Zippy ZapCats

Spectators were promised pure adrenaline and they were certainly not disappointed.

Thirty-one of the zippy catamarans competed in the Littlehampton leg of the national ZapCats championships on Saturday, watched by crowds of spectators, lining the beach, promenade and pier.

Regatta organiser Mike Northeast was delighted with this new addition to the programme and said he hoped they would come back next year.

"We have had very positive feedback from ZapCats, they liked Littlehampton very much and are even talking about racing over both days if they come back."

Before the day's competition, excited crowds looked on as the ZapCats paraded up and down the River Arun.

Winning first place in the day's competition was the Wilson James team from Westcliff-on-Sea, crewed by Brian Middleton and Alan Webster.

Rocket Ship Racing from Maidenhead took second place, crewed by Mark Wootton and Jamie Stuart-Campbell, and in third place was X-treme Marine from Plymouth, crewed by Steven Ward and Paul Northcott.

Littlehampton Mayor Wendy Squires presented the three winning teams with trophies and champagne, and had just one other prize to give.

This was the Bent Prop Trophy, otherwise known as the flipper prize, awarded to most spectacularly bad team.

Stand up Messrs Richard and David Morrice from Just Add Water, who managed to flip their apparently unflippable boat over during the practice run, despite the calm conditions.

For more on the weekend's events, and pictures, see the Gazette, August 1.