Venture Cup

[hunton69]

Good Post Jason B

[Marinautic]

Originally Posted by hunton69

Good Post Jason B

+1

[blimp]

Jason - as one of the organisers, I find myself agreeing with most of what you're saying. Coincidentally, most of the really fresh new thinking that we've heard over the past year and a bit, has come from those outside of the sport ...without the history and/or baggage.

Some (certainly not all) voices within the sport can sometimes have a position which they're determined to hold on to, regardless of the realities which exist. The 'glory' days are gone and attempting to bring them back using the old methods won't work.

We've made our own fair share of mistakes and would be the first to hold our hands up, but we are trying to get something contemporary going. It's not going to happen overnight and it's going to continue to be a battle, but we're in it for the long-haul.

I totally agree with you regarding modern technology. We've been strong on social media from the outset, and we've gone and thrown out the accepted 'best solution' in boat tracking because we felt it wasn't up to what was needed. An entirely new system (developed solely for the event) has been created and tested and the first part of it will be deployed during the upcoming event. Even at that, we'll only be using less than 20% of what it's capable of, but again ...'small steps' that can be built on.

One of the big problems right now would appear to be the number of boats wishing to, or capable of, entering such events. So what are the reasons behind this? We've possibly been a contributory factor ourselves due to some of the uncertainties, but it's more than that. While some of the teams that will be in this year's event are all about racing, more than a few are in it purely for the adventure .....and it's something that's become even more apparent over the past week. In many ways we've been forced into an alternative method of running the event quite late in the day, and this has pricked the attention of a significantly large number of people to suggest that there might actually be something there. Perhaps it may be worth looking at an endurance event in the future that has two distinct fleets within it - one for pure racing, and for pure adventure. We've chosen to stick within the recognised 'authority' of the National Authority & UIM system as we feel it ultimately adds to the credibility of our efforts. Others may feel that a more substantial shake-up is needed. To each their own.

I would hope that the next few weeks will bring a little more confidence back into things for you. Naturally it's a lot easier to do things when you've got sufficient budgets to allow the workload to be shared - which is not the case right now - but we do plan to focus a lot of energy on really allowing people into the event .....whether from the quayside or the sofa.

The problems with the sport are many. People can blame the RYA, or us, or anyone else they choose, but it's more profound than that and a more holistic solution is required.

The sport, as a whole, is for others to determine - our interest is solely in ultra-long distance events for offshore boats. We'll continue to work and adapt in the hope that what we know is achievable, can be finally realised. We'll also continue to make mistakes along the way, so any forum that offers free expression is useful. The downside is the bile and negativity, but the upside is the occasional piece of useful input or insight, such as yours.

[Mike Lloyd]

You do make me laugh you “young ‘un’s. What a load of twaddle.

Tim Powell – in his 70’s raised €80,000’sponsorship on our behalf from FPT for the RB08 and my next door neighbour Peter Myles – never having done it before - raised almost £40,000 sponsorship from a variety of sources so that we could have a final GRAND party for 850 people in Portsmouth at the end of the race. Which incidentally was brilliant and will never be forgotten – except everyone was bushed!. Otherwise the race was run on the entry fees. Not bad for some old ‘un’s like us eh?

If you could have matched that guys then you would have had a race to be proud of even at your tender ages, but you didn't. More's the pity.

ML.
.

[blimp]

Mike - with the greatest of respect (which I do have for you), saying that £120k would have given us a race to be proud of, is something of a surprise. Firstly, you know exactly how much it costs to put all the pieces in place and deliver this. 120k doesn't come near. The commitments we have from our venues comes to more than that number on their own (and these are all delivered)

As it happens, and I'm glad of the chance to clarify this, the RYA decision had nothing to do with budget, sponsors or partners.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by blimp

Mike - with the greatest of respect (which I do have for you), saying that £120k would have given us a race to be proud of, is something of a surprise. Firstly, you know exactly how much it costs to put all the pieces in place and deliver this. 120k doesn't come near. The commitments we have from our venues comes to more than that number on their own (and these are all delivered)

As it happens, and I'm glad of the chance to clarify this, the RYA decision had nothing to do with budget, sponsors or partners.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, I was trying - obviously badly - to make the point about us raising sponsorship monies that together with the entry fees made it possible to put together a pretty lean but enjoyable race.

You do know, because I gave you my budget for CMC, that the CMC was going to cost close to One Million to do it properly and that included remunerations to the three directors for working FOC for 2.5 years. Now I think that budget was way too low hence the desperate need for a main sponsor! Some hope!

