Ukoba

[OOD]

Having just spent a few days at the Boat Show and meet a lot of old racers and old members I was surprised to find at a lot for you have let your membership lapse it would be nice if you would reconsider and rejoin and support the new members and racers.You can download a membership form from the UKOBA Web site www.ukoba.co.uk :bang: :drink: :frog: :cheers::up:

[DIESEL DIGGLER]

are the RYA going to make it worth racing this year cos they haven't for the last few years with there ... i have to stop or i'll have a relaps and the doctors said that would be bad:angry: :hot: :flame:

[JBP]

Not sure if it's the RYA or just the lack of media sponsors that make it worth while to race.

[DIESEL DIGGLER]

isn't the RYA's job to have better course's , venues etc to help get more spectators thus more media, not just small course's but some parts of the course's actually close the the shore,remember GIB say what you like about GIB but racing so close to the wall and other parts of the rock was great to watch and race.

[JBP]

Well from what I see it is still down to the clubs like ourselves, UKOBA etc to sort the series of races and do the facilities and so on. The RYA are just a govening body that sets the rules, supplies the all important insurance and trys to co-ordinate things.
Though saying that if you are a rag & stick person you can get as much media attention as you want.....i.e. round world/olympics etc
The media always seem to stop short on powerbat racing

[fastman]

Whats the point a bunch of old gits that couldn't organise a piss up in a pub.


No value for money


Fast

[OOD]

Hi Fastman
I hope Boat is as fast as your comments
Your Loss

[JBP]

Here who you callin old??? our oldest competitor is 17
And most of the families involved haven't been exposed to the RYA exept for the licences.

[The Godfather]

I could write a book about the RYA's promises, which amount to nothing, but in brief some 5 years ago I got in touch with the RYA with a new boat design and a new race concept, which did not fall into the catagory of offshore and ended up under the umbrella of circuit racing, although the race concept is about as far from circuit racing as it can get.

The RYA showed great enthuasium and encourged me to go on with the project. At the beginning of the project I attended both offshore and circuit events and to support "fastman" he is right, you have to get up close an personal to the spectating crowd, this would help increase spectating numbers, encourage media attention and make it far more enjoyable for the competitors.
When boats leave the start line and make their way out to sea away from the spectators lets be fair - doesn't make for good viewing - unless you happen to own a helicopter!!!

Cutting a long story short, I carried on with my project, built the boat and fine tuned the new race concept, eventually I ended up at a meeting with the circuit racing committee:headbang: and that 's where the project ended, the promise of support and the encouragment to start a new class of racing was just talk, I now have to try and raise funding and introduce this new race concept outside of the RYA - its a shame but I've worked too long and hard to let it go now...:violin:

Thanks for listening

[Louise]

Sounds interesting! Can you give us any more details about the proposed new class? :cool:

[The Godfather]

Basically the race can take place on lakes or coastal waters.
The race it self:
On a preset course, each crew runs separately against the clock. This is to prevent any disadvantage of driving in the wake of another boat and trying to eliminate the chances of collision.
The expanse of water where the event is to take place will be marked out with turn buoys set by the race organisers and the positions recorded on GPS. The positions will be given to the rear crewmember a set time prior to the event start, allowing enough time to program the GPS with the course and write his pacenotes for the course. By altering the order of the turn buoys a course can be changed without moving the position of the turn buoys. The fact that each competiting team run individually the turn buoys can be used more than once to form a demanding course for both navigator and driver. This event is loosely based on modern day car rallying. Difference being should you get it hoplessly wrong the worst thing you will hit is a sea gull !!! all designed to take place in close veiwing of the spectating crowd.

Yes our boat is jet powered, 175hp Mercury Sports Jet.

[Louise]

Thanks for the info. Sounds interesting. How long would each 'run' take (on average)? And how many runs would each boat complete per race - I assume just one? Isn't there a danger that the audience would get bored as they wouldn't very easily be able to compare boats and wouldn't know if a run was a good one or not? And there isn't much chance of anything spectacular like two boats 'fighting' for a position.

P.S. Please forgive my ignorance - I am looking at this purely as an interested spectator with no knowledge of powerboat racing as a participant! :)

[JBP]

Originally posted by The Godfather
Basically the race can take place on lakes or coastal waters.

all designed to take place in close veiwing of the spectating crowd.

Yes our boat is jet powered, 175hp Mercury Sports Jet.

We know the feeling, we operate approx 500M offshore and on lakes too, Carr Mill-Liverppool this year.
However we run upto 9 boats against each other as in standard offshore on s 400X200M course so quite a bit going on to say the least.
Our supprt will be from the youth programmes as that is where the RYA is channeling a lot of their interst at present, but as you say it's a hard task with nothing there to begin with...... one day?

Pick below taken from Bournemouth Pier September 2004, close enough?

[The Godfather]

The way we see it :
When a boat starts its run the clock starts which is a large digital display in full view of the spectators.
Each run would be approximatly 3 minutes long, and the number of different courses on race day would depend on the number of entrys.
The boats are designed with vast accleration and great cornering abilty and does put on a good show. In comparison stage rallying is watched by 1000's of spectators per event and they are only able to watch a small section of the stage, but the dynamic way a rally car corners is what they all come to see, we have tried to imitate this rally style dynamic cornering in the design of our boat to make it more entertaining for the crowds. I apprieciate this kind of event would not appeal to everyone but when people turn up at the event with their own stopwatches, team hats and race team jackets it would be a good sign that the event could become a success.

[Louise]

The giant clock sounds like a good idea. Would the course change for each boat? Sounds like it could be quite exciting to watch and definitely safer than at present. Then again, danger is what gets the adrenaline/excitement going!

Good luck with your plans - it's always nice to have variety in a sport. :wave:

[JBP]

I see why both circuit & offshore weren't sure coz you've got navigation and close proximity all in one as you say though the spectators have got to have 'good seats' to get behind it. In holland/France stadium-cross has a vast following because the spectators can see what's going on, good luck

[The Godfather]

Each boat would have to set a time on each course to acheive an overall winner. And I still maintain that you can get close to the crowd with out becoming dangerous, again I refer to stage rallying, they've managed to combined to he two with great success.

Thank you for your good wishes.

[Louise]

If you manage to get it off the ground (or 'on the sea' :D ) please let us know and we'll come and watch! Good luck! :up:

[The Godfather]

Thanks, we are hoping to test a new boat at the beginning of this year probably in Reading will let you know..

[JBP]

I remember seeing that at Tattershall last year, very quick!!!

[The Godfather]

Matt you a very welcome to come along, we let you know the date as soon as it is finalised. The new boat is to take part in the jetthemed challenge planned for late summer this year.
www.jetthemed.com

[OOD]

Where are u testing the boat in Reading

[The Godfather]

We test with kind permission of Lagoona Park jetski centres' owner, along side the M4. As we are jet driven we comply with the centres planning consent.

[OOD]

When you test can I cum I live near Reading

[The Godfather]

I don't suppose Lagoona Parks owner will mind what you do while we're testing ..... :sperm: :hugegrin2


as long as you keep it off my boat

Will let you know when we finalise the date :)

[OOD]

That will be Great Thank you