our
Yamaha and this prop… the Tohatsu looked like it would need to be at about 55mm it seemed. A big difference. We had no time to
sort that out so we just put on our smaller 15” and went. Some teams were using 15’s, so it was ok, but off the pace a little on the calm
water, should be good in the rough water. The Long Haul was two laps of about a 55 km course. Not all about speed but stamina and
reliably too, so we were not overly concerned.
The water was calm where we were starting but we heard reports of big swells and some waves once you passed a lighthouse point at
the 10 km mark or so. When the green flag dropped we jumped in the boat and pulled the start rope (new to us as we were used to
electric). After holding your boat for 30 minutes in the ocean (even a calm ocean) with all your gear on, you’re tired. We were the last
class to start. So as classes left you had to move down the beach to your starting grid spot. We didn’t get started on the first or second
pull, but did get fired and were not the last to leave the beach thankfully. I kept pulling out the kill switch when I pulled the start rope.
But it wasn’t all bad as it was a 110 km race down the coast… now we had some people to follow, haha. In the calmer water we were
slowly gaining on a couple teams in front of us, but once we hit the swells and rougher water we dropped back some. This was a new
kind of water to us fresh water racers.
We kept ahead of two teams to the turn around buoy 27 km down the coast. On the way back on the first lap we came across a boat
upside down. Even though rules say you don’t have to assist, we stopped to make sure they were ok. They were just righting the boat.
All ok so we took off, holding our position still. We passed other boats that had broken down but since the boats were upright we
continued on without stopping. Heading back into the wind and swells was much harder than going with them. We were getting
pounded on and falling back. We couldn’t see other teams anymore as people spread out and you couldn’t see over the ocean swells.
We glanced at a GPS mounted on the nose with a RAM Mount at times to ensure we were about the right distance from shore and
made our way along. The screen on the GPS was too small if you zoomed to see the waypoints. So not much use as you couldn’t let
go of the boat to use the buttons on the unit or you’d fly out, haha. But it seemed every time you just about gave up hope and were
lost, you could see a marker buoy in the distance when you and the buoy were on top of a swell at the same time.
At the end of lap 1 we were starting to get the hang of the rough water and distance between marker buoys. Now with one lap done we
had to stop the boat, change fuel tanks and run another lap. What caught us off guard was the tide. When you stop the co-pilot has to
jump out, sprint 30m up the beach, around a check point flag, then drop off your empty fuel tank and get a fresh one, then run back to
the boat. During practice this flag was only 20-30 feet from the fuel storage tent. We had no real crew, so we elected to leave our tank
in the tent and just run the few extra feet. It was against the rules to leave a fuel tank unattended at any time if not in the storage tent.
Most teams had a crew
and person to man the
second fuel tank right
beside the check point
flag. Well at race time
the tide was out, and it
went out a long way!!
They moved the flag to
the 30m point from the
water, which was now
about 500 metres from
Boats returning to the beach after Lap 1 to refuel. Photo by Mick Ladner, STM Images
the fuel tent!! Much too
far to expect Graham to run to. I’m not sure he could crawl that far at this point. We scrambled to find someone willing to stand around
for an hour and half and watch our fuel cans. After some searching Graham got a helpful person just 10 minutes before the start.
So now back at the beach after the first lap, Graham took off for the check point flag, swapped tanks and ran back. Lugging 25L of fuel
after a 55km race, in your dry suit, with a kevlar suit on top, and lifejacket on top of that,
and helmet on in the sand is no easy task. He was ready to pass out as he tried to hand
the fresh tank to me. Now with the fuel tank switched, we were off again.
Incidentally… for the marathon you are required to take a VHF radio or cell phone in case
you end up with an emergency out of sight of the rescue teams or got lost. Since our cell
was iffy at this point, we also borrowed an iCom VHF radio (happened to be brand new
and top of the line). For your future knowledge… If you ever do a marathon and borrow a
$500 radio… ensure when you do the fuel change that it gets strapped back in securely
and the dry bag it is in doesn’t end up flying out the back of the boat when you hit a big
wave… lol.
