Legendary navigator Dag Pike has won the 2008 Round Britain Offshore Power Boat race. The race, which started on the 21st of June and ended on 30th June, has seen ups and downs for all involved, with the second leg of the race cancelled due to the poor weather. The gruelling conditions and dramatic weather changes meant Dag had to rely firmly on his Raymarine equipment to help make navigational changes to maximise the opportunities during the eight leg race. Blue FPT finished the race with a total elapsed time of 20 hours, 36 minutes and 47 seconds.

Dag was racing in boat 333 Blue FPT, with owner Vassilis Pateras and co-pilot Panos Tsikopoulos, under the Greek flag. Blue FPT was in constant battle with her nearest rival Wettpunkt.com, until the penultimate day when Wettpunkt.com suffered a broken propeller and damaged transmission.

At 75 years of age, Dag was the oldest competitor in the race, and one of the most experienced, having raced in every Round Britain since its inception in 1969. He was also the winner of the overall race in 1984. Dag said: “It was a rough and tough race and it would have been very difficult to navigate without the aid of Raymarine’s navigational equipment. The equipment Raymarine supplied us with worked consistently well through the gruelling and testing event, which helped us win the race.”

Dag used two Raymarine C80 chartplotters on board Blue FPT, which he pre-loaded with the course which he had calculated as the best route around Britain. The real-time data shown on the chartplotter enabled the crew to make the course alterations at speed, keeping them on track for the majority of the race.
Prior to the race start, Dag said that Blue FPT was a ‘gentleman’s boat’, and that this would definitely be the final time he competed in the Round Britain. Now with two wins under his belt, he certainly has nothing left to prove.