Galway Powerboat Festival

Mr.Mister

Storm 10 wrote: »

Mods this section was for the power boat races not Crystal Swing, will you get them to start a new thread before we loose the plot on this one.

Crystal Swing were part of the power boat race festival,were they not?

Storm 10

Mr.Mister wrote: »

Crystal Swing were part of the power boat race festival,were they not?

Did not see them racing what number boat were they :D

Mr.Mister

Storm 10 wrote: »

Did not see them racing what number boat were they :D

666

spender.j

Mr.Mister wrote: »

666

Figures...

vulcan57

Storm 10 wrote: »

Anyone see the start of the Round Ireland Race was there many there etc, the first boat arrived in Killybegs around lunchtime some going.

Yeh, about about 1.00pm, 4hours Galway to Killybegs, you'd be hard pushed to drive it in that time!

aido179

i have to admit I wasn't around for the majority of the weekend but what i saw on friday seemed fairly impressive. what im hearing is the concession stands around the docks are getting hurt badly...something like 3k for a position for the week? doubt some of the vendors will even break even

JohnCleary

Storm 10 wrote: »

Anyone see the start of the Round Ireland Race was there many there etc, the first boat arrived in Killybegs around lunchtime some going.

Yeah Cinzano got to Killybegs in no time.

Zoolander ('Team Blue Steel' - LEGEND!!) bust a tube before even getting out of Galway Bay so that boat is now on it's way to Sligo by trailer to try and get repaired over night so it can rejoin at Killybegs.

Kilculen (Which has a Galway Navigator) made it to Killybegs but took an absolute hammering

EhBenDisDonc

Storm 10 wrote: »

Anyone see the start of the Round Ireland Race was there many there etc,

Was there for the start. Almost nobody around. The start line was way out in the bay; I let my attention wander to the tent with the P1 videos, and when I turned around they were half way to Black Head. Let's say you didn't miss much.

Stuck around for the 150 race though, and that was pretty cool with a nail-biting race for the lead right to the end.

Storm 10

JohnCleary wrote: »

Yeah Cinzano got to Killybegs in no time.

Zoolander ('Team Blue Steel' - LEGEND!!) bust a tube before even getting out of Galway Bay so that boat is now on it's way to Sligo by trailer to try and get repaired over night so it can rejoin at Killybegs.

Kilculen (Which has a Galway Navigator) made it to Killybegs but took an absolute hammering

Hi John

I thought Cinzano and Kilculen were similar boats, just wondering how Cinzano could make it so fast and in the same sea state and Kilculen could take a hammering.

Discodog

They would of been held back a bit by visibility. Passing Black Head they were in the middle of the Bay & I could barely see them because of the rain/mist. Then the visibility got noticeably worse.

The way you handle the conditions is key. If a boat just ploughs on regardless they can really get hammered. Going fast in rough seas demands superb piloting & especially throttle control. I could hear the throttle men really working on the big boats.

JohnCleary

Storm 10 wrote: »

Hi John

I thought Cinzano and Kilculen were similar boats, just wondering how Cinzano could make it so fast and in the same sea state and Kilculen could take a hammering.

They are completely different boats

Discodog

JohnCleary wrote: »

They are completely different boats

About 1000 hp different I think !

vulcan57

Does anyone know if the ZapCats at the weekend will be a little closer to the shore than the races on Sunday? They are smaller and faster and not good to watch if they are too far away. JohnCleary may know something. I know they can't come in too far because of the groynes on the beach, but they can come in a lot closer than some of the races over the weekend.

JohnCleary

vulcan57 wrote: »

Does anyone know if the ZapCats at the weekend will be a little closer to the shore than the races on Sunday? They are smaller and faster and not good to watch if they are too far away. JohnCleary may know something. I know they can't come in too far because of the groynes on the beach, but they can come in a lot closer than some of the races over the weekend.

In an ideal location (a beach with no rocks, just sand all along) we would be racing in as little as 6 inches of water, but as you say because of the rock spits we need to keep out.

The course will be in the shape of an M, I will find out this afternoon exactly how far off the shore things will be. But it will definately be a lot closer than the Superstock. BTW, the Superstock WERE close to the shore, so close infact that one of them clipped a rock. Also, there were some twats swimming alongside the course over the weekend, despite notices all over the place and in the papers. Darwin comes to mind.

vulcan57

Just looking at the tracking of the round Ireland race. Kilcullen Galway Flyer seems to be heading towards shore, has she a problem? and there is no sign of Wolf ?? maybe she didn't start.

vulcan57

JohnCleary wrote: »

In an ideal location (a beach with no rocks, just sand all along) we would be racing in as little as 6 inches of water, but as you say because of the rock spits we need to keep out.

