Thundercats are go!!!

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Over the last week the Thundercat World Championships have been taking place on Scarborough's South Beach. There has been a mix of Thundercat racing, with Jet Ski action and stunts. It has been a pretty cool event for the area.

So what is Thundercats Racing?

Well before you say it, it has nothing to do with the Cartoon! It is quite straightforward. You have 2 men in a small open powerboat. One steers and the other uses his body to help pull the boat around corners. The boats are fairly small but do go fairly quick, and lets be honest... who wants to be thrown into the nice cold North Sea at about 40mph apart from these guys!!! Teams compete around a circuit in the water.

British Team Entry, big enough for 2!

DSCF1666

Anyway I thought these guys would be tough, mentally tough & physically prepared for anything. However it seems that a lot of them were struggling to cope with UK conditions. As one Australian steward said to me, "some of the guys have been hit pretty hard", so I replied, "What... going off into the water?" which he laughed at and said "No mate... the 18 Degrees weather here!"

I was stood next to him in a short sleeve T-Shirt while he was wearing a thick padded jacket, and it was made even more true with one of the competitors seen visibly shaking next to his boat! (I don't think he was nervous anyway).

So I thought there maybe a good chance the UK entry would take advantage of this! OK maybe not then! The South Africans are bloody good at this. It was created there so that says something, but is now global having teams from New Zealand, Australia, USA, Sweden, UK & S.Africa all competing.

Below is the Swedish Boat being persude

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The Thundercats were exciting to watch as the come pretty close to the beach so views are premium. I would have liked to see longer races as they tend to last 10 mins and then break for 30 - 40 mins but all in all it was great fun!

I must say it looked dangerous until I got home, switched on the Canadian GP & saw Kubica have that awful crash!

     

     

     

     

Tags: adrenaline, powerboats, scarborough, thundercats, watersports, world championships
Posted June 11, 2007 at 2:36 AM by Steveo | Permalink | Comments(5)



Comments

"Ancient spirits of evil, transform this decaying figure into Mum Rha, the ever living!" Sorry, I'll get my coat. The racing looks good though - all the better for the pics.
Posted by robrobson | June 11, 2007 at 4:08 AM
Great stuff. Do you have any video of this. Was it captured by any the broadcast networks including those from the participating countries especially South Africa? Is this a sport you participate in? How well is it organised in the UK? Sorry for all the questions but I have not seen this before!
Posted by keithirving | June 11, 2007 at 7:22 AM
I've done this before (in the cold Atlantic of South Africa as well), albeit in slow motion compared to what these guys do! The guy at the back has it easy - I was stuck in the front of the "rubber duck" with nothing but a short rope to hang onto (and supposedly help steer the boat, yeah right!) and the padding on my rear to cushion the blows, and believe me you don't half bounce about over even the smallest waves! It's quite a dangerous sport as well - not so much just falling out (which isn't nearly as funny as it looks), but there have been a few people caught up in the propellers in the past (though I think safety has improved since then). I'm pretty sure former Springbok rugby player Rob Lowe had a nasty accident in a race once. If you like this sort of thing, Ramsgate in Kent has a powerboating weekend every year about now. Go on the Sunday though - that's when the big guns come out to play!
Posted by garybaker | June 11, 2007 at 12:14 PM
    RE: Questions form Kevin
    Thanks for the questions and comments guys! I do not participate in this, although it does look great fun to be part of. Organising was good, but then again they do this all over the world, and are experienced at setting it up.
    As for the filming, there were camera crews there set up so I will look into getting the footage.
    Steve
Posted by Steveo | June 14, 2007 at 8:26 AM
Steveo, where are you and how are you doing? We miss you....

--
Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com
Posted by robrobson | January 19, 2009 at 1:44 PM

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