Alan Webb RIP

[Jon Fuller]

I Heard the sad news today that Cruiser racing stalwart Alan 'Webby' Webb died yesterday morning.

Many will remember Alan as a hard charging racer who loved it rough, in fact, the rougher the better.

In his Flipper Cruisers he often showed the way home to boats from many classes above him.

[Ben]

One of powerboat racing's characters and a nice man.

I can still picture Webby dancing with my daughter Amanda at a UKOBA ball when she was just 5 or 6 years old (she will be 23 next week).

We will miss you Alan.

[blind dog]

i always remember him going to the races with his camper and his westie dog,a realy nice man .r.i.p

[Ciao]

Raced with him in '83 down in Fowey, his son had "the Guinness Bug" - so a 17 year old Ciao stepped into his boat.

We won the race, Webby sat on the finish line and waited for the other competitors to finish, and then shouted at them, "I 'ad no power on me motor and me navigator is too young to be out this time of day!"

The look on David Graham Smiths' face was quality.

I am grateful that over the years that I managed to have the odd beer or two with Alan, the last I think was up at Windermere in '02 - He was a very special character.

[Mike Lloyd]

I am sorry to hear the news about “Webby”. What a great guy he was.

He was hugely competitive, I raced against him for over 5 years and in the early days he beat me on every race, until I bought a Revenger 25!

What can you say about a man who was a stalwart of Cruiser Racing for over ten years. I have many pictures of him in my head but the main one is that big grin he would have when he won a race, which was often.

I hadn’t seen him for almost twenty years until he turned up at Gunwharf Quays on the Friday before the RB08. It was simply great to chat about the old days with him even though it was only for a short while.

R.I.P. Webby.

[Jon Fuller]

Certainly a character.

For some bizzare reason, he started calling/refering to me as Brian!

Still puzzels me.

Last saw him up at Windermere, late 90's. He watched us set a new Production Class record, and later muttered something about too many cubes. I think it was a suggestion we were cheating!..cheeky bugger.

I used to love the feckin great motor home, towing a Fiat Panda on a 'A' bar.

[Jon Holmes]

Reminds me of trigger repeatedly calling Rodney - Dave in Only Fools and Horses Jon. lol

[Jon Fuller]

Yes, it was kind'a like that.

TD used to piss himself laughing every time Webby did it. He (Webby) genuinly seemed to have gotten my name mixed up.

[Bus Pass]

Very sad, lots of great memories from the 80's when we raced in cruiser class.
He was a one off.
Mentioning Windermere reminds me of him trying to break the class A record by running with Simon sat on the bathing platform to move the c of g back!

[Adam]

Very sad news - a real loss and a great character. One of those people where everyone has memories of.

I can remember a race from Bournemouth one year - Alan anchored his boat off the pier for the night and then rowed in to the pier in the morning - straight to Drivers briefing - still in his Dressing Gown!

[taffy97]

Coming from circuit our path's only crossed at Records Week. The bar at the Low Wood provided many a laugh with Alan over the years.
He may be gone but he'll never be forgotten. R.I.P.

[Tony Davis]

Alan was a great guy, and was the one person that John and I wanted to compete against in production class, sadly something that never happened as he hung up his helmet the year before we started.

Was only talking about him a couple of days ago, how he always said, " you never throttle back, just trim in a bit"

[Jon Fuller]

Originally Posted by Tony Davis

Was only talking about him a couple of days ago, how he always said, " you never throttle back, just trim in a bit Brian"

.....

[Nick the Navigator]

Raced with Alan for several years in the late 80's early 90's. We all had a great time as life was never dull!! Dogs in the boat and chickens on the roof of the motor home!
Before an intercom was installed I used to communicate navigational messages by a stick! On many occasions in the days (and hours) running up to a race Andre and myself would try and work out which bolts were still a little lose after the previous weeks mechanicals!
We always had a laugh out of the boat, but it was serious racing once the water was flowing under the hull!
We will certainly miss a very knowledgable and generous old racer.
Webbie RIP.

[D~OOD]

Here are the details of Alans' Funeral

Alan's Wife - Shirley Webb, Three Acres, Sandy Lane, Horspath, Oxon (01865 872952) (If anyone wants to send a card or phone)

Funeral - St Johns Chapel, Oxford Crematorium 15.00 hours Monday 7th Dec (OX3 9RZ)
Shirly has invited all of Alan is friends to celebrate his life at The Queens Head PH (Horspath OX33 1RU) after the funeral - (around 16.00 hrs)

Flowers will be from Alan's family only , - but donations would be welcome and can be made to "The Sobel House Hospice Charity" - for Palliative care - Oxford. Just visit their website or call 01865 318700 (gift reference Alan Webb)

In 1982 & 1984, Webby took the NPC III speed record in 'Shiral' at 46 mpg. In 1984, he bought a seat in 'Hendersons Doors' to do the Round Britain in an unlikely pairing with David Graham Smith! 1989 at Windemere saw Webby's 'Flippin Shy Talk' take the NPC II record at 62.47.

Alan raced in his 30ft Flipper production cruisers 'Flying Flipper' then 'Flippin Shy Talk' during 1985 to 1994, doing every available national event, winning the Hull Gold Cup and about 5 National Championships along the way.
He also donated several trophies to powerboat racing, including the huge Anniversary Cup to ORDA for the fastest 2 ltr lap at Torquay. Alan often turned up recently to personally present his trophies.

Despite his battle with cancer, Alan was still flying in his microlite this last summer! Alan was a BIG character in every way - friendly, competitive, generous and always up for a laugh. We will sorely miss him. RIP.

[Virtual Insanity]

rest in peace alan....one of our sport's most genuine characters...a legend!!!