The course will be in the shape of an M, I will find out this afternoon exactly how far off the shore things will be. But it will definately be a lot closer than the Superstock. BTW, the Superstock WERE close to the shore, so close infact that one of them clipped a rock. Also, there were some twats swimming alongside the course over the weekend, despite notices all over the place and in the papers. Darwin comes to mind.

Cheers John, so thats the reason they moved them out on Sunday, makes sense. There are some fools around alright, looking forward to the weekend, the zapcats can be really exciting, especially if its a bit lumpy out there.

JohnCleary

vulcan57 wrote: »

Just looking at the tracking of the round Ireland race. Kilcullen Galway Flyer seems to be heading towards shore, has she a problem? and there is no sign of Wolf ?? maybe she didn't start.

Wolf & Seawolf are sister ships, so will stick close together (despite one having an extra 200HP). The problem you're having there is that the boats are so close together, they're over-lapping on the live tracker. Try zooming in and you'll see the 2 boats

Kilcullen looks like she might be trying to go inside Aranmore Island..... it's a VERY tricky channel inside there

JohnCleary

vulcan57 wrote: »

Cheers John, so thats the reason they moved them out on Sunday, makes sense. There are some fools around alright, looking forward to the weekend, the zapcats can be really exciting, especially if its a bit lumpy out there.

It's going to be exciting alright as some of the boat don't have foot-straps. Foot-straps are ESSENTIAL in anything more than flat calm water

vulcan57

Looks as though there is definitely a problem with Kilcullen Galway Flyer, she has stopped off Donegal. Cinzano has already reached Bangor.

joeKel73

Great weekend on the water! A few of us were out doing diver safety cover for the races, thankfully we weren't called upon though!

Took a few photos while out on the water - they're up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36224551@N04/sets/72157624106099527/detail/

JohnCleary

Guys the next race is the P750 racing next Saturday 12th June, PLEASE come out and support this... all you gotta do is come out to the prom and enjoy the fun. Get a 6 pack, sit down and chill

The boats will be a LOT closer to the shore than the Superstock, and between races the boats will land on the beach opposite Western House (Just the town side of Salthill Park) where kids can sit in the boats for pics and the big kids can talk to the crew etc.

So this Saturday 12th June around 1PM

vulcan57

JohnCleary wrote: »

Guys the next race is the P750 racing next Saturday 12th June, PLEASE come out and support this... all you gotta do is come out to the prom and enjoy the fun. Get a 6 pack, sit down and chill

The boats will be a LOT closer to the shore than the Superstock, and between races the boats will land on the beach opposite Western House (Just the town side of Salthill Park) where kids can sit in the boats for pics and the big kids can talk to the crew etc.

So this Saturday 12th June around 1PM

How many races will there be? Any chance of publishing the course?

In the round Ireland race I see there is an additional entrant that seems to have joined at Bangor, Dreamer. Also, although it still seems to be in Donegal, the Kilcullen Galway Flyer, has changed its name to News Talk Galway Girl, whats going on?

Aerohead

You would never know that there is a round Ireland race on the coverage is crap nothing on TV or radio very poor show, on the Irish Sailing website they said 50 world class boats would be taking part in this event where are they, all I can see are 4 boats. they said around 20 boats would take part in the P1Superstock races all I saw were 6 or 7.

vulcan57

Aerohead wrote: »

You would never know that there is a round Ireland race on the coverage is crap nothing on TV or radio very poor show, on the Irish Sailing website they said 50 world class boats would be taking part in this event where are they, all I can see are 4 boats. they said around 20 boats would take part in the P1Superstock races all I saw were 6 or 7.

Must admit that I also think that the coverage and the advertising for this event is lacking in some quarters. On Sunday I went out to Salthill to see the races. On the small race programs that were being given out it said that the 300's race would start at 13.30, so I decided to get out there for about 13.00 and stake my claim to a decent view point. Got out there at 12.50 to find the race already 2 or 3 laps in, and it had finished by 13.15, 15 mins before it was suppose to start. I reckon a lot of people missed that race. I'm only saying this as feedback and not knocking the organisers, It was always said that this event would not be as big as last years Volvo event, but certain things could maybe be tightened up a little. Hopefully this will be the start of a annual event, and congrats to the organising group for getting it here in the first place.

JohnCleary

Firstly I must congratulate the organisers, this is not an easy thing to put together.

Yes, the advertising could have been better - I said this from day one.

