P750 Irish Championships 2010

Team Pulsar will be running 2 new P750 boats in the 2010 nationals.

Not content with the offshore racing we have decided to try what is really a young mans sport and have a go in these small crazy lunatic boats.

Frankly we have no clue about P750 racing so we will rely heavily on the support of the other racers in the series. Should be a bit of fun though.

More on this later when we have the boats set up and can report back on our initial efforts.

Regards,

Mac.

Round Ireland 2010

Team Pulsar will enter 2 boats in next years Round Ireland Offshore Powerboat Race.
Derek Stanley and I will skipper the boats and we will be looking to add 2 new crew members for 2010. The process for interviews is currently being discussed and will no doubt be an arduous and lengthy one.

Wolf is being re-worked over the winter with some major changes being made. We are changing the console completely to reduce the size of the original and bring down overall weight. The A Frame is also history with all lighting, aerials and radar being console mounted.

We have partnered with Suzuki again and will be changing from a single DF300 to twin DF200 engines for a little extra bang. Expect to see a lighter, faster and all around better beast in the spring.

The 2010 Race is hosted by Galway Port and will be a great event on the International calender. There are over 80 entries to date and competition will be fierce.

Regards,

Mac.

Milwaukee Tools Lead Sponsor for Team Pulsar Racing

Team Pulsar Racing has joined forces with Milwaukee Power Tools for their 2009 Racing season as lead sponsor. The partnership is based on the respected reputation of both Teams and around the concept of Endurance and extreme performance.

Team Pulsar Racing has built a considerable reputation over the last few years in the Offshore Endurance Racing Circuit predominantly in the UK & Ireland. "We recognise the extreme efforts required to take part in events such as the Round Britain or our successful Round Ireland World record attempt which took place recently. The ability for the Crew and the Boat to perform under difficult conditions is what it is all about" Justin McInerney says.

The reputation that Milwaukee Power Tools has worldwide mirrors this sentiment. "We produce the best power tools in the world today, and our Milwaukee brand is at the top end of the production range. everything we do at Milwaukee is based on quality, endurance, and long service life and superb back up. Milwaukee is recognised for it's performance in extreme conditions also and so we felt that a partnership with Team Pulsar was a match made in heaven" said Dale McElveen, Sales Director UK & Ireland TTI UK Ltd who manufacture Milwaukee.

Team Pulsar racing looks forward to working with Milwaukee and enhance the brand and reputation of both partners in the coming year.

Regards,

Mac.

Team Pulsar Racing takes World Record

Team Pulsar Racing in our purpose built Humber Quinquari 10m RIB "Milwaukee Seawolf" departed the Mizen Head recently heading for the Mizen Head. Complicated isn't it. Ireland's most southerly point and some might say most beautiful (me mostly) was the start for our Round Ireland record attempt, and the finish.

In planning for nearly a year and in a field for about the last 4 months "Milwaukee Seawolf" had waited patiently for a suitable weather window. Finally on the 11th of September 2009 the crew decided today was the day. That, and motivated by boredom, adrenalin, and a few bulky Kerrymen we got ready to go. The weather gods had deigned to deliver a high pressure, and Denis Dillon the official UIM record keeper had agreed to come down and help us time the event.

"Remember lads" Denis said; "It's 704 nautical miles (not them road miles) and IT'S outside all the Islands and Rocks of the Island of Ireland except Rockall 'cause nobody knows who owns that" he emphasised loudly. He went on to instruct "When the clock starts it stops again when we see you coming other way passed the Mizen Head again, clear".
The only one not shaking at this stage was Greg as he is in the Army and used to this shouting.

September 11th 2009, not an auspicious date considering the memories associated gave us pause for thougth and spurred us on. We spent all of the day before fine tuning everything and taking care of last minute details like petrol for instance. On that note we managed to set the world record for the most petrol every bought at Denny O'Meara's Pub in Goleen the evening before. Much to the amusement of the locals outside we spent over 40 minutes filling the tank with 1400 litres of fuel. "take it from the other pump" Laura instructed, "We might run out" she said.

Time to go. Greg arrived in from London on the late flight on Thursday evening and promptly went to bed where Stan and I already were. Sleep was difficult but we managed to grab a few hours and then heard the alarm at 1am for us all to get up. We hoped we had everything covered and headed for Crookhaven and out to the Mizen. Passing Denis' transit we started at exactly 3am and headed south west towards Kerry head in the dark.

19 hours and 9 minutes later we crossed the line again to much relief from all concerned. The hours in between are for another story which I will write shortly.

