Guernsey Powerboat Week returns!

larby · 06-12-2010, 08:32 PM

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are looking to revive the 'Guernsey Powerboat Week' in 2011. I think the best way would be for me to start would be to give a breif overview of what we have planned....

Thursday 8th September -
Marathon endurance race from UK to Guernsey passing Alderney. Welcoming meal/party in Guernsey. All competing boats will be moored at reduced rates in the Victoria visitors marina, right in the centre of town. We are able to organise accomodation at reduced rates, and there will hopefully be a race control and hospitality tent on the pier alongside to give a focal point for those involved. All facilities are available right alongside the marina.

Friday 9th September - Lay day

Saturday 10th September -
Marathon race around Guernsey, Herm and Sark, to include the infamous Guillot passage!

Just after the start of the Marathon race, we will be holding a club race right next to the harbour to give everyone something to watch and maintain crowd interest between Marathon passes. Also a great oppertunity for all club racers to get even better visibility than usual for their sponsors! With correct planning, the club race and Marathon race should virtually share a leg at a few points to give the thrill of overtaking a 30+ft marathon boat in yer little 20 footer!!

Prize giving for Marathon and Club classes.

Sunday 11th September-
Hopefully another club race, this gives those who wish to travel across from abroad for the club races more to come for, it's also a great tide for some of our more interesting courses!!

Marathon refuelling. Our fuel is currently around 90p a litre for unleaded and 50p a litre for diesel! Why not take the oppertunity to refuel to the brim at duty free cost!!

Hopefully many of the Marathon boats will be happy to hang around and join in or help with the club racing on Sunday. Should they need to be back to the UK for the following week, they can cruise back to the UK in company.

All of this over the weekend of the 'Last night of the proms' and 'Battle of Britain' weekend. What a great location to enjoy the celebrations, red arrows, air display and fireworks from, all adding a little more zest to an already fantastic event!

The more people joining this event, the cheaper it will be for everyone involved. Should you wish to be a part of this revival, please get in touch with me as soon as possible either here, on 07781 122 363, or at larbys@live.co.uk.

See you all there!

James Larbalestier
Chairman, GPA

pain -tera 28 · 07-12-2010, 01:23 PM

hi james i would like to take part in this one i will give you a call later

Big V · 08-12-2010, 01:50 AM

Im in, its going to be awesome, cant wait!!

Cookee · 10-12-2010, 09:48 AM

I think we'll have to be there for that one!

larby · 10-12-2010, 09:07 PM

Glad to hear it! We've had some great developments lately, looks like it's gonna be one hell of an event! Can't wait to see it's return

James

dowdy · 10-12-2010, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larby

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are looking to revive the 'Guernsey Powerboat Week' in 2011. I think the best way would be for me to start would be to give a breif overview of what we have planned....

Thursday 8th September -
Marathon endurance race from UK to Guernsey passing Alderney. Welcoming meal/party in Guernsey. All competing boats will be moored at reduced rates in the Victoria visitors marina, right in the centre of town. We are able to organise accomodation at reduced rates, and there will hopefully be a race control and hospitality tent on the pier alongside to give a focal point for those involved. All facilities are available right alongside the marina.

Friday 9th September - Lay day

Saturday 10th September -
Marathon race around Guernsey, Herm and Sark, to include the infamous Guillot passage!

Just after the start of the Marathon race, we will be holding a club race right next to the harbour to give everyone something to watch and maintain crowd interest between Marathon passes. Also a great oppertunity for all club racers to get even better visibility than usual for their sponsors! With correct planning, the club race and Marathon race should virtually share a leg at a few points to give the thrill of overtaking a 30+ft marathon boat in yer little 20 footer!!

Prize giving for Marathon and Club classes.

Sunday 11th September-
Hopefully another club race, this gives those who wish to travel across from abroad for the club races more to come for, it's also a great tide for some of our more interesting courses!!

Marathon refuelling. Our fuel is currently around 90p a litre for unleaded and 50p a litre for diesel! Why not take the oppertunity to refuel to the brim at duty free cost!!

Hopefully many of the Marathon boats will be happy to hang around and join in or help with the club racing on Sunday. Should they need to be back to the UK for the following week, they can cruise back to the UK in company.

All of this over the weekend of the 'Last night of the proms' and 'Battle of Britain' weekend. What a great location to enjoy the celebrations, red arrows, air display and fireworks from, all adding a little more zest to an already fantastic event!

The more people joining this event, the cheaper it will be for everyone involved. Should you wish to be a part of this revival, please get in touch with me as soon as possible either here, on 07781 122 363, or at larbys@live.co.uk.

See you all there!

James Larbalestier
Chairman, GPA

Hiya James,any one know where all the u.k. boats razzing across will be launching from and where can we park the trailer and truck safely till we all razz back,any offers anyone?We will be up for a trip across and back,probably cheaper than the ferry fare to drive the boat over and join in,lookin forward to it,hope the weather worsens before the return trip so we can stay a bit longer

and get to meet all you guys personnally

Will get the first three in.

larby · 11-12-2010, 10:12 AM

I've not got a confirmed venue yet, but I do have somewhere very much in mind. Need to speak to them directly to confirm before I mention any names/locations

Suffice to say it'll be somewhere good and secure, with impeccible organisation as you'd expect!

James

larby · 06-03-2011, 04:06 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm afraid to have to say that the Guernsey Powerboat Week planned for this year has had to be cancelled.

