Marathon Racing - where too next

[Seadog]

Lots of chat on this forum about various Marathon events, some comments positive some negative. What I would like to see is some positive suggestions on how we can develop the Marathon Class. What type of events suit best, how many should be run in one year, how far would marathon teams travel to compete. What would the teams, racers and organisors like to see developing into the future.

[TomLinley]

It would be great if someone would reinstate the Cancer Research Race, maybe round the ireland or Southern Islands Trophy. Having one or two smaller events each year that give a chance for people to enter club class and marathon boats would be great. Allowing events such as Cowes and Skagerrak as the larger, prestige events that warrant the outlay.

With more events that are cheaper and just a bit of fun without the promise of millions of spectators, we may have more people justify the expense of racing/larger craft.

[Adam]

For sure needs a few more events - but not too many or too big.But they need to proper events with something to them.

Personally I would have loved to do CTC this year - but just cannot justify expense of all for one race. This does include fitting extra tanks to the boat, licences and certification etc.

But hopefully in the future......

[Miss Daisy]

I agree. The key to it is weekend or long weekend events. That length event is long enough to satisfy the urge but not long enough to need huge time off requirements. Maybe scrutineering on a Friday afternoon, racing sat/sun and head home sunday evening.
Even I would consider buying a boat again if there were, say, 4 such events a year. I imagine the difficulties of organising a much smaller event are reduced a little too but have no direct experience of it. In financial terms it has cost me the best part of £650 just to be a crewmember and that is with all the qualifications already in place, it's just RYA fee, medical, club membership and the weekend costs are a hell of a lot more with accomodation, travel, boat contribution etc. It would be great to spread the costs over more events.
Not much help really and only an(other) opinion but these big events are difficult to stage and not working at the moment.

[the edge]

Always loved the cancer research race, would be great to see it run again.

[Seadog]

Marathon event
On the question of Distance.
CTC is approx 190 NM round trip.
What would your ideal distance be for a one day Marathon event.
On the type of course would you like to see a course that hugs the coast, runs offshore or maybe a mix of both.

Similar questions for a club event
CPC is between 45 & 70 NM.
What would your ideal distance be for a one day club event.
On type of course would you like to see a course that hugs the coast, goes offshore , mix of both or stays within the confines of a harbour or sheltered area.

[Red-Leader]

180/200 NM is achievable with most marathon boats without the addition of more fuel tanks so this seems a sensible distance per day and would hopefully mean present boats could be used without costly modification.
One or two day events to help with cost of time off work and accommodation cost.
Racing on or offshore is good but not around a circuit, better too and from or round.
Most importantly it has to be fun to a certain point. The fun element will bring boats out for that alone.
R-L

[burgundyben]

Clearly cost is a big driver, to my mind a series of events would make the cost more bearable.

Easter Weekend, scrutineering Friday with a race on Sat, Sun and Mon, repeat in August on the bank holiday, gives 6 races.

Ease off on the regulation and make it a bit more 'last one there is a cissy' and it might attract a bigger entry.

[Mikko Oikari]

200+ Nm. Offshore.
When you get the chance, you want some hours in the boat..

[Mike Lloyd]

A really cheap event would be a Poole-Cherbourg-Poole run, that's just about 130nm's non stop across all the shipping lanes - which can make life interesting. The alternative to that is to run to Cherbourg, stop overnight, enjoy the delights of the french restaurants and then race back on the Sunday. The Royal Motor in Poole used to organise such events back in the mid 1980's but they were called "Timed Trials" back then so not actually a race as such - so no RYA involvement!!!! It could be enormous fun and very challenging - open to all classes. Plus the existing record for that run being broken by the first boat into Cherbourg.

It would be similar - in a way - to the old and great London-Calais-London race.

Now all we need is someone to organise it like the Royal Motor, the BPRC or one of the other many powerboat clubs and about a dozen boats - or more.

Wives and girlfriends could travel across on the Ferry and join the crews for dinner and then return on the Sunday by Ferry. That might make life easier for many!!!

ML.
.

[OCRDA]

Keep it simple !

[Mikko Oikari]

"The Board of Directors of the British Powerboat Racing Club (BPRC) convened an ordinary general meeting on Friday 15th September, 2017.
Following the overwhelming majority vote of members from a ballot held earlier in 2017 and the subsequent unanimous decision of the Directors at this latest board meeting, the BPRC has formally withdrawn its affiliation to the RYA, with immediate effect.
The Directors would like to take this opportunity to thank its Members for their overwhelming support and very much look forward to developing a brighter future for offshore powerboat racing in 2018 and beyond!"

[hunton69]

Great news.... now change the name..... Marathons are for skinny people who like to run

[JDS]

One of the biggest preventative costs is licensing - I would have raced my boat on numerous occasions had the day/event license still been available but everyone wants a cut, RYA included. Being prepared to spend several thousand on na event is one thing but to pay several more on training and licensing is a big ask.

[hunton69]

Originally Posted by JDS

One of the biggest preventative costs is licensing - I would have raced my boat on numerous occasions had the day/event license still been available but everyone wants a cut, RYA included. Being prepared to spend several thousand on na event is one thing but to pay several more on training and licensing is a big ask.

I think this may change next year.
Training will be required but hopefully licensing will be cheaper

[Captain Chaos]

Originally Posted by hunton69

I think this may change next year.

It must and will

Originally Posted by hunton69

Training will be required

I think its more accurate to say that licence holders will be expected to meet a standard

Originally Posted by hunton69

hopefully licensing will be cheaper

Thats certainly the plan, licence costs in recent years have clearly been made up on the back of a fag packet and have been totally unjustifiable.

[gazza]

Originally Posted by hunton69

Great news.... now change the name..... Marathons are for skinny people who like to run

Endurance Racing Barry ??

[Captain Chaos]

Originally Posted by gazza

Endurance Racing Barry ??

"endurance you say ........................

[Red-Leader]

May I say the bigger problem is getting the sponsors back on board. Most wouldn't touch power boat racing with barge pole the way its been performing lately.
I would say getting boats and money back into the sport would be the first priority.
I wish everyone the best of luck and hope all goes well for the future.

[hunton69]

Sponsors do not give money away for free.
They want their product advertised and thats the problem

Or they want a bloody good day out.