Round-world bid delayed
March 2017 is new date
Team Britannia postponed its bid for round-the-world powerboat glory due to technical problems with the craft’s stern hull plates.
The team had been due to set off from Gibraltar on October 23 but the start has now been rescheduled for March 12 next year when favourable weather conditions return.
Team leader Alan Priddy, licking the financial wounds caused by the delay to the Gibraltar launch, told MBY that he was looking forward to delivery of his boat’s new hull plates “any day.”
“This was a technical delay; the architects had measured wrong,” said Priddy. “It’s put the project a million pounds over budget but I’m funding that financial hit myself. It’s a big thing we’re doing. We’re into year six with this so what’s another couple of months?” he said.
The current 60-day record is held by New Zealander Pete Bethune. Team Britannia hopes to beat it using a new semi-wave-slicing 80ft monohull designed by Professor Bob Cripps and a revolutionary fuel emulsion.
“We are where we are,” said Priddy. “Everything is as normal here in Gibraltar and everything is very positive. Nobody’s been injured and nobody’s died, it’s just a delay.”
Priddy plans sea trials in British waters before Christmas. “I need to run the boat dry to see how far she goes on 40,000 litres. Before the end of November, I should be doing sea trials just 50 miles or so around the Isle of Wight and back.
“From there, I’ll take her from London to Gibraltar and then on to Monaco, the equivalent of the longest leg of the round-the-world bid.”
The boat, built in Hayling Island, Hampshire, by the Aluminium Boatbuilding Company, will have a crew of 12 and its two-stock FPT 500hp engines will need seven fuel stops on the 23,000-mile trip.
The delay has allowed American challenger Ralph Brown to take on Priddy and his team with his 64ft trans-oceanic racer, The American Dream, under construction at his Florida base.
“How big a head start does Alan need?” asked the former US marine who himself holds four world records for boating achievements. They include smallest powerboat to cross the Atlantic and longest ocean voyage in a flats boat (a large flat-bottomed boat for use in shallow water).
The American Dream resembles the space shuttle on waterskis, a comparison Brown quite enjoys. “I think that is super cool. That was not planned at first, and then we realised it and liked it,” he said.
But Priddy, who holds 37 world boating records, is unfazed. “Ralph and I are kind of friends and what he has done he’s done bloody well, but he’s got more balls than brains.
“The thing is, that over the last 15 years, the price of everything has gone up and up and up. He may have the £350,000 to build a boat but you’ve got to pay for the fuel too. We’d love a race with him as long as it is fair,” said Priddy.
“I need to run the boat dry to see how far she can go on 40,000 litres”
Motor boats sold at auction by the anti-money-laundering office after being seized from a network of illegal tour firms operating in Phuket, Thailand.