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Hi.

Its near the end of May already and counting down to Round 4 of the NZMPBA Offshore Series too be held at Henley Lake, Masterton on the 14th July 19.

Traditionally this has been 120 Minutes of racing on our big course. Two half hour heats and an hour final.

As a Club Championship we run offshore. These days there are not a lot of us and being required to have race / lap scorer and a rescue boat we were stretched for numbers to have more than a few boats in the heats.

We overcome this by changing the format to make the races 10 laps on the large course. No rescuing and so far we have had someone to count laps. We enjoy this format and the offshore combines well with our other Club championships of Open Oval and Crackerbox racing. Quick fire races with variation and gives us all the chance for more racing with other boats than offshore.

I'm not for one moment suggesting we change the format of the Wairarapa Offshore but just wanted to float the idea of possibly varying the format in the future. We are all familiar with the longer races becoming a procession of a few boats going around for what seems an eternity. Not very exciting for the drivers or the spectators.

The Clubs as well as the Association have limited membership numbers these days and the days of having a lot of entrants, hence large fields are over (with maybe one or two exceptions)..

What ideas do you guys have on maybe how we can rejuvenate the Offshore Series. We need to inject some life back into our racing. Perhaps the time has come to experiment with some changes to the old format.

Just some thoughts, something to ponder on,

Anyway. Pencil in the 14th July for here at Masterton. We have a Club meeting next week so will then have the entry form posted.

Thanks,

Yep Offshore is all about endurance, having said that the wellington format works well. Whilst the name of the game is to make sure you don't need rescuing, the inevitable happens and rescuing becomes a given for most. So you absolutely need rescuing. The other way of making sure you have enough people for everything is to use three groups. One group is driving, one group pits the other group does lap counting. We normally do that at Taupo.

Another way is to do away with 1 on 1 pit people, and have one spotter/caller then a couple of people to do launching and retrieving.

Hi all.
Just quickly, I wasn't suggesting we run 10 lap Offshore's as such. Obviously can't because the offshore scoring method is on laps completed over a number of heats, not based on placings. Sorry for any confusion.

Anyway. Peter has put up the entry form for the 14th July. The event is as it has always been, 2 x half hour heats and an hour final giving two hours of racing. We will be using, as usual, the big course we have at Henley.

Depending on entry numbers we will see if possibly the finals can be condensed to one race. This allows for those travelling to be able to get away.

Also, depending on numbers attending we might have to address the shortage of people available as 'pitmen' Can discuss on the day.

We won't be running a bbq but will try to fit in a lunch break to enable those who want to go to the fast food outlets just down in the town, or the dairy across the road.

All entrants must be current NZMPBA members, and boats NZMPBA compliant. We will be scrutineering.

So, we will look forward to seeing you here, drive safely, and enjoy the day.

Thanks.