Pink Champagne have just returned from Italy having been to a festival event organised by ‘The Pink Butterfly’ team. It was held on Lake Albano near to Castel Gandolfo.
Our first race had a poor start from us as we were paddling backwards at the start line to try and hold the boat steady in the wind. This did not phase us…we have been practising this racing start for weeks…we went straight into automatic mode and it was perfect! A noisy, frantic race around us but we kept our cool and rhythm…eased ahead along the course.. and came in first. A brilliant recovery and Mary’s first race as helm under her belt.

Our second round race was some time later and the conditions had changed. The wind had picked up and the times were getting slower. This time we were against the host team and 3 other strong teams. The start was much more controlled and we kept great timing and control all the way…Pink Butterflies lead the way and won the race…it was very tight for second place but we managed to push over the line into second place with literally seconds in it.

Out of 13 teams only 6 went through to the final with their fastest times and we were one of them. We were up against the teams that had beaten us hard in Barcelona and it was now time to prove ourselves against some of the best BCS racers. It was a hard fought and very tight race. we were very pleased with our 3rd place.