On to lap two… :) After Graham stopped wheezing and rag dolling around the front of the
Graham running the fuel tank after Lap1
Photo by Angella Ladner, STM Images
boat and caught his breath, we had good momentum and were getting use to the rough
water (and maybe because slightly lighter due to the missing radio? haha), we were
moving now. Still on our own more or less but visually pulling away from the teams behind
us. Then we saw a huge fish and fins in the water… our first thought being in the ocean
was “Is that a shark!?” As we got closer it was a dolphin which was jumping in and out of
the water. Very cool to two fresh water dudes. Anyway, this lap was more or less routine
at this point except just after the turn around, about 30 km into the lap, our engine quit!
We turned around to see the tank collapsed in… the vent had closed! Looked like the tank bounced in the waves and the vent
happened to hit the steering damper which closed the vent. DOH! Fixed that and off we went. We passed a few more broken down
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outfits and made it back in one piece. We completed the race in 1:39.53. We placed 16 of 26 teams overall and were 5 in our class.
A great feeling.
That nights party was the first official party of the event. Everyone was there. All having a good time and either drowning the sorrows
of the day or celebrating the achievements. In our case celebrating with locally made 6.5% “Cornish Rattle” hard cider! Then it was
announced it was time for a welcome/initiation drink to be done by a representative from each country. We heard rumours of this the
night before and Andrew volunteered Graham as he paid for his plane tickets to the race. Haha. He flat out refused and said he’ll just
leave. Andrew then asked Ginny if she was interested, haha. No go. Not wanting to embarrass our country Andrew not to eagerly
stepped up to the plate. 10 or so, lets call them victims, were lined up in front of everyone, some happy to try, others dragged there.
Buckets were put in front of them for people who, ah, couldn’t complete the task being given to them. So the task… 10 people in line,
one person at a time drinks/eats. No one can take another drink until the last person is finished. So if you are near the front of the line,
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you have a long wait for a fresh drink to wash things down. Thankfully Andrew was about 8 in line. First up, a shot of vodka with a
good hit of Tobasco. Next up, a full raw egg, in the shell, in your mouth whole, then chew. Proud to say Team Canada represented
well, and finished like a champ, and didn’t need the bucket. But that first chew of the egg and it exploding in your mouth was a close
call. Oddly, I think the egg shell made it easier. Haha. This tradition comes from South Africa. They’re crazy. Maybe something we
should get rookies to do at our races? haha.
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Day 5, Sun Oct 6 – The only day off of the whole event. A day to rest from the marathon. We decided to hike the coastal path 4km or
so to the next town south from Pentewan to Mevagissey. A nice walk along the high up cliffs to a beautiful little harbour/tourist village.
The views were spectacular from the trail. The Cornwall district of England is postcard perfect. At Mevagissey we had locally caught
fish and chips, fresh made pasty’s, and some fresh made fudge.
All terrific. We toured the many shops, harbour, little aquarium
display, model train club, and watched people fish from the harbour
walls. A great day and we bumped into some other Teams doing
the same thing.
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Day 6, Mon Oct 7 – This day we headed north about 40 minutes
to the town of Watergate Bay near Newquay for Surf Cross on the
north shore of Cornwall. Today was a mandatory training day as
many countries didn’t have surf conditions and had never seen
them. About 8 teams had never been in the surf before. But we
were the only ones in our class, and I think we were the only team
that had never been in salt water before. We listened very closely
to the advice from the surf rescue team. They didn’t teach
anything about racing, but what to do on the different types of
waves we would find and how to survive them and what to do if
you fall out or flip. Key info to us obviously.
When practice started we signed up for a late grouping so we
could watch some first. When our turn was up, it was a challenge
just to get the boat in the water and ourselves in the boat. The
forecast was 5’ waves with a 3’ swell (and a tidal change of 22
feet!). We’re told that whatever the numbers are, you can add 1/3
to them for what you will be running in… so not 8’ when it all lines
up, but 10.5’. A massive wave when you are use to 6 inch waves.