We took the now famous Kerry record by 4 minutes and set a new Irish and UIM World record for circumnavigation of Ireland and all the bloody rocks in a powerboat.

Thanks to all concerned, Our families, Der, Denis, Sean up north, Emma and Dermot in Crook, Denny & family in Goleen, Our Sponsors and above all our Crew. More to follow.

Regards,

Mac.

Greg & Team Pulsar Support The Army

Greg Marsden, Co-Skipper and all round whizz kid, or Major Greg when at work recently visited the headquarters of the Army Benevolent Fund to deliver charity monies raised during the RB08 campaign.

Greg met with Alan Armstrong (see picture) and delivered a cheque for £2147.74 as a donation in support of his chosen charity. "Meeting Alan was a great honour for me personally" Greg said. "As a serving officer I am only too aware of the difficulties experienced by veterans, past and present and their families who are in real need" Greg went on to say.

Alan Armstrong from the Army benevolent Fund said " The Teams tremendous success in raising such a sum is not done without a good deal of planning, hard work, and perseverance. In Greg's case having completed the cancelled leg off lands End this is particularly relevant. The Team do us a great honour in recognizing the work done by the Soldiers' charity and we applaud your efforts in achieving this level of contribution and for raising the profile of the Army Benevolent Fund".

Well done to all concerned, and to Greg for his support of The Army Benevolent Fund.

Regards,

Macrib.

I visited the people at The Above and Beyond Charity

All,

I thought I would send you an update about my visit to the Bristol Children’s Hospital when I handed over the cheque from RB08 to the Above and Beyond Charity.

I meet Helen Morris the Senior Matron who coordinates the children cancer units throughout the South West (Gloucester to Swindon, to the Scillies, a huge area) at the Children’s Bone Marrow Transplant Department in Bristol Children’s Hospital, which is the centre of seven units throughout the region. They had organised a photographer, people from the charity and those who provide the complimentary therapy services to meet me there.

I was shown around the unit as they explained what a difference the complimentary services they offer makes to both the patients and their parents. The work they do at the bone marrow transplant unit is incredible and there were a number of both fantastic and tragic stories of some of the boys and girls who were receive treatment when I visited. The youngest child in the unit was six weeks old. You only needed to see the parents faces to know how their child was doing.

I bumped into the father of a 10 year old boy who was waiting to see his son. His son, who has leukaemia, was in the isolation ward so I was unable to talk to him. On the day I visited it was his 100th day in the unit. I could see his son through the glass, he had tubes everywhere, was unable to eat other than intravenously. His father told me there had been a few problems with his reaction to earlier treatments which is why his son had been there so long and they were preparing him for another round of chemotherapy.

His dad told me that the massages his son received from one of the girls that I was with, paid for by the charity, had really helped his son to ease pain and relax him but just as importantly helped relax his mother, if only for a few minutes, as the charity offers these services to both the patient and the parents.

I came away incredibly impressed by the work that the unit does, inspired by the team of people who I meet and the work they do and pleased that in some small way we have been able to help.

Thanks to all who have supported us and to the marvellous staff at the Above & beyond Charity.

Regards,

Paul.

Team Pulsar Launch at RIBEX 2009

May 8-10th 2009

Team Pulsar officially launched their new Humber Quinquari RIB at RIBEX this weekend.

"The boat has been designed from scratch by John Price at Quinquari Marine and Team Pulsar. It has been equipped with the latest equipment from people like Shockwave, Raymarine, Humber & Suzuki, with a few expert tweaks from the Team at Quinquari.

The exhibition at RIBEX certainly generated a lot of interest with almost everybody impressed by the console design from Quinquari & Shockwave.

The ICE console (Integrated Control Environment) is a new concept in shock mitigation and represents a first for European RIB design.
Fully suspended, the console is designed to allow the maximum performance in the worst conditions. It introduces the latest in boat build technology which allows a modular approach to the build. The console is first equipped with the latest electronics suite from Raymarine including a pair of their C140w widescreen displays, their new digital Raydome and AIS Transceiver, VHF, and GPS. This, along with all of the usual marine electronics is console mounted and allows for a plug and play approach. The console was fabricated on the ground before installation and simply placed on deck for mounting once completed. Quinquari avoided any under deck cabling, taking all transom connected cables to the console in a flexible ducting system that facilitates easy servicing and removal.

Seawolf is heading to Ireland after RIBEX for sea trials prior to the attempt at the world record for circumnavigation around Ireland.

More later.

Regards,

Mac.