HOMEGROWN heroes Nick Neave and Anthony Tos stunned crowds at the weekend’s 39th annual Renmark Dinghy Club Dinghy Derby.
In only their third weekend away racing in the Riverland and their fourth event all up, the dynamic duo managed to steal second place in the event.
The pair’s weekend began with a bit of a hiccup on Friday night when they competed in the Dash 4 Cash.
“I went the wrong way around the first buoy and got us a 10 second time penalty straight up,” Neave said.
“I think Tossy was a bit annoyed with me because it’s only like a 25 second race or something so our position dropped massively.
“But it’s another thing we’d never done before so we were not too stressed about it, it’s all about learning how it all works.”
Tos said although it was a bit of a bump in the road, he was not too concerned and was more focused on Sunday’s event.
“Bombing out earl in the dash meant more time for us to party on Friday night,” he said.
“I did not care too much, I just wanted to keep focused on how we would work on Sunday.”
When Sunday morning rolled around, the boys knew they had to knuckle down and commit to going as hard as they could.
With an aim to finish in the top five, they knew they had a tough job ahead of them, but did not realise how difficult it would be.
“Going into the weekend we were confident with a top five finish,” Tos said.
“And then we saw that all the boys meant business and we were not as sure.
“But we just committed to doing what we went there to do and hoped for the best.”
With boats crashing, sinking and flipping and carnage everywhere, the duo were in for a tough run.
Running in the second grid in their class, they managed to secure an early lead and were out in front from the first corner.
Said to be one of the most dangerous corners in the race, the pair had to be careful not to end up at the bottom of the river straight out of the gate.
“We came around the first corner and saw other boats not make it out of there,” Tos said.
“It was a bit scary, but then we had a bit of a lead out the pack so we pushed ahead.”
The boys then started overtaking those ahead of them and did not have another boat pass them for the rest of the race.
Running as fast as they ever have in the open river, Neave said it was all thanks to the new propeller.
“We were going faster than ever before so we knew we had a good set up going,” he said.
“But then it all almost came unstuck when we were unlucky enough to hit the prop.
“It was not too bad though because it held on for the rest of the race.”
Tos said the damage to the propeller more than likely should have ended the race for the pair, but fortunately that was not the case.
Powering through the final legs of the race, the boys realised they were doing something right.
Once they crossed the finish line they were quietly confident they had done well, but did not imagine they could have finished as high as they did.
Finishing the race in third place, an official jumped in their boat and started taping up the boat’s engine.
“They tape the boat up and seize it for inspection if you finish in the top four,” Neave said.
“We could not believe it when he said we’d finished in third place and could place even higher if someone failed inspection.
“We managed to finish with a time of like an hour and 34 minutes or something, which was just over a minute slower than first.
“That was pretty crazy.”
Unfortunately for the first-placed racers, their boat was disqualified which saw Neave and Tos secure second place on the podium.
“You could not wipe the smiles off our faces when we were told we came in second,” Tos said.
“It was bloody unbelievable, I think we’re still in shock now.
“We were just absolutely stoked with the finish.”
Chalking the finish up to luck, a bit more experience and a little tweaking of the boat, the pair look forward to the rest of the season.
The addition of the new propeller and an intercom system were two of the major game changers for the team.
Neave said they got to Renmark and realised they had no instructions to use the new intercom, which left them a little bewildered.
“We had absolutely no idea what to do so we had to look something up on YouTube,” he said.
“The only instructions we found were in French – but we managed to figure it out eventually.
“It was such a good addition to the boat, just being able to communicate without yelling over the noise was so much better.
“By the end we were just singing to each other and talking a bit of nonsense over it – we were really just enjoying the ride.”
Tos praised the support the team had received from local racers and the Renmark community as a whole.
“It was amazing for everyone to embrace a couple of boys from the Mount and cheer us on,” he said.
“We had a lot of help from the local boys and we definitely would be struggling without it.
“Our friends and family also made the trip up to support us and we were so grateful for that.
“Also a big shout out to Mount Gambier boys Ben Bruhn, Zach Lane, Zac Watson and Cody Clark – they all did well and we’re pretty happy to be doing something like this with some boys from our hometown as well.”
With a high rank on the leader board and the rest of the season to follow, Tos is confident they can keep up the momentum.
The next round of the competition, a circuit race, will be held on March 31 and a change up may be on the cards for the event.
“I think we want to try switching things up in the next race or two,” Tos said.
“Maybe switch positions and see how Nick likes it up the front when he’s being flung about.
“We’ll do a bit more hard work and maybe change a few things, but it will all be worth it in the end.”
Tos said although it’s a new and daunting experience, he is “stoked” to be racing with his mate.
“It’s wicked fun racing with Nick,” he said.
“He’s one of my best mates and we just have the best times racing, regardless of what happens.
“We cannot wait to see how the rest of the year pans out.”
