A few notes from the meeting in Ft Lauderdale. I expect Scott B will chime in when he gets back, but here's what I've got.

Change: The Board of Governors proposed changing from average speed to top speed. Take the current averages, add 7 mph and round off to nearest whole mph (i.e. P5=64.9+7mph=71.9 mph rounded off to 72 mph max; P4 will be 82 mph; P3 will be 92; etc.). Top speed will be determined by GPS. GPSs will be provided/purchased by the team owner and will be Garmin 172 or better (Note: GPS must be fixed mount and downloadable). All owners present at the meeting (myself and the AMF associated team owners) agreed.

Rationale: Too much controversy over the average speeds (not scored correctly, boats coming off plane at the finish as not to break out, etc.) and the GPS doesn't lie. The new proposed speeds are consistent so that boats that are dialed in already should not have to make changes. GPSs will be purchased/maintained by the owners so their functionality should not be questioned. BTW...no GPS or no GPS reading...no score (a back-up was recommended). Other GPSs will be considered, but they must be downloadable and have approval from the Board. Break-outs go to the bottom of the list, no threat of bumping up to the next class and prop calc will still be used to determine what class a boat should be in.

Other rule changes that were discussed:

- Dropping the "P" from the numbers was mentioned, but the issue was quickly dropped since Scott did not get the required support from the team owners.
- Dropping the fuel requirement was discussed, but the Board chose not to pursue changes due to contractual agreements with the fuel provider.

Other Notes:

- SBI/APBA will have TV coverage with a larger viewer base than last year...JC should announce by the end of February.
- SBI/APBA queried the UIM rule 104 enforcement; UIM said not required; SBI/APBA will not enforce the rule.
- AMF sponsored the event...a good time was had by all!

Sean

This is great news and opens the door to a unified World Championship. (Was that discussed at all?)

So will rule 104 be removed from the rule book or just not enforced? I'm sure some racers might have a problem with a rule book that has selectivly enforced rules. Either it's a rule or it's not. If it's not, then it should be taken out of the rule book completely.

Just my two cents.

Ron P,

I don't know if the UIM Rule 104 is going to be removed or not, we were just informed of the decision. I was only there for the Friday and Saturday meetings and JC made that announcement Saturday morning. I don't know that any discussion of a unified worlds was brought up after.

From some of the "after hours" discussions we had about what's going on in offshore racing, unfortunately, I don't think the UIM Rule 104 has anything to do with a unified worlds...but that's just my personal opinion.

Sean

If 104 was enforced, any boat that raced outside of APBA/SBI would not be allowed to race for the UIM World Championship.

Hopefully this opens the door for what we all want, at least a little bit.

The rule will NOT be removed from the rule book. Bob Bull sent UIM a letter requesting the rule to be worded differently...but at this time UIM is NOT going to change it. SBI/APBA is waiting for the finally letter in writing to the enforcement of the rule from the board of Governers of APBA.

Okay...what Frank said.

I hope my post doesn't go astray with UIM Rule 104 discussion. I was hesitant to mention it in the first place, but thought it was significant enough to bring it up.

I'd like to see the focus of this post get back on the new P-class change.

Thanks,

Sean

Thanks Sean!

Frank, please pass along the final word on Rule 104. I know everyone is holding their breathe for that answer.

Well Steve Curtis did already win the Class One title AGAIN so obviously UIM has NEVER enforced this rule.

Ron,
As soon as we know for sure, and get it in writing from APBA I will let you know .