Where to Draw the Line

[Julian]

Afternoon Folks

As many of you know my dad is on the commitiee for BIBOA. They are looking at the rules for racing at the moment. Now some people who are entering in races have no experiance of fast boats but next year some will be racing at 90mph because they can afford to. What your opinions of this. Should they have to prove themselves in a lower class for a season or is there something that they can do to prove to be safe to race at these speeds.

A novice let lose at 90mph in a race boat can cause a lot of damage to people and boats.

Any ideas / thoughts

Julian

[Brian]

I have an opinion on everything.

My basic tenet is that "rules are for criminals".
In this scenario for 99% of the time, the person who buys fast boat will, in general, do his best to drive it "properly".
If he does not, his fellow racing peers will object to the commitee.
The commitee can, after warning(s) etc. eventually refuse to accept his membership/application for the next race.
Problem solved .

EXCEPT that on outing number 1, he may do harm because he is a plonker.
(If it's an accident, fair enough, that can happen to anyone.)
If he is a genuine plonker, however.........
Tough. Thats part of life.
He wont be allowed back will he.

[Alan Priddy]

It is more important that the boats they are racing in are suitable for the type of racing they are doing!!! There are TOO MANY boats appearing that do not fit the origanal idea of RIB Racing. Boat builders who have found themselves in tough times are using age old hulls with tubes on that, in my opinion, are not suitable.
Perhaps at scutineering the boats should be filled with water to see if they will still float. I certainaly would not want to be in some of the boats in a big sea at speed when the bow wants to go down. Some one WILL get hurt and I think that is not to far away Alan P

[Garygee]

Hi Julian

This is a interesting point, and for 99% of people it is common sence. Most people dont want to kill themselves and will behave in a responcible manor.

However there is the 1%

While you cant stop people buying a fast RIB you can restrict their use in organised events.
Take the motor cycle licence approch you can have a small lower powerd bike when learning then depending on the size of the bike you take your test on depending on if you are limited in power/cc for a set time by which you are likly to have the experience to handle a bigger bike.
In some ways RIBS are worse than motor bikes as most people gain a level of experience from everyday driving, maybe not so in a RIB.

While I am not sure how you would do it, minimum helming hours, races entered, time spent in lower classes etc. I do belive that people should be allowed to enter organise events who are or may not be capable of contolling a RIB at speed and may be a danger to themselves and others.

Regards Gary

[Julian]

Afternoon Alan

Where have you been hideing. Have you sold the boat now. Is'nt it about time you brought a small Ribtec and got back into normall boating. I still liked the Ribtec 700 you had with the twin 90 yams on the back. That was a great boat. Bit expensive on the old fuel but a good one.

I agree with you about the race boats, its only a matter of time before some one does themselves a serious bit of damage.

Julian

[John Kennett]

With the speed of race boats these days there would certainly be a case for issuing different gradfes of race licences like they do in motorsports.

For instance in rallying you have to complete a number of "clubmans" races before you can get a "national" licence, so that a complete novice can't (as I understand it) just go and buy a Subare Impreza WRC and wrap himself and copilot round a tree!

I think it is sad that Formula 3 RIB racing appears to have died out. It seems to me that as the competition gets more serious it also becomes less fun.

John

[narked]

Maybe they should introduce a SIB racing league to get people started

Matt

[Garygee]

Not a bad idea Matt,

Could be like the ZAP cats for RIBS and from what they look like it could be as much fun and exciting as the big fast stuff

Regards Gary

[thewavehumper]

No I most definitely thisk you should buy a beastie and be able to race it without knowledge or experience

If they did have Sib races I would buy a SIB.

Racing is something that I would love to get into, and I would really have liked to have started in my Avon,

the reasons are as follows

Very stable boat
Quite a lot of available power
Proven toughness
Cheap to modify to the required safety standards
Most importantly I could afford to run it.

Unfortunately other than Zap Cats I can't see an entry level racing area ( Apart from the formula four stroke and they ain't ribs, although I think a good series). The Zap cats really appeal to me but I am thinking I might be too old to take the pounding.

IMHO the answer is too have an all comers meeting resricted to say 90hp or a maximum of 20 hp per metre.....something like that.
perhaps to enter this race you would need too serve a minimum of 3 races as crew on a safety boat. This would allow you to gain an understanding of the Rules and Protocols. Then you could enter the all comers race perhaps with an experience driver as your buddy giving you on the job tuition for the first few events.

[John Kennett]

Originally posted by narked
Maybe they should introduce a SIB racing league to get people started

The races would have to start and finish with the SIB loaded into the boot of a car!

John