Anyone interested in going powerboat racing?
Discussion
Found this that popped up on You Tube last week... useful little guide by the RYA about how to get your powerboat licence.
For anyone who might be thinking about it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr12WHh7KyY
For anyone who might be thinking about it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr12WHh7KyY
We have an active little series of races here in Guernsey. All done on a low(ish) budget.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO0RrqlTOis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO0RrqlTOis
Guernsey have managed to keep going in adverse conditions whilst over here we are in a bit of disarray.
New regs coming in as a result of a couple of deaths has effectively destroyed some of the more traditional classes, so we don't have fleets of class 3 boats or OCR anymore. Add to that some breakaway classes being formed thins down the amount of competitors.
The old class 1 and 2 have effectively become unraceable in this country for a number of reasons and Marathon has been formed as replacement.
The Guernsey solution is just to race whatever anyone has against each other which means the boats can be wildly mismatched but they do manage to keep a fleet together so it works. It doesn't work here as we are driven by national points and to get that you need a fleet of each class.
The most exciting of races was to have been run this year, Cowes to Monte Carlo but ran into problems caused by lack of entries and red tape with a lot of blame being placed at the foot of the national authority (RYA).
But the upside is this. The marathon racers got together and somehow have saved a race from the ashes with of all things a start at Tower Bridge 2nd June and on to Guernsey, Northern France, back to Guernsey and finish back at Bournemouth pier. And my understanding is that the RYA have taken criticism on board and now are thoroughly behind it. There is likely to be a further add on of classes racing further down the course and possibly finishing at Brighton so if it comes off should be quite a spectacle.
Time will tell whether this one can be made a success and planning is going ahead now for London - Monte Carlo next year instead.
Watch this space.
New regs coming in as a result of a couple of deaths has effectively destroyed some of the more traditional classes, so we don't have fleets of class 3 boats or OCR anymore. Add to that some breakaway classes being formed thins down the amount of competitors.
The old class 1 and 2 have effectively become unraceable in this country for a number of reasons and Marathon has been formed as replacement.
The Guernsey solution is just to race whatever anyone has against each other which means the boats can be wildly mismatched but they do manage to keep a fleet together so it works. It doesn't work here as we are driven by national points and to get that you need a fleet of each class.
The most exciting of races was to have been run this year, Cowes to Monte Carlo but ran into problems caused by lack of entries and red tape with a lot of blame being placed at the foot of the national authority (RYA).
But the upside is this. The marathon racers got together and somehow have saved a race from the ashes with of all things a start at Tower Bridge 2nd June and on to Guernsey, Northern France, back to Guernsey and finish back at Bournemouth pier. And my understanding is that the RYA have taken criticism on board and now are thoroughly behind it. There is likely to be a further add on of classes racing further down the course and possibly finishing at Brighton so if it comes off should be quite a spectacle.
Time will tell whether this one can be made a success and planning is going ahead now for London - Monte Carlo next year instead.
Watch this space.
Great video from Guernsey thanks for sharing love the 'run what you brung approach' to racing.
Here's a vid from P1 Superstock in the UK... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEjAoHyX2FM&fea...
They are planning to visit ; Plymouth, Hull, Eastbourne, Torquay, Cowes and maybe Cardiff or Weymouth for 2013. Final calendar and venues still TBC.
Racing is sponsorship based so for riders its super cheap, boat rental and entry from £5,000 + vat for the whole season.
Much cheaper than the 4 wheeled motorsport game, but far more mental IMO!
Here's a vid from P1 Superstock in the UK... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEjAoHyX2FM&fea...
They are planning to visit ; Plymouth, Hull, Eastbourne, Torquay, Cowes and maybe Cardiff or Weymouth for 2013. Final calendar and venues still TBC.
Racing is sponsorship based so for riders its super cheap, boat rental and entry from £5,000 + vat for the whole season.
Much cheaper than the 4 wheeled motorsport game, but far more mental IMO!
Something I used to follow from as long as I can remember. Used to watch the Class 1 and 2 racing through the 90s when it was good, then watched P1 for a couple of seasons before the organisers f
ked that up. The current racing format is crap IMO, non of the high horsepower boats which made it exciting. When you had deep vees and cats racing together it was great, in some weather the cats would do well and other days they would be slow in choppy conditions.
The P1 evolution class was the best recently, but IIRC they dropped that about 2 months before the start of the season when the guys had already built their boats and spent a lot of money on them. Pissed a lot of people off that did.
ked that up. The current racing format is crap IMO, non of the high horsepower boats which made it exciting. When you had deep vees and cats racing together it was great, in some weather the cats would do well and other days they would be slow in choppy conditions. The P1 evolution class was the best recently, but IIRC they dropped that about 2 months before the start of the season when the guys had already built their boats and spent a lot of money on them. Pissed a lot of people off that did.
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