Now here's a thought, if I hadn't started this whole thing off three years ago we wouldn't be discussing this now and we would both have been saved a whole lot of stress but, the plus side is, think how bored everyone would have been!!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
ML.
.

[Mike Lloyd]

Oh, and by the way. The race organisers -of the London to Monte-Carlo race in 1972 raised £350,000 in sponsorship to run that race. I am sure that some clever person on here will be able to convert that into today's monies 40 years later which will show my budget wasn't far off!
ML.
.

[hunton69]

Originally Posted by Mike Lloyd

You do know, because I gave you my budget for CMC, that the CMC was going to cost close to One Million to do it properly and that included remunerations to the three directors for working FOC for 2.5 years. Now I think that budget was way too low hence the desperate need for a main sponsor! Some hope!

ML.
.

How can that be you were working for free.

Then again it was run as a business

Confused.

[Mrs Smillie]

So Blimp any conformation of how many and who will be do this jaunt to MC! Claire

[Seadog]

What this thread has shown over the last number of months is how divided, opinion is within the sport.
In regard to the venture Cup, it is never easy to organise an event of this magnitude, trying to juggle the needs of the competitors, National Authorities, UIM, Host Cities & ports, Publicity and a thousand other things was never going to be easy and all the time trying to bring it in on budget so when the event is over and the powerboats go back into storage you are not left with a large financial deficit and wondering what you have done for the last two years. Was there mistakes, we can all see that there was (these mistakes and lack of information led to frustration and the negative comments) but in addition we must remember that there was also a lot of positives. (Increase in the Marathon Powerboat fleet being one.)
I say fair play to the organisers who had the vision to undertake the task, looking back on the thread we can see it has gone through many changes and challenges and even after the recent RYA press release on the race, the organisers along with the teams sat down and came up with plan B. I commend them for that and suggest that for the good of the sport that, we all wish the teams and organisers best wishes with the event and hope they will have an enjoyable and safe few weeks in June. Good positive publicity from this event should only strengthen the sport into the future.
In regard to Jason’s post where he wrote
“All of the above is exactly why you will never attract “new blood” to the sport! It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to do a little due diligence and realise what a state offshore power boating is in!”
New Blood into the sport is its lifeline and without it the sport will not grow. Having being involved for a number of years, I see the biggest problem being money. Without it events cannot run, no events no sport. Sounds simple enough but where you have money you have greed, jealousy, agendas, control issues etc.
Whereas I don’t always agree with Blimp, there is some truth in his comment
“Some (certainly not all) voices within the sport can sometimes have a position which they're determined to hold on to, regardless of the realities which exist. The 'glory' days are gone and attempting to bring them back using the old methods won't work.”
Blimp himself can have a position he is determined to hold on to from time to time (as can us all if we really think about it), but he is right in his point that old methods won’t always work. What we need is to find a method of integrating the old methods with the new and move forward for the better of the sport.
To grow our sport we need, Competitors, officials, clubs & organisers, promoters and a lot of supporters and sponsors who may not know anything about the sport. The challenge we have now is to define how all of the above work together and be flexible enough to help bring about change.
I believe we also need to define what the sport is all about, Is it just racing or can it include other sporting events which the public can buy into (Rib Raids, Around Britain Challenge, South coast Poker Run all, seem to be doing well)
The challenge for us is how we integrate other aspects of the sport into our clubs and organisations (RYA) so that the sport as a whole can move forward and our members enjoy their sport to the full in a sporting, challenging and safe environment.

Once again, Best Wishes to Teams and all involved in the Venture Cup. I am sure you will have a great adventure.

[Ciao]

Originally Posted by Mike Lloyd

Oh, and by the way. The race organisers -of the London to Monte-Carlo race in 1972 raised £350,000 in sponsorship to run that race. I am sure that some clever person on here will be able to convert that into today's monies 40 years later which will show my budget wasn't far off!
ML.
.

Near the 4 million quid mark when you had the initial idea.

[scorpion]

Mike
so you were £3M out....not bad, not bad at all.

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by scorpion

Mike
so you were £3M out....not bad, not bad at all.

Cheap shot - well done!
ML
.

[Mrs Smillie]

There is a list of boats supposedly doing the jaunt to MC on the venture cup website that is if anyone is interested! Claire

[andy21]

Looks like some interesting boats. I'll happily head over to Jersey to watch them.

Good work Blimp, all the best in the run up to the adventure!