I think a reason why a lot of the Round Ireland entries pulled out was financial burdon - it's not cheap to bring these boats from the UK/US

donfers

JohnCleary wrote: »

Guys the next race is the P750 racing next Saturday 12th June, PLEASE come out and support this... all you gotta do is come out to the prom and enjoy the fun. Get a 6 pack, sit down and chill

The boats will be a LOT closer to the shore than the Superstock, and between races the boats will land on the beach opposite Western House (Just the town side of Salthill Park) where kids can sit in the boats for pics and the big kids can talk to the crew etc.

So this Saturday 12th June around 1PM

but the World Cup will have started by then...what will I do?

Aerohead

Would the reason so few boats are taking part be the reason that there is so little publicity, I mean its very tough on the crews doing the race and no one putting out in the media what is happening or how they are getting on.

I would not be happy if I was doing the race knowing that joe public is not getting the info on the race, I have not heard a single mention on any sports programme on any radio station about the race.

How will the festival they were going to have in Fenit get on now, when I read their website they were hoping for a lot of boats coming into Fenit??

vulcan57

donfers wrote: »

but the World Cup will have started by then...what will I do?

Gonna be a busy weekend, world cup, grand prix and zapcats !!!:D

Discodog

So when are we expecting the lead boat to finish & where is the finish line ?

Discodog

Just had an email. First boat due in around 3pm today.

stunt_penguin

I just got back from the powerboats fest, thought I'd post the best of my pics of the day! Really enjoyed my afternoon:

Blog post at :

http://www.chrisdidthis.com/?p=1415

galwaynative

Just want to add a big well done to the organisers, I was there today with my child who was with the Tuam All Stars Gymnastics club. The organisers thought of everything from parking for parents through to water for kids and they and all the volunteers were second to none.

I have to second the comments about lack of media coverage, it was hard to find out what was on and when.

Many thanks again for a fun day out ! Wish parking in Galway was always so easy

vulcan57

Some ZapCat pics from today (Sat) at Salthill

galwaynative

excellent pics!

vulcan57

And a few more.

Greaney

I think Limerick, with the special olympic's got the media quota this week and Galway's powerboat event was left out:(

JohnCleary

Did anyone get any pics of the cats capsizing, or any pics of the people that got flung out of the boats? :P

vulcan57

Greaney wrote: »

I think Limerick, with the special olympic's got the media quota this week and Galway's powerboat event was left out:(

I really have to agree with you on that point. If this is to come back next year then I think there are a few areas that have to be improved. The worst dissapointment IMO was the main event that this festival was built around. I, and many others were out in Salthill yesterday, not just to see the the ZapCats, but the arrival of the Round Ireland race. The commentry on the prom were asking us to give them a big cheer etc., and all we could see was a spec of white splashes on the horizon! the finish line must have been 2 miles away, absolutely ridiculous, this race should have finished in full view of spectators. Then they just motored off to the docks with out a care. There was a family behind me that were up from Ballinasloe for the day to take it all in and they just turned in disgust, not sure where they went, probably home. Whats the point of putting on an event that nobody can see? OK if you were in the docks then you could have seen them arrive back there, but these are big powerful Racing boats and people want to see them doing 60 knots not 6 !! The finish line, and the start line for that matter, should have been in full view. Whats the point of having sponsors if they can't even see the boats??

I hate knocking any attempt at getting events to Galway but this is really bugging me and I had to say something to get it off my chest.

The Zapcats were good fun to watch though, so well done on that one.

vulcan57

JohnCleary wrote: »

Did anyone get any pics of the cats capsizing, or any pics of the people that got flung out of the boats? :P

Best I can do John, Steyr arrived at the moment of capsize so I missed it, so blame him :D.

Aerohead

The lack of coverage of the Round Ireland race is something I wrote about in an earlier post, it was a joke really when you think of what these guys went through to complete the race. If I was in it I would be very pissed off, it was not on any National radio sports bulletin and I never heard any news on the race on Galway Bay FM except in the odd news bulletin it was pathetic

On the number of people attending the events at Salthill I would take issue with the nubmers being thrown about by the organisers, I was in Salthill last weekend and this weekend and there was not thousands of people there in fact most were just walking the prom. Yesterday was very poorly attended and I feel so sorry for anyone doing the races with so few people watching them. I would be interested in any other board members view on the crowds attending these events.

Well done to the Zap Kats crews yesterday and the power boat guys last week.

Discodog

vulcan57 wrote: »

I really have to agree with you on that point. If this is to come back next year then I think there are a few areas that have to be improved. The worst dissapointment IMO was the main event that this festival was built around. I, and many others were out in Salthill yesterday, not just to see the the ZapCats, but the arrival of the Round Ireland race. The commentry on the prom were asking us to give them a big cheer etc., and all we could see was a spec of white splashes on the horizon! the finish line must have been 2 miles away, absolutely ridiculous, this race should have finished in full view of spectators. Then they just motored off to the docks with out a care. There was a family behind me that were up from Ballinasloe for the day to take it all in and they just turned in disgust, not sure where they went, probably home. Whats the point of putting on an event that nobody can see? OK if you were in the docks then you could have seen them arrive back there, but these are big powerful Racing boats and people want to see them doing 60 knots not 6 !! The finish line, and the start line for that matter, should have been in full view. Whats the point of having sponsors if they can't even see the boats??

