Round Britain Powerboat and Rib Challenge 2014

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

Hi Trev ,
Nice boat ! I also consider to sleep in the boat .
Black Hawk has more than enough deck space . I just need to put a canopy between the a frame and the grab rail of the console and It should work well .
Looking forward to see you !

In Scotland? In July? In a hopefully sheltered harbour? I'd want something a bit more midge proof than a "tarp" over the a frame / console...

[Bushrider]

I am working since 12 years in a cold country ..
Used to sleep in the boat here even in November / December but admit that I am getting older and prefer more comfort
To sleep in the boat should be just an option .
I also would not book B&B in advance anymore . Once you are out of schedule with the trip the bookings are useless .
In most places during the RI were more than enough free B&B available and everybody who was looking for found a bed .

[Mike Lloyd]

Originally Posted by Andre

Hi Mike

Well said but Hugo has the experience as this is not the first time for such cruise also they are not going all the way round.

What would you say to this Challenge? And they are going all the way round and alone.

999coastalchallenge - Home

That's amazing. Now THAT is going to be a great adventure! Good luck to them but being an oldie I would say that I would change those seats right now and put in some suspension seats otherwise they are going to be a bit sore by the time they get to Scotland!! They will learn a lot from that run.
ML.
.

[M.Thornton]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

I am working since 12 years in a cold country ..
Used to sleep in the boat here even in November / December but admit that I am getting older and prefer more comfort
To sleep in the boat should be just an option .
I also would not book B&B in advance anymore . Once you are out of schedule with the trip the bookings are useless .
In most places during the RI were more than enough free B&B available and everybody who was looking for found a bed .

After living in Kiev over the past 12 months I shouldn't think than a little thing like midges will bother Jurgen

[Bushrider]

Mike - 12 YEARS
But agree - the last 12 month were quite "hot" in bad meaning

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by Poly

I'd want something a bit more midge proof than a "tarp" over the a frame / console...

will sleep with drysuit on

[Gilles]

ahahah this year i booked all B&Bs and found some for 2 for 50 eur ....so i just hope that we won t leave later the 1st day ....

[Paul Glatzel]

For those of you getting ready for this years trip a little reminder (albeit focussing on a particular boat) of last years epic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bfW...hhKhkNf2s-RTsw

Regards, Paul

[Gilles]

Thanks Paul

[MustRib]

Round Britain 2014 Event cancelled.
Just received official notification.
Local difficulties - (H and S) and escalating expense of refuelling flotilla.

[Cookee]

There goes another one - RB12, RB13, Cowes Monte, London Monte (Twice if you count last years "Prologue" as a failure), granted the others were races but they were long "Events" on the water - are we becoming victims of today's risk averse society?

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Cookee

are we becoming victims of today's risk averse society?

I don't think so, and I suspect its actually about money rather than "H&S" which is often used as a handy excuse for all sorts of things.

Having said that, refuelling a large fleet of mainly petrol boats was never going to be easy in places where there isn't any petrol. For a smaller group it should be doable with a bit of planning though.

There's no reason why anyone who was planning to go Round Britain this year shouldn't do it if they want to. Unlike racing, RIB cruising doesn't actually need a formal organiser (no rules, scrutineering, timing etc).

[Cookee]

Originally Posted by MustRib

Round Britain 2014 Event cancelled.
Just received official notification.
Local difficulties - (H and S) and escalating expense of refuelling flotilla.

Originally Posted by John Kennett

I don't think so, and I suspect its actually about money rather than "H&S" which is often used as a handy excuse for all sorts of things.

Having said that, refuelling a large fleet of mainly petrol boats was never going to be easy in places where there isn't any petrol. For a smaller group it should be doable with a bit of planning though.

There's no reason why anyone who was planning to go Round Britain this year shouldn't do it if they want to. Unlike racing, RIB cruising doesn't actually need a formal organiser (no rules, scrutineering, timing etc).

I'm sure there were other difficulties such as refuelling and logistics but H and S seems to have been blamed officially (see above) and having been close to the other events as a competitor a large portion of the blame has been attributed to Health and Safety issues especially with the governing body, the question is would it all have been doable without those issues and could the organisers have done more to prevent these issues being such a large factor?

[MustRib]

without quoting the entire email from HMS

On top of this, in the last 2 weeks, I have been bombarded by Fire Officers and other H&S officials seeking to understand exactly how we propose to fuel the flotilla. Let me say, that their degree of ‘interest’ along with their heightened regulations/requirements, not to mention their powers to shut down any fuelling operation they deem unfit, are total and uncompromising – completely different to those we encountered on Round Ireland.