Just wish you were stopping in Guernsey

[Carl]

with 8 boats running,how can you run the race/event wheres the money come from to fund it?

[Mikko Oikari]

Not much of a race..
But respect to all the teams who will be at the start on June 7th!

[hunton69]

Originally Posted by Mikko Oikari

Not much of a race..
But respect to all the teams who will be at the start on June 7th!

It's not a race anymore

It appears to be a fast cruise.

John not sure they need much money for this only some berthing fees.

Total Joke.

The damage that every organiser that's been involved in organising the RB11,RB12, original Monte Carlo and this one has damaged serious damage to the sport. (Yes it was in decline)

Why would anyone in the future prepare a boat pay there fees and end up with either a cancelled race or a cruise.

[blimp]

I'm going to try and quickly set a few things straight, if I may.

Nobody was more disappointed than us when the RYA announced that they were unable to approve the race. We have our own opinions on this process which are best kept private for now.

When that decision was made, we had four options -
1. Cancel everything
2. Ignore authority and just run what we wanted
3. Postpone for another day
4. Try to find an alternate that could be sanctioned under the UIM system

Option 1 is simple enough, but everyone felt that too much had been done to give up without one last push.

Option 2 could have meant significant problems for the teams, potentially during the event itself, and also in respect of their licences.

Option 3 was never really a runner as we felt that another cancellation/postponement of a large offshore event would be something almost impossible to come back from.

That left us with option 4. Jean-Marie van Lancker was to be one of our race OODs. Many of you will already know him but, in case you don't, he's the head of the Belgian national authority and also the head of the UIM Pleasure and Navigation (P&N) division. P&N is where 'endurance' racing lives and many, including ourselves, felt that this was where the Venture Cup should have been from the outset. For all our time with the RYA it lived in 'offshore' and this couldn't be changed. Anyway, Jean-Marie has a refreshingly simple approach to powerboating .....he simply wants to do what's best for it, and without any agenda.

Before proceeding, it's worth remembering that the 'organisers' are not some faceless group sitting on a hill somewhere. The vast majority are competitors themselves. It's also important to know that while you mightn't have been reading updates here on boatmad, or elsewhere, the relevant teams were receiving full updates every couple of days throughout the process. This was a decision that was taken jointly by all. People mightn't like, or appreciate, times when it appears that there's an information drought, but quite often there are external reasons/pressures which simply make it impossible or unwise to give updates.

Anyway, we met with Jean-Marie in Belgium and he agreed to help in every way he could. Conversations were had with the UIM, who also remained extremely supportive. Despite this support, the only way to proceed was to find something specific with the existing UIM rulebooks that approval could be granted for. A full 'race' wasn't an option because the protocols and notice requirements within the UIM rulebooks wouldn't allow it at such a late stage. After extensive searching we found an element within the rules which allowed for an event with a series of long-distance passages, sea skills, navigation tests, and some other pieces which were relevant. This was picked through by all sides and eventually agreed to be the best way forward. It's under this element/rule that the Venture Cup will now run.

It may not be ideal, but it IS a solution - one which the teams now entered are fully behind. There will be a Venture Cup this June and it will be an event which will lead to even better things. Whatever you may feel about the organisers, the system, RYA, UIM or any other peripheral elements, we'd ask you to get behind the teams that will be making their way to Monaco in June. We'll be doing all we can to bring you their individual stories over the two weeks.

[Mikko Oikari]

Originally Posted by hunton69

It's not a race anymore

It appears to be a fast cruise.

John not sure they need much money for this only some berthing fees.

Total Joke.

The damage that every organiser that's been involved in organising the RB11,RB12, original Monte Carlo and this one has damaged serious damage to the sport. (Yes it was in decline)

Why would anyone in the future prepare a boat pay there fees and end up with either a cancelled race or a cruise.

After the RB 2008 the future for Marathonracing in its new format looked really bright. So I, among a few others like Dean Gibbs, Markus H, Martin Lai, Vee G, built a new boat, first for the RB12, then Cowes-MonteCarlo and now this...
Payed (some of)the fees and now stand there with a "fast weekend cruiser" that no one wants... But. In the end I don't blame the organizers as much as the racers. All of the organizers have worked hard to make the races happen but there has been a lot of empty words from the racers. Remember that Mike had over 40 on the list and 13 paying. I think that was the moment that killed real Marathonracing. You guys will run some races over there, like Cowes-Torquay, but Marathonracing as of RB 2008 is dead... RIP.