Neat "sea rally" in planning stages for Memorial Day

This began as a plan for a publicity stunt done with a single boat, but as word has leaked out owners of and dealers for competing brands of boats are expressing interest in participating. A publication with which I am associated has signed on as a sponsor.

I've been invited to go along, but I don't know if 72 hours of hard running is my idea of a good time. Even so, this will be an interesting event. The orignator of this idea swears he has a boat that can do it, but it seems like a stretch. My guess is that some boats will drop out along the way for various reasons and that only a few will be able to stay within the 500 gallon fuel allowance. It will be interesting as well to see if anybody finshes in the 72 hours.

This whole idea started off as a one-boat publicity stunt for a particular brand of power cat, but others are apparently eager to join in.

By the end of May, there's probably a 65%-70% chance of at least passable weather.

Would you fly on a plane with a 65 to 70% chance of arriving safely?

There's a 65-70% chance of making a comfortable passage.

But, with planes you need to get out of them before they land. The bad stuff happens on landing.

A-9639,C-19201,D-12373,SL-I-95,AFF-I-95

Didn't trust 'em. :>)

I do know somebody who might be interested though. He's got a 28' Blackfin on a trailer wth twin 200 HO ETECS like mine. I'll bet he would be interested.

I'll give him a call this afternoon.

There might be some liability risks to encouraging a bunch of folks to go offshore. I've had quite a lot of experience with offshore ocean racing in sailboats. The sponsors of these events are extremely safety concious to the point of having a mandated list of safety equipment and boat design features, crew and captain experience requirements with resumes, documented SSB radio checks, certified liferafts, and compulsory safety inspections.

The terms of this "rally" seem heavily slanted to a certain kind of boat, probably power cats. Everyone else might as well stay home.

> The terms of this "rally" seem heavily slanted to a certain kind of > boat, probably power cats. Everyone else might as well stay home.

Interesting you should mention that. I was just talking to my buddy with the Blackfin about this and he thought much the same. We were chatting about engines and I'm the side of outboards and he's thinking some small block I/O setup because it fit the parameters of speed and milage while I'm on the side of beating the parameters.

I'd love to know.

http://www.blackfinboats.com/

I am curious if this "new" Blackfin Co. intends to build in-boards as well as the outboard models shown on the website. It may be a case where, like Century who is owned by Yamaha I believe, the name was purchased and boats are being built simply as platforms for engines.

Eisboch

I think a power cat around 30 ft with diesels is about right but even they would need a halfway decent weather window for the offshore part of the trip.

Anything much bigger than that will either not have the speed or not have the fuel economy.

What's the prize? And what's the size and weight limitations?

Hmmmm - 700 miles, 500 gallons of gas - 72 hours...

Heh, heh, heh.

Depending on the prize, it might be worth driving out there.

Mrs. E's GB could just about make it ... but not in 72 hours or less.

Eisboch

That's why I'm curious about the size and weight rules. I could do it in the Ranger with gas and time to spare. :>)

A fair stretch of the run is pretty exposed and there won't be an opportunity to wait for a weather window, so if the weather is snotty between Prince Rupert and Ketchikan an extremely lightweight boat will have a tough time of it. If it's just way too crazy, I would expect most people would bag it rather than take a serious risk of coming to ruin. Number one priority will be getting everybody back home safely.

Prizes will be trophies, hats, tee-shirts, bragging rights and (of value to the dealers and manufacturers) the claim to the number one spot. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll be running a lot of publicity in the magazine, and I think some of the local broadcast media may pick this story up as weill.

If you seriously think you might consider participating, send me an email and I will respond to you with contact information that would put you in touch with the organizer of the event. (Don't want to offend the "spam" sensitive)