Boats don't suck
Discussion
I've got to admit that I used to think boats were reserved for those who like to wear silly hats with Captain emblazed on the front and wear those silly tassle deck shoes. How wrong could I be?
I was lucky enough to be invited down to a recruitment day held at Cougar marine in Southampton. The deal was simple, I was going to be shown the latest budget motorsport - with boats on sale from 9k it was an interesting prospect to say the least.
The video I was sent was pretty cool, ticked all the right boxes and sent that sterotype image in my mind packing. I was invited to have a ride in one of the 150hp class boats - I wasn't so keen and really wanted to head straight into the the big 300hp class.
The engine is a Honda outboard and as mentioned churns out 150hp and does 50mph out on the water - hardly fast as i may have almost doubled that on the drive down... Once the pilot took me out to the open water and put his foot flat to the floor, 50mph in a boat seems like 150mph. The water, I was told, was calm but it felt as if we were going to challenge Ken Block at one of his monster 200ft jumps -then came the cornering. No let off on the throttle, planted we turned into the waves, I had a sensation that the boat was going to flip. It was a pure adrenalin rush, the speed, the waves and the jumps. I was hooked, now add another 15 boats to the mix and you'd have something really worth taking part in.
I'd fully recommend the day to anyone - as this was my first boat experience I thought I'd share with you guys. Very awesome
http://www.powerboatp1.com
I was lucky enough to be invited down to a recruitment day held at Cougar marine in Southampton. The deal was simple, I was going to be shown the latest budget motorsport - with boats on sale from 9k it was an interesting prospect to say the least.
The video I was sent was pretty cool, ticked all the right boxes and sent that sterotype image in my mind packing. I was invited to have a ride in one of the 150hp class boats - I wasn't so keen and really wanted to head straight into the the big 300hp class.
The engine is a Honda outboard and as mentioned churns out 150hp and does 50mph out on the water - hardly fast as i may have almost doubled that on the drive down... Once the pilot took me out to the open water and put his foot flat to the floor, 50mph in a boat seems like 150mph. The water, I was told, was calm but it felt as if we were going to challenge Ken Block at one of his monster 200ft jumps -then came the cornering. No let off on the throttle, planted we turned into the waves, I had a sensation that the boat was going to flip. It was a pure adrenalin rush, the speed, the waves and the jumps. I was hooked, now add another 15 boats to the mix and you'd have something really worth taking part in.
I'd fully recommend the day to anyone - as this was my first boat experience I thought I'd share with you guys. Very awesome
http://www.powerboatp1.com
Not to p*ss on your bonfire or anything but be careful what you are told about Honda boats at the moment. There has been a withdrawal by Honda with sponsorship and now 2 organisations fighting over who will run the fleet and accusations of money missing etc.
http://www.4nationseuropeanoffshore.com/for-sale
P1 (the organisation) has recently dumped the whole series of P1 racing with a whole fleet of eye wateringly expensive craft, some of which haven't even raced yet, left with nothing.
The UIM have stepped in and are now running the racing without them.
P1 Management Committee Statement
Considering the overall challenging situation, the P1 Management Committee met on the 12th of April 2010 at Villa Malpensa, Italy to find a reasonable and acceptable solution in order not to put in jeopardy the 2010 Powerboat P1 racing season.
The UIM President reprimanded the Powerboat P1 Management on the untimely decision to suspend the 2010 racing season.
After constructive discussions, at the end of the meeting, it was unanimously agreed by the P1 Management Committee that the UIM Powerboat P1 contracted promoter will use all its good offices to organize as many events as feasible in 2010 and honour the obligations with the UIM.
Dr. Raffaele Chiulli
UIM President
And they dumped these high speed / profile teams to run a Honda series and haven't even got one race organised yet.
For my money I would be looking to race in OCR (Offshore Circuit Racing) rather than either Honda series if they actually get back off the ground.
OCR is a good solid series born out of the old class 4 offshore that has been going for years. I last raced them back in the early eighties.
Oh and despite what Cougar tell you they are faster as well and don't fall over in turns.
http://www.4nationseuropeanoffshore.com/for-sale
P1 (the organisation) has recently dumped the whole series of P1 racing with a whole fleet of eye wateringly expensive craft, some of which haven't even raced yet, left with nothing.
The UIM have stepped in and are now running the racing without them.
P1 Management Committee Statement
Considering the overall challenging situation, the P1 Management Committee met on the 12th of April 2010 at Villa Malpensa, Italy to find a reasonable and acceptable solution in order not to put in jeopardy the 2010 Powerboat P1 racing season.
The UIM President reprimanded the Powerboat P1 Management on the untimely decision to suspend the 2010 racing season.
After constructive discussions, at the end of the meeting, it was unanimously agreed by the P1 Management Committee that the UIM Powerboat P1 contracted promoter will use all its good offices to organize as many events as feasible in 2010 and honour the obligations with the UIM.
Dr. Raffaele Chiulli
UIM President
And they dumped these high speed / profile teams to run a Honda series and haven't even got one race organised yet.
For my money I would be looking to race in OCR (Offshore Circuit Racing) rather than either Honda series if they actually get back off the ground.
OCR is a good solid series born out of the old class 4 offshore that has been going for years. I last raced them back in the early eighties.
Oh and despite what Cougar tell you they are faster as well and don't fall over in turns.
maser_spyder said:
Why does this read just like a press release?....
I did think that myself.Lots of disenchanted people that own Honda boats at the moment.
Seems there's 4 ways to go....
Support 4Nations which claim to have 5 races organised this year in England / Ireland.
Support P1 which has just dumped on it's existing race fleet and has no race dates settled. Claim they will race all over europe. Also talking about changing the 225 over to mercurys with another investment required.
Try and sell your rig, which now has been devalued due to lack of a series.
Join in some basic races and put the boat up against OCR boats etc. No national points of course.
Course if you have just spent £250,00 on a boat to campaign supersport or evolution, you are totaly screwed. I think some of them may well attempt to enter into the marathon series but they don't fit class well and would need work to increase fuel capacities etc.
Real shame it has gone this way but powerboat racing is a little like that, with entities building up a series then just fizzling out once the investment has been made.
Marathon racing seems to be the way to go at the moment for the big stuff and they are building a reasonable fleet up after the round britain 08, with Cowes - Torquay - Cowes, Harwich - Ostend and round Ireland this year, Round Britain 2011, Round Britain 2012 and many others being worked on. So we are seeing a renaissance of racing.
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