Assistance for new British Club Championship Teams.

[ORDA]

In an effort to encourage new blood into the sport of powerboat racing in general and in particular the British Club Championships series, the committee of ORDA would like to make the following offer of assistance to new teams that might be considering entering their first race or series of races in 2012.



To that end we have considered the various reasons why new teams are put off entering events, and we now aim to try to remove as many barriers as possible to prevent this happening.



One of the things we think might be putting people of is simply the amount of red tape and possible confusion that is surrounding issues like licences, measurement certificates, race entry, safety equipment etc.



We also understand what a daunting feeling it is for new teams to in effect be the new kid at school, and we want to make any race teams first weekend an enjoyable and satisfying experience and the more we can do to take away that feeling of dread and make them as welcome as possible, the better in our opinion.



To that end we would therefore like to offer any new or inexperienced team the option of a mentoring programme, whereby we will arrange for experienced powerboat racers to in effect lead teams by the hand through their first few races, and until such time as they feel they no longer need assistance.



This mentoring will include, assistance will all paperwork, and processes prior to the event in order to achieve the correct licence status and race entry in the most cost effective way possible given the amount of races intended to enter. Obviously this could be full licence if entering the whole series or event licences if just doing one or two events. It will include things like measurement certificates or log books, licence applications, where to get medicals if required, club membership, how and where to get race training, the applicable rules etc. In fact anything that is needed to be done pre event.



It will also include a pre event boat and kit inspection, with advice on any shortfall, any non compliance with the rules etc, so that when the boat arrives at a given event the crews are confident that they will not have any scrutineering and or compliance issues.



It will include assistance in the provision of any shortfall in kit and or safety equipment. We know for instance that to go and buy two helmets, two life vests etc, just to have a go in one race is prohibitively expensive, and we also know that there is a lot of spare kit floating around, so we will aim to beg, borrow or steal anything the crew are short of.



We will stand by the teams side, the whole way through their first couple of events, taking them through the race control procedures, preparation of boat for scrutineering, the scrutineering itself, launching procedures, showing them who is who, and what is what etc, so that the teams will in effect be led by the hand through the whole weekend and out to the start line, with as little stress as possible, and in the belief that if there are any issues, they have an experienced person by their side to show them how to deal with the problem, and in this way they will be absolutely confident of getting to the start line on time and in good shape.



We will do all of the above completely free of charge, and with no obligation on the crews whatsoever. We simply want more people to come and have a go.



This is obviously not the only thing that stops people going racing, and as stated our overall objective is to encourage new teams to come and have a go, and see what they think. Therefore we would welcome comments from any person to either mark.brewster@stark-cs.co.uk or neiljackson926@btinternet.com about this subject, and to let us know what else it is that stops or deters new teams from entering.



Whilst we unfortunately cannot do anything financially to help the new teams, pretty much anything else is up for grabs, so please, if you are, or have ever considered coming racing, but something other than financial reasons have stopped you, then let us know what those reasons are. You never know, we might just be able to do something about it for individual teams, and if we get a common thread, then perhaps we can introduce other programmes such as this.



Your comments and or requests for mentoring will be very welcome.





Mark Brewster and Neil Jackson



For and on behalf of the ORDA committee

[neal_skyline]

where was that last year when i needed help

[MB1]

Hi Neal

I wish we had thought of this sooner, and if we had, we would of course given you all the help we could, but I am interested in talking to you this weekend at the SEPA event so that I can underststand what dificulties you had last year, and so that we can fine tune our offer to make it as effective as possible for anybody that might want or need assistance.

In fact if anybody has any other ideas that might help newcomers into the sport please e mail me at mark@stark-cs.co.uk so that we can try to get a clearer picture on what stops people coming racing, and so that we can see if there is anything we can do to remove the barriers they face.

Mark Brewster.

ORDA Commitee

[MB1]

Please note there is an error in the announcement above and my e mail address is mark@stark-cs.co.uk, and the one given in the announcement is incorrect.

[speedyboy99]

so is there any intrest in this ?

[NIC SURRY]

I've recieved my race number for BCC but in various correspondence it mentions prefix.I know originally it was going to be F1.F2 etc but I think this changed? my race number is 36 how should the lettering/numbers be laid out on the boat decals.On my log book my boat is in BCC2 class do I need to put BCC2-36. or can the the BCC2 letters be smaller (say number plate size) with a large 36 ?.As lap scorers might find the BBC2-36 difficult to see or record.or should it be 2-36 ?,Just a thought if the championship was called British Boat Championship the class's could BBC1.BBC2 ,BBC3 and unlimited Channel 4 and if a hydro plane entered a 'SKY' class.only joking.
Cheers Nic

[daze]

