Over 250 riders gathered from all over the World and Pete Burgess was there to bring us the action.

Photos: Warren Brown

The Scenario: Britain was suffering its worst weather for 30 years, A number of roads were impassable, the kids were off school because the Health and Safety faction said it was just too treacherous to let them attend, and a number of airports had been closed through the sheer amount of snow that had fell on the runways – oh and of course the temperature itself had not been above freezing for nearly two weeks!!!

Our predicament: Would Manchester Airport remain open? Could we get there without being snowed in? Was Virgin flight VS075 going to be affected by circumstances outside our control? Do you pack board shorts, a steamer or both!

We needn’t have worried – the ground staff at Manchester had done a superb job and whilst security has been stepped up big style on transatlantic flights we were soon sitting on the plane watching it being busily de-iced ready for an on-time take off at 10:30am.

The weather had been watched with interest, as although we have visited Florida a number of times now, we’d never been to Daytona, nor had Florida suffered such extremes of cold in living memory of a lot of its residents.

Up to then we had been glued to the central heating or gas fire thinking if you wanted to go jetskiing you’d need to break a layer of ice as thick as a house-brick before you could actually launch. One eye was on the Internet checking for the temperatures over the pond. Oh dear – New York same as us, as was most of the US East coast with Florida suffering from frost and sub zero temperatures at night as well. This was not looking good. However American attention on the weather is even greater than ours, and all their forecasts showed a marked upward trend (thank God). This was born out in fact when on arrival at Orlando International airport a rush of warm air met us on the jetway into the terminal.

Not all plain sailing though. We got into the country (along with fellow Brit skier Warren Brown and his partner Lindsay who were there on holiday), but mine and Ant’s suitcase remained in Manchester. The wife wasn’t bothered hers was there. Ant wasn’t bothered – his wet-gear bag and helmet had arrived too! My question therefore was would the wife’s underwear stretch that far -  hmmm?? We were promised it would arrive the next day and would be sent directly to us to where we were staying in Daytona. The promise was kept and I only had to “go commando” for one day.

Technical Features for the H2 Hammer Helmets are:

• External shell: high resistance polycarbonate

• Internal shell: expanded polystyrene with ventilated structure

• Ventilation system: front on/off air vents protected by a stainless steel grille

• Internal padding: comfortable, high quality and “Sanitized fabric – the internal bottoms are realized with the Air plus fabric which brings the proper air ventilation” (we don’t know what internal bottoms are, either)

• Removeable chin bar

• Loop for fixing goggles

• Certification: CEN 1077 approval

• Visor-compatible (visor sold separately). Peak as standard.

• Weight: 678g

The price is £139.00 — shown here with Iridium visor costing £49.00.

Line One Distributors Ltd

Tel: (01285) 713888

www.lineonedist.co.uk

Powerboating champions from across the UK came together at the beginning of February for the annual RYA National Powerboat Racing Awards Ceremony, and some of our most successful racers were there to be honoured.

Held at the prestigious De Vere Royal Bath Hotel in Bournemouth, 50 of the UK’s best racers, starting from just age 12, from the disciplines of Jet sport, Offshore and Circuit racing claimed their awards, recognising their achievements throughout the 2009 season in front of some 150 friends, family and supporters.

The evening was hosted by one of the United Kingdom’s leading powerboat racers and the first female British champion in her field, Shelley Jory Leigh who was part of the first all female team to win a Powerboat P1 SuperSport Grand Prix, in Istanbul last year and the RYA’s Powerboat Racing manager John Puddifoot, who himself claimed the 2009 National Sprint SL250 Champion award during the evenings proceedings.

Amongst the winners, and one of the few female winners on the evening was Anya Colley who claimed the 2009 World Jet Sport Expert Ski Limited & Amateur Ski Open Champion, she said of the evening: “This is my third year at the awards and I think they are wonderful and really well done. It’s a great opportunity for everyone to celebrate what they’ve achieved and have their moment in the spotlight.

“Not many people know about jet-sport, so it’s a great opportunity for the other disciplines to hear what we’ve been doing and for us to hear about all the other sports and what they’ve achieved.” Joseph Edwards, James Bushell, Kevin Pope, Jack Moule, and Glen Marshall also picked up awards for their sterling efforts in jet sport racing.

Line One are introducing a new line of Solas stainless-steel impellers — the new SRZ CD Impellers for the 215hp and 255hp 2009 and 2010 Sea-Doo Watercraft

Available pitches: 13/18, 14/19, 15/21 degrees.

Solas impellers offer increased low-end acceleration and better top-end speed. The mirror-finished, precision cast, stainless-steel blades reduce cavitation, giving you “unrivalled performance throughout”. Solas impellers are the number one best seller worldwide and are used by the majority of top racers and freestylers, it says here. The price of stainless brilliance is £249.00

Line One Distributors Ltd
Tel: (01285) 713888

www.lineonedist.co.uk