Our Mighty Man from Michigan, Mike Moody recently journeyed to Europe for the 2006 European blokart Championships.
Here is his account….

A BEACH CALLED GWITHIAN

Slivered between the waters of creation and the edge of Mother Earth is a peaceful strip made of micro-diamonds that we refer to as sand. A place known as Gwithian. Built with the sands of eons somewhere in the very distant past of out planet and placed in the ideal spot to witness the result of the hand of God, Gwithian lays and defines His perfection. Here the North Sea, Irish Ocean, English Channel, and the mighty Atlantic, can and often does crash together with all the energy and fury of a "perfect storm" to gnaw out steep craggy cliffs as if to prevent trespassing by human kind. Yet, in their persistence to satisfy their own curiosity, humans somehow make their way to this place of heavenly wind blown perfection. On a long weekend in November, with sightseers, surfers, kite boarders, speed sailors, and other beach worshipers, there you may find also a group of half crazed but dedicated blokarters, ready to test their skills against the forces of nature. And nature does not disappoint here.

On this weekend (Nov. 24-26 2006) the European Blokart Championships were held here in conjunction with the 2006 British Open. Graham Bobbins and Rob Jewel of Speedsail UK, along with their team of merry but hardworking volunteers, put on an event to be long remembered. There was every kind of weather. Wind, rain, storm, gale, and even sun on the last day. Graham was in charge of the event while Rob was in charge of the weather. He ordered up a bit of everything. Nice job guys! They make a great team. 45 or so hearty souls braved the cold and wet elements to race for glory. The glory of good friendship, drink, food, the swapping of tips and new ideas, retune and tweak the kart for the umpteenth time, forge new friendships, renew old ones and just have FUN!      Those of you who could not make it and would like to race the races through my eyes and words, read on. Everyone else, pack a lunch, go grab a beer and a blokart and head for your favorite B-karting spot

ARRIVAL DAY - Thursday Nov. 23

I got to the beach a day early and was greeted with near gale force winds and driving rain. Javier Estrallias and Paul (a temporary transplant from Australia) were already there tearing up and down the beach. I broke out my new 2M sail fresh out of the bag from New Zealand and joined in the fun! Almost totally blinded by the spray and horizontal rain, all I could do was keep a shadowy outline on another blokart ahead to my right and fight to keep the front wheel well . . . . generally in front of me! I got the money I paid for the sail back in one high speed, on the edge of "out of control" afternoon.

FRIDAY Nov. 24
Practice and Media Day

Graham put together a series of short "dash for cash" races designed to let those there practice starts and get used to the starting and flag systems.

RACE DAY ONE - Nov 25
Race one:

Congrats to Nicholas Boel (Belgium) and Javier Estrallias (Spain) for surviving the first test of Gwithian Beach and finishing first and second respectively. In this race a big squall came through soon after the start with horizontal rain again and near zero visibility. About this time most of us were thinking we made the bad decision by rigging the 4M's. Difficult to keep down and in control for even the heavy's. I was in second on the second upwind leg and lost visual of the surf line and stacked it up in the surf straight away. By the time I extricated myself, I was in third behind Javier and feeling fortunate I did not have to get out and push my way out of the soft surf sand. The very next mark was to windward and \I found myself pinching up and going slow just to TRY and make it. As I "fell off" to round the mark, I promptly "fell out" as an untimely blast pitch rolled me forward from almost a complete standstill. Note to self: Never pinch up to try and round smartly in a gale.  The only thing smarting at that point was my ribs as I had fallen onto the steering "T" during the crash and bent it badly. Upon attempting an emergency on the spot repair by rebending, it instantly broke off clean at the mast step tube and left me nothing to steer but air. Will hang what remains on my garage wall with other similar trophies marked "Sacrifices to the God of Wind" Thanks to Graham to the rescue with a new "T" so I could finish the weekend. I'll remember that and be kind when we race against each other at the worlds in Auckland next year.

DAY ONE - second race

The squall moved through, the wind dropped a bit and the rain almost stopped. Got a decent start with speed and went left to the high water soft sand line and tacked back toward the surf. I tacked earlier this time as I could actually see, and made it through the choke point and around the top mark in fine shape (or so I thought). As I came to the choke point (downwind now and building speed) I was greeted with a virtual crisscrossing confusing cornucopia of blokarts making their way to windward. Did I mention we also had to cross two small streams in this area as they drained from the land to the sea? So, with eyes closed and spray going everywhere, I somehow found my way through the seemingly impending malae to the first jibe mark and was able to finish the second 20 minute race without incident.

Day One - Third Race

Started on the right and a bit late. I tacked for the now incoming tide and more breeze and a slight lift. When I tacked back, I was able to cross the rest of the fleet and headed for the choke point in the lead. The tide was now coming in quickly and the breeze dying. The choke point was now 30 t0 40% more narrow. It was time to concentrate on keeping the nose down and momentum at max. After the first mark it was another dynamic obstacle course with most objects ahead (all blokarts fortunately) moving right or left. A few were stalled and out of their karts, throwing them out of the stream in disgust and hoping to get moving again. This time, with eyes open, I slowly made my way through and made the jibe mark in first and finished the 15 minute race.

RACE DAY TWO - Only one race scheduled
The Great Gwithian Slalom Race

This is a standard double elimination with heats of 11 or 12 karts each heat. The top 50% in each heat move on. The bottom 50% in each heat move to the second chance bracket. Two total losses and you have a good seat to watch the rest of the racing.

These are sprint races of around 90 to 120 seconds. There is major importance on starting well as passing is difficult in such a short race. It is a reach to reach slalom made up of 5 turning marks with a starting line at the windward end and a finish line at the leeward end.

I was fortunate to get good starts in my first two heats and finish first in each to move on. Had a late start in my third heat but managed to finish second to move on to the final and deciding heat of the day. My failure to recognize the late day diminishing winds resulted in a very late start for the final. After fighting through traffic on the first two legs, I was happy to find a freshening breeze and came from behind to pass 4 of the last 5 karts ahead on the second to last leg. But on the final sprint to the finish, Howard Smith (UK) had enough speed and momentum to hold off my late charge as I finished a close second. Exciting racing! And congratulations to Howard on taking home the hardware for the 2006 British Open. Our placing in the GREAT GWITHIAN SLALOM RACE counted for the official placing on the day and counted in the placing for the event.

Congratulations to all the winners and especially Graham and Rob for putting together a world class event. I guess there is no trophy for that just more racers and more fun at future events.

As a whole, my first European Championships was a learning experience and great life's adventure! I came hoping it would be a time to learn beach racing as I had never been to the UK and never races on a sand beach. It exceeded my expectations! It was a challenge having to deal with tides, surf, surfers, the control lines of kite boarders, horses (yes, they allow horse riding on the beach) large rock formations on the race course, small streams across the race course, sudden gale force winds with that trade mark horizontal rain, followed by relative calm, a carnival of B-karts at the choke point and an inability to see anything but salt water and sand spraying off my face shield, and sand embedded in body openings I didn't even know I had! ! ! WHAT A BLAST ! ! !!!

My first time for learning beach racing is now in the record book. For those of you who have yet to try it, Gwithian is the ideal opportunity. So if you love the water and the beach, and you feel as small as a single grain of Gwithian sand when you stand beside the ocean, come to a place in November, where the marks in the sand made by boys and their toys are completely erased twice each day by the tides gently pushed up the beach by the hand of God. Let that serve to remind us who is really in control at a Beach Called Gwithian.

MM