Haha. So we were off! We picked and chose our lines in the
waves carefully, doing our best to avoid a cresting wave right off
the start. Flipping and drowning now would suck! Haha. We were
doing good. Several fun jumps with some good and some rough
landings. Graham was hanging on tight and way forward in the
boat with his head past the nose even to keep us from going over
backwards. After a couple laps and gaining some confidence and
doing well we were jumping a little bigger and going faster. One
medium jump we went through the cresting wave and landed hard
and Graham bounced his head off the nose cone then he broke
loose from the foot straps and rag dolled around and halfway out
the front of the boat. I thought he was gone but he somehow
managed to stay in. I could tell it rattled him pretty good. We
slowed for a lap or so as he figured out where he was. Haha. Now
charging again I could hear Graham screaming at the tops of the
Some pics of the Mevagissey hike. Photos: Andrew Fralick
some of the jumps… you go off a 6’-7’ wave/swell, into the air some, and Graham is at
the front of a 14’ boat… he’s a long way up there with a long way to free fall basically.
But all was good
even though he
was white
knuckled
sometimes. It took
some real guts to
be up front in the
boat and he did
excellent. Going
into the big waves
was much easier
than I thought it
would be. Our big
Prepping for Surf Cross. Photo by Mike Powell
Video grab from Midland XTC 280 camera
problem was our prop. It cavitated a lot! We’d land, and it wouldn’t
bite for 1-2 seconds. It wasn’t worked properly for the surf and the
much aerated water. You’d have to let completely off the throttle
and then bring it on slow. By that time the next wave was on top of
you, literally… so we got pounded a few times. It got dangerous at
times and some fear set in as you couldn’t’ move out of the way of a
bad wave. Near the end of our session we jumped off a small wave
coming back towards shore and the boat grabbed funny when we
landed and darted left very quickly. The violent turn jarred Andrew
as his back and neck bent backwards on the starboard tube and it
hurt him a lot. The Team pulled off and called it a day. High 5’s
with each other for surviving though! We could read the waves very
well for some reason. Many told us we did fantastic and picked
great lines, and that when they were all on shore yelling “Go right!
Go right!” we would go right. It felt great to survive our first run even
if we got banged up some.
Team Canada jumping the smaller shoreline waves during practice.
Photo by Gary Bray
Also on this day unfortunately Cameron and Brennan, Graham’s
kids, were both quite sick back at base camp. So as soon as we were done we quickly packed up we headed back to Pentewan to see
how everyone was doing. As luck would have it, the event medics Jerry Pocknell and Nikki Gray followed us on the way back to
Pentewan and were able to check in on the kids, thanks! So with Andrew’s back, and the kids health, and Gin on her own with them,
we made the call not to race on Tuesday. This saved Andrew’s back a day so we didn’t get completely taken out of the event. It was
so bad at that point that Andrew feared he might actually break his back if he landed like that again.
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Day 7, Tues Oct 8 – We all packed up and headed back to Watergate Bay to watch the races. Andrew’s back was very sore still but
the kids had improved a lot. We watched half of the surf racing. The Norwegian’s were crazy! Never being in surf before they charged
very hard. Rocketing into the air super high. A couple of their teams didn’t make it and landed upside down. Some other Teams did
the same. It looked like from the events so far the Norwegian’s were the fastest teams there, but would just have to deal with learning
this new discipline. After watching some racing we took advantage of not racing and we went to see the King Arthur castle ruins in
Tintagel for Gin and the kids to have some fun and then hit a great local pub for food and drink. The sets this day were huge, but nice
and clean. 6’ waves with 4’ swell. They had so many crashes and issues that they only ran Heat 1for each class and called it. So we
picked a good day to miss.
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Day 8, Wed Oct 9 – Off to Watergate Bay again. Andrew’s
back was still very sore… We got up and went there with
intention of racing though and would decide closer to our heat
time what to do. This discipline, Surf Cross, was the main
reason we were here after all, so we were going to do
everything we could to take part. Once there, Graham said to
go get a back massage in the fancy spa at the Watergate Bay
Hotel next door and see how that worked. This has worked
great for Andrew before, so off he went. After being worked on
for 45 minutes he felt like a new person and was ready to tackle
the surf! Good thinking Graham!
