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SW 3 Peaks Race

Article image SailRacer covered the Adventure Race with live GPS tracking, commentary and photography - watch the SailRacer video.

Boat Type Team Name   Sailing Time (corrected) Land Time Total Time (HH:MM) Position
X362 Sport Musk Ox   22:42 14:56 37:39 1
S&S30 / Aqua 30 Hoofing Run Ashore   23:49 14:17 38:06 2
Beneteau First 36.7 The Usual Suspects   22:59 16:38 39:37 3
Feeling 1090 Gotta Good Feeling   24:51 15:17 40:08 4
Beneteau First 31.7 The BBQ Boys   24:11 17:00 41:12 5
Corsair F28 R Assegai   26:05 18:41 44:46 6

Last weekend teams gathered in St. Mawes, Cornwall for the third SW 3 Peaks Adventure Race. Ahead of them were three hard days that would see the teams covering around 300 miles across some fantastic picturesque landscapes through Cornwall and Devon. Each team consisting of six members, would have to run, sail and cycle over eight legs, reaching the region's highest Three Peaks and taking in many iconic locations.

Event organiser, Tim Whitaker, promptly started the 2016 SW 3 Peaks Race at midday on St. Mawes harbourside. The first leg saw a 5 mile run along the waterfront past St. Mawes Castle, then to St. Just Church and back. Returning to St. Mawes, the Royal Marines from Lympstone, Team Hoofing Ashore, were a good three minutes ahead of the pack, smashing the leg record in 34 minutes. With a 37 mile sail down to Newlyn, Team Hoofing Ashore's yacht, the little S&S 30 ½ tonner, dating back to the 70s, the oldest and slowest boat in the fleet, was able to set sail from St. Mawes harbour with a significant advantage.

With a spinnaker reach across Falmouth Bay towards the Lizard, the fleet enjoyed some fast sailing in a building NW breeze. The SailRacer GPS trackers recorded ever increasing speeds, with Assegai (Corsair F28R Tri), the fastest boat in the fleet, not surprisingly seeing the best top speed at over 15 kts and a twenty minute lead at the Lizard.

With a stiff beat into Newlyn, passing St. Michael's Mount, the fleet compacted, and the X362 Sport, Musk Ox, taking ten minutes off Assegais time as the Tri slowed upwind.

The next land leg, saw a steep 400 foot climb out of Newlyn and 9 mile cycle ride to Porthcurno. Just up the road from the famous open air Minack Theatre and home to the 19 century Submarine Cable Station, this remote spot in South West Cornwall, was the hub of England's communications with the rest of the world in previous centuries. From Porthcurno a six mile run to Land's End (the first peak) , with competitors taking a selfie by the famous sign, pointing to New York, over three thousand miles away.

After a last place for the first land leg, Team Usual Suspects, pulled out all the stops to win land leg 2, by 9 minutes from the Marines in Team Hoofing Ashore.

Back at Newlyn Harbour, Team Musk Ox, third on land leg 2, were first to leave in their X362 Sport for a 56 mile overnight sail to Fowey Harbour. On corrected time Musk Ox took the leg, from the Usual Suspects in their Beneteau First 36.7, and the BBQ Boys (Beneteau First 31.7) in third.

At Fowey Harbour, the land crews were dropped off at Polruan for a 22 mile cycle ride, climbing 1,000 foot to the historic Jamaica Inn high on Bodmin Moor. From here a 4 mile run to the top of Brown Willy (the 2nd Peak and Cornwall's highest point). Land leg 3 saw Team Gotta Good Feeling take the win, from Hoofing Run Ashore and Team Musk Ox again proving very consistent in third place.

With the cyclists returning to Fowey Harbour, the teams enjoyed a 25 mile sail into Plymouth. Musk Ox was first into Queen Anne's Battery (QAB) mid afternoon, nearly two hours ahead of the next boats. But being so far ahead came with significant costs, as the rest of fleet enjoyed a building sea breeze and the SailRacer GPS trackers regularly showing double figure speeds. On corrected time, Musk Ox dropped their faultless record to finish last. The slowest boat, Hoofing Ashore (S&S 30) benefited the most from the late sea breeze to win the leg from Usual Suspects (Beneteau First 36.7), and Gotta Good Feeling (Feeling 1090) in third.

The Plymouth stopover saw a change in format from previous years with the land crew heading North to Yes Tor the Third Peak high on Dartmoor, and the sailors heading 15 miles South to round Eddystone Lighthouse. This produced an interesting view on the SailRacer live coverage, with the GPS trackers showing the land and sea crews converging on Plymouth from opposite directions.

The Hoofing Run Ashore Marines, set their second record to win the land leg from The Usual Suspects and Musk Ox in third. For the sailors, Musk Ox got back into winning ways to take their third bullet, with the Usual Suspects in second, and Assegai (Corsair F28R) completing the podium.

Once all the times across the eight legs had been calculated, team Musk Ox were declared winners, successfully defending their 2015 title. With record times across two of the land legs, Team Hoofing Run Ashore, (Marines from Lympstone) pushed hard, just 27 minutes behind over 38 hours.

SailRacer covered the 2016 SW 3 Peaks Adventure Race with live GPS tracking, commentary and photography - watch the SailRacer video.

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