I hate knocking any attempt at getting events to Galway but this is really bugging me and I had to say something to get it off my chest.

The Zapcats were good fun to watch though, so well done on that one.

I totally agree. The PR & Publicity was shocking. I emailed the organisers on Sat to get an arrival time & I was told "about 3" which was far too late. All they needed to do was to adjust the course to bring the boats as close as safe to the Galway side. We had the same problem with the Volvo in searching for lights 12 miles away !. These events need radio coverage so that those watching away from Salthill can tune in.

It would be good for the Volvo & the Round Ireland to run a separate challenge race from Galway, around the Aran Islands & back to Galway. This would attract huge crowds all along the coast & everyone would be able to understand what was happening. It would be much better than the Volvo inshore races.

These events & boats cost a fortune which is offset by publicity. Yet they seem to do all they can to avoid spectators. The number one priority should be to get the boats as close to the people as possible.

cranky bollix

didnt bother goin out as i heard the whole thing was a farce

vulcan57

cranky bollix wrote: »

didnt bother goin out as i heard the whole thing was a farce

Don't think I would go quite that far.:eek:

kippy

cranky bollix wrote: »

didnt bother goin out as i heard the whole thing was a farce

You're living up to your name with that one.


Its not exactly designed as a spectator sport alright but there was good craic to be had around the docs over the week and it kept the hardcore enthusiasts happy.
It doesnt quite have the appeal as the VOR but that is to be expected. No harm utilising the docks at least once a year for something like this though, I'd like to see it used like this all Summer to be honest.

BoogieBill

I thought (as well as quite a lot of people) that the entertainment was very poor and more befitting the Ploughing Championships than an exiting event like the Powerboat Race.No Hothouse Flowers,Walls,Kila this year and local band Timbertramps were the only band that really got the place jumping and attracted a decent crowd.Whoever was responsible for booking the acts was so far off the mark it was great in one way because it was so easy to get served a drink.Even the DJs that were booked were 2nd grade(cheap?).It was embarassing to see one blonde DJ trying to entertain a crowd using just her laptop.Wheres the talent in that?The organisers would be well advised to remember next year for The Ocean Race that people need to be entertained.No wonder the whole atmosphere around the docks was not a patch on last years effort.

kippy

BoogieBill wrote: »

I thought (as well as quite a lot of people) that the entertainment was very poor and more befitting the Ploughing Championships than an exiting event like the Powerboat Race.No Hothouse Flowers,Walls,Kila this year and local band Timbertramps were the only band that really got the place jumping and attracted a decent crowd.Whoever was responsible for booking the acts was so far off the mark it was great in one way because it was so easy to get served a drink.Even the DJs that were booked were 2nd grade(cheap?).It was embarassing to see one blonde DJ trying to entertain a crowd using just her laptop.Wheres the talent in that?The organisers would be well advised to remember next year for The Ocean Race that people need to be entertained.No wonder the whole atmosphere around the docks was not a patch on last years effort.

I am assuming, like most logical people, that the entertainment budget wasnt a patch on the VOR........the same money wasnt involved as this was a far lower profile event.
I just dont get it.........what were people expecting?

BoogieBill

I understand the budget was far less than last year but whatever budget was available could have been managed much,much better for entertainment.Some blonde playing techno on her laptop scared people away and they left for the action up in High St.

kippy

BoogieBill wrote: »

I understand the budget was far less than last year but whatever budget was available could have been managed much,much better for entertainment.Some blonde playing techno on her laptop scared people away and they left for the action up in High St.

Without knowing what the budget was and what the costs were, how can you make that conclusion?
What time was this DJ on at?

biko

That how most DJs do it nowadays. Mp3 on laptops = clubnight.
I've done it myself with a software mixer and you can't tell the difference.

BoogieBill

A "software mixer" that selects the tracks and mixes them for you.Not much talent involved in that is there?No wonder the nightclubs are suffering poor crowds if thats what "most DJs" are using these days.A pre-mix CD amounts to the same thing.Its just laziness on the behalf of the user.Anyway its the content that we thought was off-putting.Maybe OK for a small party or clubnight but not for an openair affair like the Powerboat Race.It amounts to a band using "backing tracks".Same thing surely and not very entertaining.