Nic, your number should read, 2-36
The number on my boat at mo is 22, so my new race number will be 2-2.
first number (i.e. 2 ) being your class.
standard RYA changing it all and making confusing.
See you there,
Mark Cockman

[NIC SURRY]

Originally Posted by daze

Nic, your number should read, 2-36
The number on my boat at mo is 22, so my new race number will be 2-2.
first number (i.e. 2 ) being your class.
standard RYA changing it all and making confusing.
See you there,
Mark Cockman

another question I think it was only OCR that stipulated that you had to have a yellow back ground on a white boat or is it for all class's ? Cheers Nic

[OCRDA]

Mine is number "9" ! If 3b boats enter as 115 class they will be B, OCR ones will be "A" any UKFFORC will have E etc. so again this has not been thought through.
I suggest you just keep numbers as they are with your 36 & 22 etc. or write to ORDA (mark Brewster, Niel Jackson ) and get there take on it. as far as I am aware they have applied to change the classes already to different engine sizes. So worth checking.

[Renegade]

Change engine sizes? In what way?

[ORDA]

The original BCC idea was.......

up to 115hp - Prefix Y
up to 200hp - Prefix V
up to 350hp - Prefix X
over 350hp - No Prefix

The RYA said the prefixes had to change to......

up to 115hp - Prefix 3
up to 200hp - Prefix 2
up to 350hp - Prefix 1
over 350hp - Prefix U

As you can see a lot of thought has gone into the prefixes as to not clash with any other class or type of racing.

There has been NO application made to change the class engine sizes by the originators of the proposal as it has been approved, and would be unfair to all racers and our regulatory body at this time.


ORDA committee

[RHINO]

so no 150 class then??

[Renegade]

So are you saying you are going by cowling hp?? Ie as xs ho and all 'sports' models going in the higher classes? Ie 200xs going in 200 or 300 class?

[SEPA]

As you know Brian, SEPA made an amendment request to the RYA last month - following a decision by the crews present at their AGM - to raise the bottom class of the BCC from a maximum of 115hp to 150hp on the grounds that there are already 3 x 1.3 litre classes, but that the most popular class this year might be the 150hp class as discussed at the Drivers Forum in November last year. With the assumption that any 1.3 litre engine would simply race in one of the existing national classes, it made sense that this would be a simple and effective small change that might swell the fleet. This was done with the full knowledge of ORDA, and RMYC as they are the next two races on the calendar and is due to be discussed at tomorrow's ORC, so we await their decision after this proposal has been given due consideration.

It might be helpful to know which crews might race in this class if it were to go ahead?

[TEAM-ATS]

Originally Posted by RHINO

so no 150 class then??

It is my understanding that a proposal has gone to the ORC requesting an amendment to the classes as follows:

'That the HP ceiling for BCC3 be amended from a maximum of 115hp to a maximum of up to and including 150hp'

I believe this was put forward as the 3B class currently run Nationally / Interanationally up to 115hp.

[Renegade]

Right, I have to chime in here. At the SEPA meeting it was discussed and i think generally accepted that the 150 class was the best foot forward as there are potentially more of these boats ready to go than any other rigs.

Anyone remember F200? a complete flop. it was for all those 200hp motors out there that could go racing. (not counting the 3c boats that ran along side).

i am hoping that this is not aimed at all the 200hp motors out there that can go racing. POINT BLANK THEY ARE NOT OUT THERE as the basic races always show.

also for all the people who have a 150 motor it is pointless entering against a 200xs.
It was also discussed, albeit after the meeting with a few people the potential benefits with this class as potentially it could become uniform alongside other countries that have a 150 class like France and the scandinavian region that a possible international series or event could happen.


I am Sure that it will all get sorted but i have written this to just put forward what i remember being discussed. I stand to be corrected if anything i have written is incorrect.
Surely this is the right way to go?
Paul

[Paul E]

Politics and stupid moving goalposts stopping people from racing? Never!!

[Renegade]

I would like to add for the record that at this meeting an ocrda and orda comittee members were present. As well as the obvious sepa comittee.

Come on guys lets do it right.

[OCRDA]

The OCRDA committee member kept out of the discussion re 150's on the basis that this was originally proposed and agreed by ORDA and therefore nothing to do with OCRDA as we had already been turned down to run a round of this basic club championship.

[powerboat3]

My boat will be entered in the 150 class, I think what we all discussed at Cuxton was right, raise the 115 class if were not able to create a separate class.

Paul, I agree with what your saying about racing with the 200xs, but why dont you commit and come out racing? The more boats that start going out will encourage others to take the boats out of the garage and come race! Its got the potential but needs the commitment if were only saying its a good idea and not going and doing it why would someone spend the time creating a new class or joining?

So, lets all just do what we enjoy and race!

Dan