Venture Cup

[Renegade]

What were conditions like in general?

[billy no boat]

Great coverage today, thank you for the updates!

Can any of the organisers explain why microlink didn't start? They have been one of the "regular" marathon racers for years, their boat has not changed so why would an issue arrise so close to the start to rule them out? Such a shame.

[motorvator]

Originally Posted by Renegade

What were conditions like in general?

Here you are mate judge for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zv6...ature=youtu.be

Sorry about the quality I'll upload some better stuff later.

[gazza]

That actually looked flat!!

gaZ

[motorvator]

In all fairness the end of the pier was well sheltered as we had north easterlies and little water, run down a few miles and over to the south side and it got dirty very quickly.

[Mike Lloyd]

Those interested in what happened today to Warpath read this from Facebook.

OK lots of questions from everyone, to understand we need to go back a bit.

The team’s first time in the boat together was Wednesday, due to many issues; therefore Heading from Southampton to London was the shakedown run. During that run, there was some tough 8-10 footers and Ole not having any time in the boat it was decided to pull in and truck the Boat to London.

The truck grabbed the boat in Eastbourne and it arrived in London Friday Morning, it was decided Daryl would throttle instead. We have had many times out on Lake Michigan in our own Apache and the Chie fin 6 to 8’s. The marina the driver suggested had no Petrol and they tried to go up the street to get fuel but the truck with the boat was too large. Tide was an issue, plus race inspection; the team launched the boat and headed to Race Headquarters in London. They went and got gas cans, they were 50 gallons short for the first leg and the Race officials said no, you cannot bring gas to the docks. It was explained that we would be short, but no avail. Therefore we would have to stop DURING THE RACE. There was no fuel on the Thames and we had no time.

The race starts and Warpath pulls to an early lead. The first issue is all of the electronics are US based, not Europe. The GPS has a Europe chip, and it decides through the rough ride to go blank and reboot, off and on. We held back and waited for Cinzano to catch up, we need to make sure we made the cut correct, then all of a sudden the GPS was working again. It did keep going off and on, but Daryl just kept rebooting it, and staying on the compass heading.

Team Warpth was not aware that the race leg today would be shortened; we had enough fuel to get to Poole but not to Guernsey. Therefore we hammered it to get a good lead and figured we would be able to make up the time once back after fueling. Warpath had a 22 Mile lead at the point she went to re-fuel in Brighton. While the team was paying the fuel bill, the race was called and it was nothing that could be done. We just figured we will make it up in the morning.

Once we got to Poole then we got another Black Flag!! the VHS that we have MOUNTED in the boat, although it is currently on EUR vs. US, it does not have Channel 37. Warpath has 2 handhelds on board as back up with 37, and the mounted Radio has every other channel. However, we are not going to be allowed to start in the morning because we do not have that channel. We will miss the Leg to Guernsey. We plan on running the other two legs, but it seems we are not supposed to win.

The boat ran great and she had more left and took it easy on the equipment, I think the 21 mile lead makes a statement. This is the easiest rough water design to drive, trim it right and off you go! The Motors drives and Props are beyond belief !
We will update again in the morning, thanks for all the support and kind words.

Team Warpath — with Arneson Marine and 3 others.

Frankly this is just disgusting. Ole has spent huge amounts of money just to have this beautiful boat built and then shipped across to here to take part in this race and then these dickheads of officials stop it racing just because of the radio. If they want to kill the sport they are going the right way about it. They forget that the sport is for those who want to take part and not for so called "officials" to pontificate around like mini Hitlers. These "officials" need to get a life, IMHO!
Lastly, how come the radio passed scruitineering in London and then - conveniently - failed in Poole? What with Microlink having to pull out of the race in London - which is going to have huge consequences - and this there is a feint whiff of something in the air.
ML.

[Mike Lloyd]

And another thing. The OOD and Co insist that Yellowbrick is fitted to ALL Marathon boats on the basis of safety, just so they know where all the boats are at all times so how come Cinzano can win a leg without its Yellowbrick working and no one knew where it was for a couple of hoiurs. They didn't have the necessary "safety requirement! working and therefore, under the rules, should be penalised otherwise whats the point of the Yellowbrick?. Again IMHO..
ML.