Even with a costly introduction of a professional motor-sport re-fuelling service, based on a number of recent conversations, some authorities and councils are still reluctant to even allow such professional refuelling.

The Round Ireland fuelling operation was really well done, but I understand such an operation would be extremely expensive on a Round Britain, and without acceptance everywhere, would not even be remotely cost effective.
Entry fees, if already paid, are being refunded.

I applaud the decision being made to cancel it now rather than come up with piecemeal fuelling solutions that could have fallen foul of official intervention on the day. I dont think the decision would have been made lightly, and I suspect many avenues were explored to make it work. The amount of petrol required at every stop on Round Ireland was eye watering.

[Barrowboy]

Originally Posted by MustRib

without quoting the entire email from HMS

On top of this, in the last 2 weeks, I have been bombarded by Fire Officers and other H&S officials seeking to understand exactly how we propose to fuel the flotilla. Let me say, that their degree of ‘interest’ along with their heightened regulations/requirements, not to mention their powers to shut down any fuelling operation they deem unfit, are total and uncompromising – completely different to those we encountered on Round Ireland.

Even with a costly introduction of a professional motor-sport re-fuelling service, based on a number of recent conversations, some authorities and councils are still reluctant to even allow such professional refuelling.

The Round Ireland fuelling operation was really well done, but I understand such an operation would be extremely expensive on a Round Britain, and without acceptance everywhere, would not even be remotely cost effective.
Entry fees, if already paid, are being refunded.

I applaud the decision being made to cancel it now rather than come up with piecemeal fuelling solutions that could have fallen foul of official intervention on the day. I dont think the decision would have been made lightly, and I suspect many avenues were explored to make it work. The amount of petrol required at every stop on Round Ireland was eye watering.

I empathise with the organisers on this occasion. The enforcement of rules and regs surrounding the storage, transport, transfer and use of petrol in marine environments around Europe has been ramped up and proven extremely challenging for us over the past couple of years, trying to use petrol in small quantities (less than 50 litres) on offshore construction projects. HSE rules and regs, local byelaws, harbour authority rules & regs, etc, etc.

It's certainly a different world we live in nowadays and, on balance, probably is greener and cleaner but it's undoubtedly provided jobs for an awful lot of yesterday's traffic wardens and clipboard sales across Europe must be off the scale.

[Trevor G]

If anyone is still interested in trying to do this with a smaller number of boats just as a "group of boats" rather than an "organised event" - We would still be interested in trying to do it anyway in Blue Ray (8.6m Shearwater Cabin Rib).

We were going to start from and end in Southampton rather than Plymouth (as we need to do that bit anyway).

If anyone's interested either we can start another thread - or you could pm me or e-mail me on tgoddard@delgarno.com.

Trevor

[Gilles]

thats EUROPE ...you need a licence for your VHF, if you want an EPIRB you need to have another licence, another one if you want to pie from your RIB and if you need to do the big thing you have greenpeace on your back because you used the wrong toilet paper ....GRRRRRRR and then they will announce that 2 ribs manufacters were bankrcupcy and 10 people a jobless !!!!!!

[biffer]

Makes you sick, the atmosphere sponges that have no life of there own just try to stop all us fun loving chaps doing what we love to do, I'm almost tempted to do it again just to stick my fingers up to them, I can't see how they can stop someone filling up his boat with fuel, when we went round in 1999 one guy I know swam ashore with two fuel tanks and got a local to get them filled for him.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by HMS via MustRib

On top of this, in the last 2 weeks, I have been bombarded by Fire Officers and other H&S officials seeking to understand exactly how we propose to fuel the flotilla. Let me say, that their degree of ‘interest’ along with their heightened regulations/requirements, not to mention their powers to shut down any fuelling operation they deem unfit, are total and uncompromising – completely different to those we encountered on Round Ireland.

Even with a costly introduction of a professional motor-sport re-fuelling service, based on a number of recent conversations, some authorities and councils are still reluctant to even allow such professional refuelling.

Fuel is always the logistical headache for anyone planning this sort of trip - especially large petrol boats. Its not surprising that the H&S/Fire folks might be asking questions, after all even the professionals get it wrong some times:


Its more surprising that an "event organiser" with previous experience of similar events wasn't able to satisfy them that even with additional safeguards in place that this could be managed safely. If it was one location being unnecessarily awkward presumably an alternative location might have been possible; afterall there are marinas around at least 1/2 the country with on-the-water fuelling capability.

[Boatnomad]

Thin end of the wedge!

Dread to think what it will all be like in 10 years time!