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Heat 2, we were doing great!! We were in 3 place. But about
6 laps in boat #8 crashed and it was red flagged. Races are 9
laps plus the start lap. The surf track is about 1.2 km long (3/4 mile). We were only 1/2 a lap from completing enough laps to call it a
race and take 3rd. Now the restart. Again, going out through the waves was not too bad. Coming back over them was our hardest
part. We couldn’t read a wave from behind at all… is that wave cresting? Is it a 3’ drop or a 9’ drop on the other side? We took our
time coming back to shore (this also gave us a little rest). And if a wave lined up with a swell, it was enormous!!! We followed one back
which seemed to block everything we could see… all we saw was water, you had to look up to even see the sky. In our mind it 12-15’
tall. The largest one we saw during the whole event. That one scared the crap out us and we were glad we were behind it and didn’t
have to head into it on the way back out. It was very hard to know where you were when in the trough of the waves. You couldn’t see
buoys, or land or other boats or anything. Someone could land on you too so you didn’t want to stay there too long. You’d have to pick
a mark on the cliff and try to aim for that each time you got to the top of a wave and hope you’d see the buoy eventually. Sometimes
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we went past it and almost beach the boat. It was hard to see when the shore was blocked by the waves. We finished in 6 this heat.
Heat 3. The breaking water splashes and washed over everything. It would get in under the engine cowl to all places too. We learned
the hard way that you have to keep the engine running lots and duct tape up every area/crack/seam/hole that water can get into or
water will. Some teams even put towels or sponges under the cowl to soak up water. When we tried to start for Heat 3, it wouldn’t go.
We pulled and pulled, tried everything. You have to leave shore before the lead boat passes on the first lap or you can’t leave the start
line. Us and #26 didn’t get fired in time and were forced to give up. After we found the problem was water in the lower carb. (After
talking to people, this was our issue at the Long Haul too) From then on if we were on the water we tried to keep the motor running until
just before the start. Keeping things hot and clear. Even then sometimes the engine would be bogged down for a hundred feet until it
cleared the water out.
Team Canada trying to get started with wet engine.
Photo by Mike Powell
The Norwegian #02 boat. Just trying to hang on to the boat during
staging for the starting grid was a work out. Photo Barry (Wilson?)
Heat 3 was red flagged when boat #22 broke down in a dangerous location. A protest or two was filed too. Since we didn’t get started,
there was some confusion as to if we could be part of the restart of that heat. First they said no. So we took our boat out of the water,
then they said yes and we hurried to get in the starting grid. Then they said no again, haha. At that point Andrew was exhausted from
dragging the boat in and out of the surf and just collapsed into the water and sat for a minute as waves washed over him. We had no
idea the water would wear you down this much.
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In The Final, we were getting tired. Back to survival mode but we still managed a 5 place. Jumping was still great fun, but it was
getting harder to hold on. Again Graham yelled a couple times off the jumps and it was getting hard for him to hang on… all was good
on Andrew’s end, but he was another 5’ higher and taking much bigger hits both from the landings and from the cresting waves. And if
a wave crested on you it felt like a football linebacker tackle on you. One of our competitors in #8 was washed right out the back of
their boat getting banged up pretty good as he hit the engine and transom… they simply could not hold on to the forces of the wave.
Throughout the surf cross we were getting washed over a lot and swallowing a lot of salt water too. That didn’t sit so well in the
The view from inside the boat (Midland XTC video grab)
The view from outside the boat. Photo by Paul Engelstad
stomach. And the salt and sand is abrasive as Graham’s throat was showing from the Marathon helmet incident, haha. During the
rush to find someone to man our fuel tank at the Marathon, Graham ended up dropping his helmet in the water at the shore line just
before the start. Now sand and salt was imbedded in this helmet chin strap… during the marathon it eventually wore the skin right off
his throat everywhere his chin strap touched! He was literally a bloody mess at times and couldn’t shave there anymore, so looked a
little funny and quite painful as the skin cracked when wearing a helmet again in the remaining races. Ouch!
