Ever bounced down the stairs in a car with no suspension?

Have you ever bounced down the stairs in a car with no suspension?

Nope, me either!

However I have come close to the feeling (apparently).

This is how the announcer at the P1 Super Stock Grand Prix announcer described the feeling of travelling in a Power Boat at speed.

Last week I won the chance to go out in an actual racing Power Boat driven by the its racing driver Arran Scott.  I was excited and terrified all at the same time.

We arrived at Salterns Marina at 12.30 last Friday and signed our lives away the health & safety forms before watching some of the power boats arrive.

There was a little delay in going out so we were treated to a drink in the nearby Salterns Hotel before heading back outside to meet the photographer.

Our first pose was next to the Bournemouth Team boat, although it later transpired that we weren’t going out on this one.

We then headed off down the marina to find the Powerboat we would be riding in – the Lycamobile entrant which was captained by Arran Scott who lives and works locally.

We had a safety briefing and then hubby and I tried our best poses.

and then Arran got in on the pictures too!

There were two sets of competition winners and Arran took the others out first – each boat can hold a maximum of 4 people.  To save us hanging around for too long, we followed the Powerboats out on the P1 RIB which was a lovely experience in itself, as we got a nose at Millionaires Row from the water.

We swapped over in the middle of Poole Harbour, I was quite impressed that I didn’t fall in, and then pootled out to sea past the Sandbanks Ferry.  Arran explained that the sea was “lumpy” and that if we had a problem to tap him on the shoulder.

There was a family cruiser beside us and Arran watched as they accelerated away with the kids waving and cheering because they were beating us……… not for long!

The acceleration was like nothing I have experienced before and I watched the speedometer reach 65MPH with apparent ease in just a few seconds.  I now understand where the analogy of bumping down the stairs comes from as I held in for dear life as we bounced over the waves past Shell Bay (pictured below).

I may have yelped as we hit a couple of  big waves and landed with a bump.  The bit I was mostly dreading was the turning (I have no idea why) and Arran decided he was going to show off by doing some donuts around a buoy!  It was exhilarating!

We stopped and started again a few times, waiting for the RIB to catch us up so the photographer could get his shots. We zig zagged past them and I relaxed and started to enjoy the ride.

It was then time for a full throttle ride to Bournemouth Pier, where we stopped and posed for a photo before heading back to Poole.

The RIB caught us with us about half way back and we had fun posing for some more photographs.

I cannot wait to see the rest of the photo’s!

Keep an eye on the P1 Website or their facebook page for more competitions as they are racing at various venues all over the summer – next stop Hull!

We spent the weekend on the beach cheering on the teams and although Arran didn’t win, he is currently sat at 5th position and Bournemouth is 3rd.

I shall be following their progress with interest and plan to go and watch it again when they race at Gosport.