November 2007 - RYA National Records Week at Coniston
On Sunday 4th November a few of the LPRC drivers headed up to Lake Coniston to try and break speed records at the annual Speed Records Week held over the week of 5th to 9th November 2007. Just like last year the weather was far from ideal with strong winds blowing for most of the week.

Malc Goodman took two boats up there, didn’t even get them on the water and returned home with no records and both boats damaged. How? Unfortunately the winds uprooted the LPRC team tent early one morning in the pits. The tent landed on his OSY400 and damaged that one. And if that wasn't bad enough, the wind also lifted Ben Morse’s JT250 which ended up on top of Malc’s second boat, his record-breaking O:250 hydroplane. Such bad luck for Malc who last year had exceeded 100mph in the same boat.

Steve Fitzsimmons was another driver who couldn't to repeat his success of last year. He too failed to get many runs due to the winds and was another driver who returned home empty handed.

Fortunately our younger drivers had more luck. Ben Morse , age 13, had been patiently waiting all week for some decent weather and on Thursday and Friday managed sufficient runs to reclaim his J250 British speed record and increase his own British Speed Records in the T250 and JT250 classes. Ben’s records now stand at 44.28 mph (J250), 43.88 mph (JT250) and 43.70 (T250). All his records were achieved in his Norwegian Winrace boat with different weight limits.

Ben Morse in the Norwegian Winrace boat
Ben Morse in the Norwegian Winrace boat


18 year old Joe Owen finally got a run which secured him a new World Record of 64 mph in his T850 monohull. He had been trying to break his father Bill’s record for 3 years but his previous attempts had been dogged by engine problems. Joe said “I’m really pleased to have beaten this record at last. It’s taken a lot of hard work and effort but my dad’s always been an invaluable help, even though it was his record I was trying to break.”

Joe Owen in his T850
Joe Owen in his record-breaking T850


Ben gave the Osprey Powerboat Rescue Team something to do after they’d had a quiet week, by flipping his boat after completing his final run of the week. He joked afterwards “It was my dad’s fault. He wanted to see how the boat was handling and told me to keep my foot down after I’d finished the run. Unfortunately I caught a gust of wind and the boat lifted then flipped me over.” Thankfully Ben was uninjured and will be back on the water once his boat has been repaired.

Both drivers have had articles published in the local press covering their successes at Coniston.