Marathon qualifications

[Cookee]

The proposed rules for next season include making it necessary to have a suitable CV, day skipper or advanced powerboat for marathon racing, at a recent RYA meeting it was proposed to raise this to coastal skipper - seems like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut?

[2-XS-IF]

Originally Posted by Cookee

The proposed rules for next season include making it necessary to have a suitable CV, day skipper or advanced powerboat for marathon racing, at a recent RYA meeting it was proposed to raise this to coastal skipper - seems like a sledgehammer to crack a walnut?

So you must be able to get Coastal skipper if you have a marathon licence, for what it's worth.

[Cookee]

Not sure if I made it clear, but this is obviously for competitors that haven't held a licence for over two years - this means if Derek Basham, ex British OCR champion and has lived by the sea all his life and spent a lot of that time on the water in a variety of boats including god knows how many years actually racing, would have to go and get a coastal skipper ticket to get a marathon licence regardless of his CV!

[hunton69]

Originally Posted by Cookee

Not sure if I made it clear, but this is obviously for competitors that haven't held a licence for over two years - this means if Derek Basham, ex British OCR champion and has lived by the sea all his life and spent a lot of that time on the water in a variety of boats including god knows how many years actually racing, would have to go and get a coastal skipper ticket to get a marathon licence regardless of his CV!

So that's me f--- as the last race I had was in 2009 and I have no intention of doing a coastal skipper

I have a day skipper licence and a couple of races under my belt.

[Cookee]

This may only apply to the big races like RB08 or Cowes Monte, as you have previous form on RB08 I would have thought that you would be able to slide in under some sort of grandfather agreement - it's all proposed at the moment and I think it's over the top and unnecessary but what do I know!

[Martin The Talker]

This sounds like another attempt by The RYA majority sailing fraternity to try to kill-off powerboat racing, under the excuse of improving safety.
I never thought I would say this, as I've always previously supported the RYA being the national authority for our sport, but the sooner powerboat racing gets free of what is seeming to be a "Green & Mean" dictatorship, the better.
This is my personal view of course, not of any club or organisation.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Martin The Talker

This sounds like another attempt by The RYA majority sailing fraternity to try to kill-off powerboat racing, under the excuse of improving safety.
I never thought I would say this, as I've always previously supported the RYA being the national authority for our sport, but the sooner powerboat racing gets free of what is seeming to be a "Green & Mean" dictatorship, the better.
This is my personal view of course, not of any club or organisation.

A view taken by many Martin but not many dare express that opinion for many reasons, frankly I will as I don't care, far too old to worry about things like that anymore. Too much else on my mind anyway!!

From a VERY hot Portimao.
ML.

[pugracer285]

This is quite relevant to me as we're in the process of trying to get ourselves / the boat sorted to join the marathon fleet next year.

2 out of 3 of us on the boat have probably logged over 20,000 sea miles over the past 10 years. (my misus has also around 3,000 miles but only as crew)
We all work in the marine industry so play around (if you can call it that) all day on boats of all sizes. Done a few qualifications over the years but after someone with a yachtmaster nearly killed me as a kid, never really been in a hurry to get the official tickets. So now we could need to factor in a coastal skipper (I'm assuming theory and practical needed)

From what I can work out we now have the following expenses prior to getting out on the water


Mandatory 2 day race training - £450 each (they will do a deal if all 3 of us go at once)
Annual medical - circa £90 each
Annual provisional license - £271 each
Boat measurement cert - £75
RYA coastal skipper - probably around £600 per head for theory/practical.

So getting started is not a cheap exercise. By the time you've factored in all the mandatory kit for the boat - liferaft/EPIRB, personal race kit, general boat equipment the figures are quite scary.

I admit that powerboat racing (marathon in particular with the fuel) is never going to be a cheap sport (I was national rallying until a couple of years ago which seems peanuts compared to boats) but there are so many hoops to jump through before you can actually get involved (and stay involved) it's understandable why so many people seem frustrated.

On a side note contacted the RYA asking for some advice but not heard anything back. (I'm even a long standing "Gold member" for what it's worth)

Having got this far we will stick at it but there is a long road ahead...better crack out the credit card!

[Cookee]

The only reason I have brought this to everyone's attention is so that interested parties can try and stop this happening - I believe that an appropriate CV and or a day skipper is fine, and even then why have the race training and an RYA qualification, especially considering day and coastal skipper isn't orientated towards fast boats!

[Martin The Talker]

Originally Posted by Cookee

The only reason I have brought this to everyone's attention is so that interested parties can try and stop this happening - I believe that an appropriate CV and or a day skipper is fine, and even then why have the race training and an RYA qualification, especially considering day and coastal skipper isn't orientated towards fast boats!

I thank you Cookee, for bringing it to everyones attention.
Its either H & S gone even madder than it already was, or, as previously posted, its the anti-powerboating lobby within the RYA flexing their muscles & anticipating further income !
USA licences anyone ???