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Overall in Surf Cross we placed 7 . But we missed two heats so that’s expected. We had a blast though and we would love to do a
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surf race again. This brought our combined point total placing down to 6 place from 5 .
The Norwegian’s had a tough Surf Cross losing three teams in various heats. They’d never been in the surf before either.
Here is a great pic to give a feel for water conditions at Watergate Bay… this #06 from South Africa and #77 from Norway. Photo by Mike Powell
Surf Cross Final. Photo by Chris Stone
Team Canada boat resting after Surf Cross. Photo by Barry Wilson
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Day 9, Thurs Oct 10 – Today we were back in Pentewan to get ready for Circuit Racing. This was a practice day. Circuit racing was
supposed to be very close to what we race here in Canada. Mostly an oval/rectangle shape with a tight chicane on the back stretch.
The steering was limited in movement due to arms that were a little too short on the damper… since the water was supposed to be
calmer here, we decided to remove the damper to get more steering control through the chicane on this track. But the weather and
water picked up good and didn’t let the calm water this place was known for show. The way the waves and wind were going it was still
rougher than anything we’d ever been in before, even worse than the Marathon. But we learned lots from the Marathon and adjusted
the setup. We jacked up the motor to 50mm and decided to try our 16” prop again as we knew it wouldn’t have any cavitation issues.
Once this was all sorted the water picked up more and we decided to save our bodies still recovering from surf and skip practice today
and do the morning practice on Friday. Also we began to second guess removing the damper since it was so rough and put it back on.
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Day 10, Friday Oct 11 – Up early again. On the
beach with the boat at 7:30 AM. However the event
staff had a rough night of protests and appeals from
surf racing so it was a late start. Practice got started at
about 10am. The water was again very rough, getting
close to surfable! We put on the 16” and did some
laps. It worked ok, not near the top end potential but bit
the water well so we went with it. The water had waves
coming towards shore a few feet tall and a swell also a
couple feet high running across the course. It was
certainly going to be a beating… in surf cross, you had
a break/rest across the back and across the front of the
course… this was 1.8km lap (1.1 miles) for 10 laps of
pure pounding.
Heat 1 – Graham broke before the first lap was over!
He was yelling over every bump. Andrew thought he
Team Canada off to late start of the practice session. Photo by Barry Wilson
broke a rib on the nose of the boat and told him to
move back a foot. He said he hurt his back. We
plodded along and tried to make it as smooth as possible. Graham was screaming over every wave now. After a couple straightaways
he didn’t let up so Andrew asked if he want to go in? He said no, sucked it up some and they carried on. The waves were so erratic
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that you couldn’t get a rhythm going. Every wave was different and really hit on you. We were in 7 place ahead of team #4 Ahmad
Tea who was having issues also. We just kept pace to stay ahead of them.
Once back to shore Graham went to the medic and got checked out and was handed some pain killers. He stretched his back out a bit
and things improved for him greatly. The water settled just slightly during the break between races and a protest was filed which gave
us about a 1.5 hour break. A good time for Graham to rest and relax.
Boat on the beach at Pentewan waiting to start the Circuit Race series of races. Photo by Barry Wilson
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Heat #2 – Again getting use to the bumps and bangs we were doing better. We got up to 5 , but then were passed by a couple boats
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and back to 7 or so. Some good battling action. We only got lapped by the two lead boats. An improvement and more fun than the
first heat.
The event had hoped to finish everything today as bad weather was expected the next day. (Seriously? This was pretty bad, haha)
But with all the delays and protests we only completed two heats.
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Day 11, Sat Oct 12 – As they promised the water was nasty today!! Windy and rough. The way the tide was working the waves were
crashing about 3-4’ tall right onto the beach. It was intense trying to hold your boat as the bottom also dropped off very quickly. We
were allowed two helpers to try and cope with conditions. Only two races left for us and we were done. We would be very glad to be
done. We were beat up and exhausted. Every muscle was fatigued and wore out. Our brains were tired even. Your starting grid spot
was always based on the results of your last race. We finished well the day before after some infractions were announced so we were
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4 or 5 on the grid. We decided this was our chance. We had to come out strong and give it everything we had even if we just idled
around the next heat. Suck the pain up and hold on for life, haha.
