CB1 said:
At the moment there are probially 3 racing. There are plenty for sale if your interested. It is a shame after two years of growth for the class that they have dwindled to such low numbers, but they are their own worst enimies.
I think there will be no V24's racing.
Given the cockpit change requirement, no current design V24 boats should pass scruiteneering, and as far as I know there are no changed boats at the moment. It is a simple matter of moving the shoulder strap harness points from the base of the seat to rear firewall, but this takes a little while, and the RYA only thought to mention this on the 20th, giving everyone loads of time to make the required arrangements.
Additionally, all the Pascoe rigged boats do not have the correct engine cut out. The external engine cut-out is incorrectly marked accourding the the UIM rules, and it does not cut out the engine! It does kill the electrics, but if the engine is running, it will continue to run on its own power. Again - not a biggie, just more time than you have when failed by the scruiteneers a few hours before the race.
Finally - I thought the organisers of the races and the RYA played a good part in messing up the V24 season. The RYA seem to think that V24 is their personal bank, and charge outrageous fees for V24. Someone still needs to explain to me why it costs twice as much to re-issue an A4 sheet of paper for a V24 than it does for other classes? And why the Licence fee is more expensive than other categories? There will be many more V24's at the Poole Basic race than at the National Championships because of the RYA! Owners of V24's are quite pissed with having to fund the RYA, and then get zero support from the RYA.
As for the organisers, they initially demanded that V24 guarantee nine starting boats or they would not run the race. Then they said that there would be no support trucks or campers allowed. They published the race entry fee for V24's as £190, but if you actually entered, then then upped this to £220 - because this is what they charged V24 last year!
So I think some of the V24 drivers will be having a weekend off. I know one is in the Carribian with his family, as they had already booked the time off work, and that seemed a better idea than getting abuse at Torquay. And in London you should see some race preperation testing of a V24 on the Thames...
There is an underlying message here. For a long time some race organisers and the RYA have goten away with doing whatever they felt like, and stuff the racers. The most popular classes of racing are those classes who have removed themselves from the RYA & established organisers.
Zap cat and Honda do well.
They do well because they have removed the irritation and problem source called 'organisers' who dont really care about the actual man in his boat. Their supposed 'customer' the person they are supposed to look after and arrange races for! ZapCat and Honda could do better if they could remove the RYA from their list of problems to overcome as well, but currently they have to suffer the RYA
There are some organisers who actually care about the people they are organising the race for. Their mental approach to the race is different. They seem to think about the person who has spent loads of money on a boat and on licencing etc. They put this person first, and assist the racer in racing. Then they think of the other 'issues' like what the council wants, what the sponsors want etc...
Other clubs seem to think they can arrange a race and the boats *have* to arrive and race, and get annoyed/angry when people dont enter their races. The thing I am seeing at the moment is some clubs trying to pack in constant activity and over pack their time with many classes and many boats - to the detriment of everyone.
What is the answer? - in my opinion : Support those organisers who look after you and your enjoyment of your sport, and dont enter those races where the organisers dont give a stuff. This way the 'spectacle' being offered by some clubs will fall short of the mark, and will loose out - whilst those that manage their events correctly will benefit.
Bottom line: V24 is too good a class not to succeed.
Bottom line: V24 needs to be taken away from the club organisers that dont give a stuff, and taken away from people who just want to make money from it, and given to those clubs who *want* V24 to race at their events, and - like Honda and Zap Cat - if V24 can get to arrange their own events, there is no other class as good for tight exciting racing!