[RichardC]

Evening all,

Yes, Warpath were issued with 2 hand held VHF radios, complete with a mains charger for when they got to base.
In addition they have been supplied with a fixed VHF tonight with bracket, aerial and connectors.
Just in case some of you didn't know, Warpath was awarded BEST PRESENTED RACEBOAT, in London by ZENITH, who are co sponsoring the awards for this year. A worthy winner as the boat does look fantastic.

[alice]

Originally Posted by RichardC

Evening all,

Yes, Warpath were issued with 2 hand held VHF radios, complete with a mains charger for when they got to base.
In addition they have been supplied with a fixed VHF tonight with bracket, aerial and connectors.
Just in case some of you didn't know, Warpath was awarded BEST PRESENTED RACEBOAT, in London by ZENITH, who are co sponsoring the awards for this year. A worthy winner as the boat does look fantastic.

thats good news,so are they in for tomorrow

[Gerbil112]

There's a chandlers on Poole Quay called "Piplers". They will sell you a full-spec fixed 25W VHF for just over £100! I hope someone told you that when you got to Poole. It could be fixed and working before tomorrow's departure for Guernsey. They're open on Sundays too, but not till about 10am :-(

I agree with Mike, it is a requirement to have a fixed 25W VHF with channel 37a International. This should have been checked and cleared at scrutinering.

It does seem odd that one boat got a black flag for not having an appropriate fixed radio (in spite of having 2 handportables), and another fails with its tracker and receives no penalty. We are told that the trackers are an essential safety item, not just so that Joe Public can see where the boats are, and are essential to ensure pair play in that the boats take the correct courses in the event of protests. In the event of an emergency, as Marathon boats are meant to be self sufficient, channel 16 would be used to alert rescue services via the coastguard. 37a would only be used to contact Race Control or other race boats for local communications including start details, retirements and curtailments. And then only if Race Control were wihin range...

"Red flag at the Needles"??? I understood that a red flag signifys a race abort or stoppage, not a curtailment. Unless there are other arrangements in race instructions, curtailment of a leg of a race is done by showing a checkered flag at the start/finish line. In some classes it used to be a red & checkered flag but PB1 now only indicates a checkered "at the finish line".

[Gerbil112]

Originally Posted by RichardC

Evening all,

Yes, Warpath were issued with 2 hand held VHF radios, complete with a mains charger for when they got to base.
In addition they have been supplied with a fixed VHF tonight with bracket, aerial and connectors.
Just in case some of you didn't know, Warpath was awarded BEST PRESENTED RACEBOAT, in London by ZENITH, who are co sponsoring the awards for this year. A worthy winner as the boat does look fantastic.

Just saw this posted while I was typing :-)

So, are they racing tomorrow or is their penalty/punishment preventing them from doing so?

[RichardC]

Thanks for the info re Poole Chandlers.
The problem the guys are faced with is that the start being around 1000 hrs on Sunday morning, would not give them enough time.
Thanks goes out to some special friends in Poole who via Guernsey have come to the rescue of our friends in Warpath.
THE SPORT NEEDS MORE CHARACTERS LIKE THESE GUYS. THEY LEAD BY EXAMPLE, THEY BUILD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOAT AND THEY ARE THE NICEST BUCH OF GUYS YOU COULD POSSIBLY MEET. ALL THEY WANT TO DO IS RACE, GOOD OLD FASHIONED RACING WITHOUT ALL THE BS THAT IS GOING ON.

[RichardC]

Gerbil,

You have a very good point about passing scruitineering.
The way I see it, one handheld offered a small risk of failure if there was a problem with the handset, that is why I gave them 2.
THANKS GOES OUT TO OUR FRIENDS AT GREENWICH YACHT CLUB FOR HELPING OUT AT LAST MINUTE.
LIONEL, STEVE AND TEAM, THANKS FROM THE VENTURE CUP ORGANISERS.