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Heat 3 – We fired on first pull and were off. We blasted through the rough and were 3 or 4 to the first turn and right in the mix with
everyone (finally figuring out this pull start and in water starts). Down the back stretch through the chicane battling with two other boats.
This went on for a lap and one got past us. In the next lap another got past us, but we were still pushing hard and having fun, doing
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well. In 6 or so now, #8 broke down moving us up to 5 and we were in a several lap battle with #69. #8 quickly got going again and
on the last lap they got past us. Only the lead
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boat #22 lapped us and we took 6 spot and
we lapped #4. Our best race by far in Circuit.
In between races, all racers we expected to
help hold other boats… you never got a rest.
The water was intense… we were helping hold
the Russian boat and waves were crashing
right over us. It didn’t help that they didn’t
speak any English. It was all finger pointing…
“look out, big wave!!” The boat beside us from
Norway, even with its crew in the boat, got lifted
in the air and flipped landing directly on the
beach upside down. Then being washed
around from the surf we scrambled to help the
crew and save the boat. No success. Once
fully on shore we lifted the engine cowl off and
it had 3” of sand in it. A sad sight. They were
done. The officials reviewed things and
decided to do off shore starts for the rest of the
races. THANK YOU! Haha. Still a challenge to
leave shore, but at least it wasn’t race starting
pressure.
Norwegian boat getting flipped over… Andrew and Graham are holding the red Team
Russia boat just to the right. Video grab from Team Russia
The Final – last race of the Worlds. Still
pumped from Heat 3 result, the water settled
just slightly as the wind dropped a little. Crews could now move back just a bit in the boat and get over some of the rough stuff at speed
without a fear of blowing over so easily. This helped us with our 16” prop. The flag start with pace boat also helped us as we didn’t
have to worry about starting the engine. So we manoeuvered to our grid spot and lined up idling along. Off went the pace boat and we
all went. Again right in the mix we battled hard again. Andrew was totally wore out though from the last one and holding the other
boats in the water. The only way he could steer was with two hands. This meant he wasn’t holding on to the boat! Made it a little tricky
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at times and he often flew in the air just hanging on to the tilting tiller arm and one foot stuck in a foot strap. We fought for 4 -5 spots
but once we got passed the adrenaline vanished and we dropped off fast just to survive and complete the race. The conditions let us
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go faster though and we didn’t get lapped this race. Our first time in surf or circuit we didn’t. We came in 7 spot lapping #69 and #4.
It felt great!
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Overall we got 6 place in Circuit. We were glad to be done. We’d never wanted to get out and away from a race boat so bad in our
life. Haha. (It didn’t take long to start to think about it again though, haha.)
Surf Cross was definitely the highlight of the trip. We loved that racing. Flying through the air was terrific. Seeing the huge waves was
amazing and crashing through them or going over them was fun and scary, a challenge for sure. This made the trip for us even though
it broke us. Haha.
To help the Teams to get away early, they moved the final awards party from Sunday to Saturday night. This was great for us as we
could leave Sunday then and ensure we didn’t miss our early flight on Monday and got to see some more sights. Overall in the event
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of 9 entries in Stock class we took 5 place. A terrific accomplishment in our eyes. If we’d scored any points in the Surf race our
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engine didn’t start in or if we scored points in the race we skipped because of Andrew’s back, we might have got 4 or who knows, on
the podium. It was very close racing as at some point everyone had problems. We’d never even been in salt water before, never mind
the rough water and surf. We swallowed enough salt water to feel the salt lump in your stomach at the end of the day, haha. Many
people were very impressed with the way we were involved and how we did. We made lots of great friends and many good
connections. Team Canada really made an impression and we were mentioned several times at various presentations. Even in the
winners victory speeches a couple people went out of their way to mention Team Canada. We made a great impression on people.
Sweden gave us an open invite to their big marathon race with equipment supplied (156 km through islands and waterways that you
have to navigate through… sounded like the 1000 Islands of Ontario). So who’s knows what we’ll be up to next.
