Qatar Cup Update: U.S. Fleet Assembled And Ready For Shipping
 

While there could be another addition, here's a look at the Qatar Cup-bound fleet that made it to Jacksonville, Fla., today, http://speedonthewater.com/in-the-ne...y-for-shipping.

Which boat is Pursu cat?

Its the Supercat with the surface drives I believe... the former Pier 57 then Live Bait

How about the Qatar boats I assume they are going ?

Ya it the old Pier 57 boat not sure what class it fits in, u cant run surface drives in Superboat class. Same with Motley Crew thats a 525 boat last I knew but they might of changed motors for Superboat?

The Spirit of Qatar 20, which is scheduled to compete in the Qatar Cup, was not on the list I was given. My guess is that boat is either already in Qatar or coming at a later date. As for the other boats, the Spirit of Qatar 618, which runs in the SBI Unlimited class and the 50-foot turbine-powered Mystic, there are no classes for them in the Qatar Cup.

The #20 was at the port as was the Victory Team X-cat, both headed to race in the Qatar Cup.

And so there you go ... 11 boats in port and ready to go. (However, I don't count the Victory team's X-Cat boat as "U.S." boat. I count it as a boat that's home in the Middle East that happened to be in U.S. (But thanks for the clarificiaton, nonetheless.)

Good luck, safe journey and racing.

Give em hell boys

Miss Geico going? Saw a pic of it on Facebook all wrapped up ready to ship

Unfortunately, there's no class for Miss GEICO in the Qatar Cup. Based on Marc Granet's hints, I believe the boat is going to the Great Race in Trinidad and Tobago.

Matt, concerning Miss Geico I believe you are correct. I saw the boat today on 95 in Fort Lauderdale heading south.

Actually, while there is no class for Miss GEICO in the Qatar Cup, I think I'm wrong about the primary Miss GEICO going to Trinidad and Tobago. That could actually be another boat with chartreuse shrink wrap on the stern. :)

It's the Platinum, their former boat, freshly rigged and ready to become the new Shaka Laka Boom, for the TTPBA, in Trinidad & Tobago.

I am confused how the classes are going to work. The U.S. supercat entries are all different configurations and the 2 vee bottoms aren't the same yet in the same class . So there is some sort of hanicap system ( not sure how that would work) to even out the field so why couldn't any boat go race?? Not being negative I am all for this race just very confused how it will all work.

Having spoken to Marc Granet this afternoon, I was trying to play it cool ... But, Donzi ZX my friend, you are the winner.

Its a little confusing but I'm sure once all the boats get there they will figure it out. The XCat class and the US Super Stock class actually don't match up either the engine rules are different. Racing For Cancer and Qatar are the only true Super Boat class..

Frank you are correct. They have a plan and they will put on a great event they are experienced racers and have put on many events. I have an idea about what the Sheik has planned for his guests from around the world and it will be quite a week for those that choose to go.


It's worth repeating...this is an EVENT it will take some fine tuning to create the "perfect race" if there is such a thing. Our job as US racers and fans is to SUPPORT our fellow offshore brothers on their efforts to cross borders and build upon a new venue. Thats all.

The problem with our sport is we tend to tear down anything (or anyone) good that comes along. The Sport of Offshore Racing has paid the dear price of living in shadows of many other sports half as exciting for decades because of it.

Rodricks Marketing efforts at SBI, Sheiks TV Show, OPA's welcoming format and Geico's branding are laying some of the foundation...

Ken Warby ever relevant quote...."How bad do you want it"

They said they are using blow boat ratings. Thats basically a 2 step rating.handicapping system.

You start by giving your theoretical fastest boat a rating of zero (when progress happens and you get a faster boat than zero, you can compensate by giving it a negative number. Then each boat in competition is given a rating number against the zero boat. this is done by guestimating a time/distance ratio.

The easiest way to explain it is to say if boat zero does 120 mph, that equates to 2 miles per minute.Now pick a distance, say 10 miles. Boat zero can go 20 miles in 10 minutes. The next boat in competition theoretically takes 11 to go 20 miles at its fastest. It is one minute slower (60 seconds) over a 20 mile course. So the slower boat rates '60',

Now these two boats race 20 miles. Boat zero crosses the finish line first. boat 60 crosses the finish line 45 seconds later. In this case boat 60 wins. While boat zero finished first boat 60 finished LESS than 60 seconds later. Since it finished 45 seconds later instead of 60 (its rating) it wins the race by 15 seconds,

The second part is division (class) you try to group boats together as similarly as possible, then use ratings INSIDE those groups. This gives further parity. say you have 50' vees and 25 foot vees, you make separate groups which helps eliminate conditions from the equation.

Does this go for fans that fly half-way around the world just to be there for the cool event? :flag:

My understanding—and it's very limited at this point—is that in the X-Cat/Stock class that will be called Super Cat Light for this event, the X-Cat teams will have to conform to the Stock-class specs. At least that/s the plan for now, based on my interview with Steve Curtis for the that lead this thread. A lot of that stuff is still being worked out, but as Xtreme said above I'm also sure they will figure it out long before the races begin.

PHRAGLE That sounds fair .

so I better bring a stop watch and note pad to keep track .

sounds fun . good luck have fun be safe.

its not an SBI event or SBI rules , there is no Super Boat class ...

What rule book are they using, you have to do inspection under some guide lines.

I don't know what rule book they are using i'm not racing , if I had to guess I would say APBA based on their class names, APBA did create SuperCat class which is now Super Boat class in SBI

Apba/uim

Ok I'll try this one more time. First off I never mentioned SBI you did so not sure why you d got so defensive this thread is about the Qatar Cup not SBI so no reason for u to side track it.

All I was saying is that the X Cat boats and the US Super Stock boats don't match up X Cat engine rules are different then APBA SBI OPA ( hows that better ) and the Superboat Class rule dont mathch up the Class1 they have their own rule book . I didnt say it was a bad thing just fact, if you read my thread I said when the boats get there they will figure it out. All I did was answer a question from a earier thread. Actually other members came on and tried explaining the different length course to answer the same thread.

Here is the APBA offshore rule book if anyone cares...

http://www.oparacing.org/uploads/OPA_Rule_Book.pdf