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding the Marathon National series at the moment and it seems we're unlikely to see any decisions at all until mid April. This simply does not allow us enough time to plan such an event.
On top of that, we do not want to feel that we are forcing people to attend more events than they are comfortable with. The impression I got at Drivers was that there is a lot of support for the powerboat week, but people were concerned about it's proximity to the finals. Obviously if people are allowed to drop one event from the series, ours would be the logical choice. I want to add variety to the Marathon year, not complication and issues!

We will now be concentrating on putting on great entertainment for you all while you are here as a part of the Torquay race in May, this should give you a small taster of how we operate over here!

We are now looking to re-schedule the return of the Guernsey Powerboat Week for 2013, hopefully as the finals for the Marathon series in that year. This will give us plenty of time to book in advance and plan the very best event possible, as people have come to expect from us!

I would just like to say thank you to all of the support we recieved from competitors and organisers alike, we look forward to completing our goal in 2013!

Any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch on here, 07781 122 363, or larbys@live.co.uk.

All the best,

James Larbalestier
Chairman - GPA

OCRDA · 06-03-2011, 04:12 PM

Sorry to hear that Larby !! I thought the event was for all classes not just Marathon !!

What events are you having that are suitable for Powerboat 2011 ??
Did you get anywhere with Ferry support ??

Bob

larby · 06-03-2011, 04:35 PM

Ah, probably should've mentioned that we will still be running the club event on the 10th/11th of that weekend!

Every one of our 10 events this year are suitable for Powerboat 2011. We have specially planned our first event this year, on the 23/24 April as a two race weekend with a bank holiday either side, to make it ideal for UK racers wanting to join us.

I am having a meeting with a shipping agent next week, we are hoping to get a rate around £150 to bring a boat across and can offer free storage whilst it's here, should someone wish to leave their boat here between races so they can just fly across!

Any other questions please ask away!

Cheers, James

Tony Davis · 06-03-2011, 04:35 PM

That's a real shame, could have been a good event.

I found this in an old copy of Powerboat Magazine earlier today....

larby · 06-03-2011, 04:39 PM

Those were the days!! Seems like everything was better back then, maybe it's just the rose tinted glasses a 4 year old wears though!

Don't worry, it WILL be a great event again, just not this year. I want to make sure we do the event justice. To have a low or zero turnout due to a rule change would be tragic.

James

Tony Davis · 06-03-2011, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larby

we look forward to completing our goal in 2013!

2012 ?????

larby · 06-03-2011, 05:06 PM

Next year Weymouth will be on the same date again and (I believe) have already got the finals due to the connection to the Olympics. Not to mention I'm also getting married late July having proposed to Soph just earlier this year.

I don't want to go down the same route again of competing for racers with other organisers, so I would rather leave Weymouth to do their bit this year and then next, then we can have our turn in 2013. It's a shame, and I'm gutted to have to wait so long to put it on, but we can only do it early September and I can't see another way around the clash.

James

Jon Fuller · 06-03-2011, 05:13 PM

I too would say 2012 would be better. Assuming 2013 sees the Cowes to Monte-Carlo happen, I don't think you'd see many going to the expense of a channel Islands trip/race as well. just my opinion of course, but also, a trip to Guernsey in 2012 would be a great C - MC shakedown for those not doing RB12.

Tony Davis · 06-03-2011, 05:18 PM

Can't see alot happening Marathon wise after the C-M/C in 2013, I's assume by September they'll still be nursing their wounds. Perhaps you better make it 2014

larby · 06-03-2011, 05:38 PM

It's a tricky one. I had a look but couldn't actually see when in 2013 the C-MC was? I definately see your point there though.
It would be lovely to do 2012, but I see the same problem as this year but worse happening. With our event being within a week of the final in Weymouth again, if people are allowed to drop an event then they may well not attend ours. With an event of this scale, I can't afford for only 5 boats to turn up. We would also then be competing with RB12 as again people may not want/ be able to do both.

Seems it's an ongoing problem really, and not an easy one to get around. I'm sure 'back in the day' people would have no problem with this number of events in a year, but these days people racers just don't seem to want the cost and risk involved.

Another option may be to stop worrying about the national series and offer it as a totally stand alone annual Guernsey Open Cup, in the hopes that people would happily do this alongside the national series. I also considered making it a poker run of types so there's less worry of breaking bits, though this goes against the grain a bit for me.

Converstions like this are actually very helpful as they seem to me to be the best way to scope the situation and people's opinions/ desires.

One things for sure. It's a travesty that the Marathon racers are missing out on racing through some of the amazing courses available around here and I'm not about to give up on making it happen.

James

Cookee · 07-03-2011, 09:16 AM

It seems to me that this race is not going ahead because of politics? With only 4 races it's a shame and we were definitely looking forward to coming back to Guernsey at the end of the season.

See you at the end of May!

larby · 07-03-2011, 10:46 PM

Thanks Cookee... It's not really any one particular thing, though politics does play a part. We look forwad to seeing you and everyone else in May

James

Mike Lloyd · 08-03-2011, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larby

It's a tricky one. I had a look but couldn't actually see when in 2013 the C-MC was? .
James

I did post sometime ago that the Cowes to Monte-Carlo Race would start at 09.30 on Saturday 8th June off the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes in 2013. The Marina has been booked for the previous three days as well for fun and party's etc etc.

The problem that you have here James is that a large number of the fleet would also want to do the CTC a couple of months later but whether they would also have the funds or energy to take part in your race as well heaven knows.
ML.
.