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.

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 goes high tech at RIBEX

Team Pulsar will launch their new 10m racing RIB at RIBEX in May.

Built by the well known commercial and specialist boat builders Quinquari Marine in Wales using a standard 10m Offshore hull from Humber RIBS this is set to a very unique craft.

Team Pulsar, who will attempt the Round Ireland World record this summer wanted something special that could cope with the extremes of long distance offshore powerboat racing.

The Quinquari team had built Team Pulsar's RIB "Wolf" for the Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race in 2008. The Team completed every single leg with all 4 crew and with not a single technical failure or issue. Put simply the boat was bullet proof.

The new boat will be called "Seawolf" and will again use equipment on board from Suzuki, Raymarine & Shockwave. This is a winning combination and something Team Pulsar can rely on.

Twin DF300 Suzuki outboards have again been selected for their endurance capability and reliability. Raymarine are providing twin C140w Screens which will launch later this month.

The thing that will bring the boat together and really mark it as an exceptional build is the new ICE console from Shockwave of Canada. This is a first for Europe and Team Pulsar. This is a high tech console design that has the entire console fully suspended and shock mitigated.

Seawolf will officially launch at this summers RIBEX exhibition in May and will be on display at the Suzuki stand & berth for the duration of the exhibition.

Come along and meet the Team and see this incredible new craft.

Regards,

Mac.

Team Pulsar Racing to Attempt Round Ireland Record in 2009

Team Pulsar Racing announced today they intend to have a go at the Round Ireland Record in 2009. They have just completed The Round Britain Offshore Powerboat Race in June and managed to complete the 1400 mile course with out any problems. .
“We had a complete blast racing around Britain and enjoyed every minute” said Justin Mc Inerney who skippered their Humber RIB Wolf during the race.

The whole summer has been spent planning and scheming and it was decided that the next thing to do was attempt the record for Round Ireland. The Team are planning to attempt the run using their Humber 8.5m Offshore RIB “Wolf” which was one of the boats that completed the Round Britain Race.

There is some work required to prepare the boat so that it has a real shot at the record. Something was mumbled about a new engine and some re-design work required on the console but the Team are keeping their cards close to there chest right now.

It is hoped that an attempt will be made early in the summer but this is entirely weather dependant. The boat will be prepared over the winter and will be sea trialled in March.

Denis Dillon from the ISA and the official record keeper under UIM International Racing guidelines is assisting with the formalities and will ensure that the record attempt is completed within UIM regulations.

Let the planning begin.

Justin Mc Inerney.
Team Pulsar Racing.

And the Lunacy prevails....

I'm back..............

It has been very difficult to get back online and start updating the blog so apologies .

Been busy trying to lead a normal life. Took the Family on holidays, tried working for a change, went to Southampton for the launch of the RB08 movie and met some interesting people.

And what do you know it's November already, and sher, summer is only around the corner. Winter keeps getting shorter thank goodness.

I have lots to update and will endeavour to do so in the coming months. We have a whole story to tell about the Race, our endeavours and what happened. In short, great fun, great people, great success. More later.

However, am I boring or just bored? The wife bought me slippers, and looked strangely at me. Something is up, she is trying to tame me......... aaaarggghhh.

So, in response I'm off with my able crew to have a go at the Round Ireland Record in 2009. Yes, we are going to race around the country at some point to see if we can get back sometime before we set off. It's the tides.....

We are also planning a RIB rally around Ireland at the beginning of June if anyone is interested. We hope to take 5-6 days and visit strange and interesting places around our wonderful Island and make a few new friends along the way.


More later. Mac.

A Welsh Rarebit

Some things that need updating....

The Welsh are madder than the Irish (although credit to the Rugby Team), the English cannot write English anymore, the Americans are loosing the plot,the Japanese make simple complicated and Canada is a long way away.

The story unfolds though...

The Welsh Rarebit has called to say he has finally finished the boat. "Come and take that bloody thing out of the yard" he said, "and for god sake, don't bring the wife flowers any more, they are still alive".

