when i would tell people stories related to racing , jumping rocks , logs , launching off waterfalls , doing reos off river banks , hitting obstacles that hard and getting so much air that we once got our boat stuck in a tree and couldnt reach it , hitting a section of river bank in last place , then unknowingly getting air into the bush , then flying back down and realising the river had done a loop , we just flew out of the bush in first place…
crew would listen , but i knew they didnt believe me …
one race is 250 kms long , and all the most amazing obstacles are hidden deep in the wilderness where a camera man couldnt get to , unless a competitor took one , but then they wouldnt be racing …
i never forget the look on this guys face once …
they were in first place , we were last , we took a wrong turn , hit a bank , then flew up onto wet grass and bush , we couldnt stop coz we were skidding on scrub , i pulled to the left then right narrowly missing huge trees and rocks , then we bust through some loose soft trees like we were leaving the bat cave , only to realise were about to launch off the river bank and back into the river …
just as we burst out and air drop back into the water i look to the left and see the guys in first place coming around the bend , we almost collided …
he must have freaked as we just launched out of the bush right in front of them and into first place …
so getting back to construction …
these are just eps and glassed with epoxy resin and fibreglass …
we done some vacuum bagged ones , but they are so light they only last a season if your lucky , sometimes not even one race …
a whole boat and motor could be as light as 60 kg …
quite often , you find yourself having to manhandle to boat over or around some heavy sections …
so lightness helped , plus we used them like a giant surfboard , the heavy boats just didnt respond quick enough …
you could get em from rail to rail and negotiate some stupidly tight sections …
ok that was fun reliving that stuff …
regards
BERT