Everyone was great. A new family to add to our North American boat racing family. Sounds like the next worlds will be in South Africa
in early 2015. I highly suggest another team from Canada and/or USA makes an effort to go and add to the presence at the World
level. It’s a trip/race of a lifetime you will never forget. It should be on your bucket list to even go and watch. We will share lots of info
and contacts, and we’ll be the first in line to sponsor you.
No one was seriously injured in the whole event. I'd guess about a dozen teams ended up upside down over the event. And many
broke down. Most teams were able to get back on the water at future heats. It doesn’t really matter if you are fast or slow, or have no
experience even. The ocean is a great equalizer. One thing I never thought I would say is, 8 days of on water action/ racing is too
much, haha. We were beat up and the last race or two were very demanding just to prep for... physical and mental stamina is definitely
a huge part of doing well. But that is all part of it, combined it’s also a type of endurance race at the same time. It was great fun and
very glad we went. And it didn’t take long to start dreaming of the next one. Haha.
A huge shout out to the people who pulled this event off. It was a thankless job I’m sure and they put up with a lot! Thank you and
there are many more: Fiona Pascoe, James Tapp, Nikki Gray, Jeni Jeff. Thanks to everyone who personally helped us especially
Nigel Gower, Steve Curtis, Marc Newton, Martin Pullen, Grant Harrison and again Fiona Pascoe and James Tapp. Thanks to all our
sponsors, supporters, friends and family who have been with us all season. Without your words and contributions it would not have
been possible!
Team Canada 2013 and World Championship Sponsors
Midland USA - http://www.midlandusa.com – great radios and helmet communicators and action/helmet
cameras!
HydroTurf Canada - http://www.Jet-unit.com – awesome boat padding and traction mats… and they do stuff
for cars, trailers, motorcycles, pleasure boats, watersports like PWC, SUP and Kayaks, etc.
Fralick Boats - http://www.fralickboats.com – your source for all you boat racing hardware and accessory
needs, plus Championship and speed record winning boat plan designs.
James Hunter Equipment – http://www.machinerytrader.com/dealers/detail.aspx?cid=2954748 - need any
vintage outboard or heavy equipment parts… they are the people!
Stuck on Décor – http://www.stuckondecor.com (coming soon) - awesome easily removable home décor wall
graphics (put your race boat on your man cave wall!)… also regular sign/decal/automotive graphics.
Toronto Outboard Racing Club – http://www.torc.ca – get involved with racing here! From local club fun, to
representing your country at the world level. You never know where boat racing will take you!
ThunderCat Racing UK – http://www.thundercatracing.co.uk – A great bunch of people doing everything they
possibly can to grow this sport globally.
RAM Mounts - http://www.rammount.com – brackets so you can mount any electronic piece of equipment to
any thing you can dream up!
Coleman Outdoor UK - http://www.coleman.eu/uk - camping gear, tail gate party gear, outdoor gear,
canopies, and tons of great stuff.
NGK Spark Plugs Canada and UK - http://www.ngksparkplugs.com – the only spark plug we use in our
engine!
Amsoil UK - http://www.amsoiluk.com – Amsoil… the only oil we use in our cars, boats, bikes, anything… it’s
simply the best in our minds.
Aquarius Inflatables - www.aquariusinflatablesna.com - go buy one of these boats there! Awesome for at the
cottage and with the family!
Top Gun Marine – http://www.topgunmarine.ca – Your first and only stop for high performance boat engine
parts, service and maintenance and more.
And the FANS like YOU! – http://www.gofundme.com/Team-Canada - Thanks to everyone who contributed
everything from a couple quarters to hundreds of dollars. Greatly appreciated!! It’s not too late to help us pay
the bills or start building for 2014 too if you want to help.
For more information on Team Canada or the sport, please contact us:
Team Canada ThunderCat – Fralick Racing
Andrew Fralick
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
647-847-4347
[email protected]
Website: www.TeamCanadaThunderCat.weebly.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FralickRacing
Twitter:
@FralickRacing