Tip: Marks & Sparks flowers never die, it's the ultimate present that keeps on giving, I'm legend in Wales.

Anyhoo, back to the wonderful Wolf. Myself and the caravan owner are heading over to Wales on the 11th to collect the boat. Rarebit has announced all is finished but to be honest he's confused. He has never met two odd Irish men coming over from the heartland to collect a new thingy. We'll find fault for sure.

That Gavin on the rugger Team, what a sweety. I bet the Rarebit a tenner on Ireland, he upped it to a tank of fuel, (400 litres), Ireland lost. How a tenner turned into 400 litres of fuel I will never know, maybe the Rarebit is clevererer than I thunk.

The nice thing is I know where he lives, and his prodigy is coming across the Irish sea with me on the wonderful Wolf. A hostage takin comes to mind.

What bet? And we haven't even started negotiating?

Now the English... Maps Nine Fingers O'Hayward, (we are buggered if he ever has to point the way) has lost the command of his English judging by his last post.

Seems I owe him a hug though, me and the Rarebit did wind on a bit but then again it was important to establish Celtic superiority on behalf of the Irish. Maps being such a polite chap obviously felt left out. If you see him give him a hug. Have you hugged your Maps today?

The Americans are great really, the dollar is heading the wrong way but if your off to Florida with the Family, sher you can't go wrong. Although I think the wifie will extract all benefit of dollar and the fact I'm off around England and spend every last penny.

Now the Japanese. God bless Suzuki. The new DF300 is fab, the new fly by wire throttles groovy, but god help you if you try to build a boat with a dual helm which Wolf has. The Rarebit has spent the last week cursing everything Japanese and trying to get the 2 throttles to communicate with each other, and with the engine. "I'm gonna splice it" he kept saying whilst foaming at the mouth. "Call Suzuki" he told me, "Give 'em hell" he lurched. It's a good job the flowers were still alive, they were needed at least 6 times this week when he broke more furniture.

Suzuki, in fairness were brilliant. They were getting ready to send an engineer in to darkest Wales, which actually turned out to be a bit of a situation in itself. Dave, the friendly Suzi engineer, when he heard about heading to Wales ran away to Australia, I'm not kidding. They had to draw straws but finally a brave sole was volunteered to head to Wales.

The Rarebit then had a break through this afternoon and finally managed to turn the instructions up the right way and read them correctly. All was not lost, it turns out that a thingy in the computer need tweaking and the Japanese had written that bit in JAPANESE of all things. The Rarebit has gone out for a Chinese with the Family this evening in celebration, I hope he can read the menu!

Finally, a dear auld uncle of mine called me the other day.

"Fancy catching a few Salmon in British Columbia" he said. "Can we go after lunch" I said, "I'm fierce busy trying to calm down the Rarebit" I said.

"Wha" he said, "Sher, British Colombia is in Canada ya eeegit" and "sher, it's miles away"

Mac.

Things to consider......

Good News,

I have been informed that our new boat is progressing well and that "Wolf" is all but sorted.

It's amazing the amount of stuff you have to consider when building a boat, and in fairness how much you learn.

Humber whom are making the hull assure me that the build went well, and having even allowed for a few extra tweaks and improvements should have the boat in Wales by next Monday. I can almost hear a sigh of relief.

In the mean time Quinquari have all but sorted the electronics and await said Hull. There is more stuff connected to more stuff on this boat than I care to think about. The real question is do I need a handheld compass?

Things you consider when building/buying a boat....

1. Every penny you spend is multiplied by 3 when the wifey starts factoring in what's in it for her and how much she can spend in return.Keeping out of the divorce courts is nigh on impossible........ and it's all your fault.
2. Boat builders in Wales have no appreciation how much effort it takes to buy a new bed...
3. Man boob's never go away, they lurk..!
4. It take a lot longer and more effort than you could ever imagine to get fit!
5. You need at least 5 pairs of shorts and 5 t-shirts to stay ahead of the washing cycle..
6. Flying to or from Cardiff is expensive........
7. Petrol is always a bad decision.....

We persist......... hopefully the sun will shine.

Mac.