[Mrs Smillie]

Still no answer on the tracker going down on 558 i wonder why!!!! Claire

[goatskin]

Originally Posted by Mike Lloyd

... Frankly this is just disgusting. ... then these dickheads of officials stop it racing just because of the radio. If they want to kill the sport they are going the right way about it. They forget that the sport is for those who want to take part and not for so called "officials" to pontificate around like mini Hitlers. These "officials" need to get a life, IMHO! ...

hear, hear

The zealotry & demonstrable arrogance of small people carrying large clipboards is mind-numbing, albeit not so surprising, really - regardless of the protestations of the organisers.

I wonder ... would Aidan, (Simon, Peter, Richard, et.al) like to NAME the individual arrogantistas (along with their 'supposed' black-letter cite) who refused to allow Chief to get fuel, ignored Microlink clear and obvious safety concerns, and then suspend a leg because of ... the Channel conditions being the usual Channel conditions, THEN black-flag Warparty in an overabundance of mindnumbing triviality.

The VC organisers (and their partner-in-crime, RYA) seem determined to screw a GOOD THING up. WHY??

WHO is/are the inmates that are running the asylum??

[Mikko Oikari]

It looks like the longdistance races has to be organized in an other way, as been discussed before. No RYA, no UIM. Only way is to run them as a Rally/Pokerrun.
Ridiculous to shorten the leg yesterday. Is this not supposed to be Marathon Racing???

[hunton69]

Nice rant Mike

First: you can't black flag a team because a part that the organisers insist on going into a boat fails.

Second: You can't black flag a team at the end of a leg if they had the same equipment at the start. The officials made an error and you can't penalise a team for that either. That should of been picked up on Friday by the organisers and even I would of ripped out my VHF from my boat sitting in the Garden and rushed it to London.

Third: Are warpath in today or not its disgusting that an organiser responds on a public forum and ignores the question. RC should at least say wether it's pending.

Fourth: If Warpath is out its possible yet another nail in the coffin.

and finally the sport has lost the Italians by idiots here may be they want to screw the yanks.

WELL DONE TO THOSE INVOLVED.

[Mrs Smillie]

Originally Posted by hunton69

Nice rant Mike

First: you can't black flag a team because a part that the organisers insist on going into a boat fails.

Second: You can't black flag a team at the end of a leg if they had the same equipment at the start. The officials made an error and you can't penalise a team for that either. That should of been picked up on Friday by the organisers and even I would of ripped out my VHF from my boat sitting in the Garden and rushed it to London.

Third: Are warpath in today or not its disgusting that an organiser responds on a public forum and ignores the question. RC should at least say wether it's pending.

Fourth: If Warpath is out its possible yet another nail in the coffin.

and finally the sport has lost the Italians by idiots here may be they want to screw the yanks.

WELL DONE TO THOSE INVOLVED.

Hear hear we all know which committee members are the culprits and if Warpath are out we know why other competitors don't like the competition and don't like to lose as already ousted one competitor because of a "rule change" at the last minute! As for the fuel issue very convenient don't we think that Warpath had to get fuel because they thought they were racing to Guernsey but then that all changed as race was finishing in Poole! This race is a total joke! The way its going there will be no racing next year ridiculous in my opinion if you race you should not be on the race committee!! Claire

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Mrs Smillie

Hear hear we all know which committee members are the culprits and if Warpath are out we know why other competitors don't like the competition and don't like to lose as already ousted one competitor because of a "rule change" at the last minute! As for the fuel issue very convenient don't we think that Warpath had to get fuel because they thought they were racing to Guernsey but then that all changed as race was finishing in Poole! This race is a total joke! The way its going there will be no racing next year ridiculous in my opinion if you race you should not be on the race committee!! Claire

"if you race you should not be on the race committee!!"

Absolutely, I wanted to take part in the CTC race in 2009 but was told in no uncertain terms by Max Beaverbrook that because I was organising the race I could not take part and Max knows what he is talking about. People need to learn that you simply can't do both AND be on the RYA committees AND remain impartial and fair! It should be in the rule book - take note RYA!
ML.
.

[blimp]

While I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, the reality here is more straight forward. Warpath was DQ'd for entering an exclusion zone on the plane ....nothing else. While a tracker may not be 'reporting' it is storing all info which con ONLY be looked at by officials later Warpath IS racing today