There’s very little that can quite prepare you for the sound of a powerboat P1 engine firing up and revving when you’re standing alongside.
There’s something almost visceral about it. Your internal organs rearrange themselves in changing patterns trying it fit around the throbs as the V10 engine pumps fuel into itself, in an attempt to stay up with the spark plugs which are exploding it.
It’s loud. Very loud.
Such was the experience on the pits/pontoons. By the miracle of technology you can share the experience by listening to the recordings we made.
You might’ve heard the powerboats roaring past yesterday (and if you didn’t you can here) as they took part in the Round The Island Endurance Race.
Whilst up in Cowes at the Powerboat P1 event this afternoon, we were lucky enough to grab some time with Nigel Hook (podcast below), he being the throttleman for Outerlimits, Evolution class P1, that gurt big red one was way out in front as it passed Ventnor.
He went on to win to race and along with fellow pilot Joe Sgro, they managed to set the lap speed record, reaching 97 mph.
That’s quite some speed, I’m sure you’ll agree, and gave them an average speed for the entire race of 86 mph. (more…)
An action packed event on at Powerboat P1 Cowes today. Loads of variety - JetSki and RIB endurance races. A P1 testing session and a couple of races in the Honda 4 Stroke Series. (more…)
Some of the P1 Powerboats run on diesel and others go for petrol.
The current championship leader has two 11.3ltr turbo-charged diesel engines providing an impressive 1760 hp and one of the challengers, King of Shaves, plums for petrol, with two 8.3ltr V10 giving 1250 hp. (more…)
Yes - you heard it … some of the Powerboat P1 just went past us in Ventnor (complete with helicopters) only 25 minutes after they set off from Cowes! Makes the sailing Round the Island look like snails, doesn’t it?
If you didn’t hear it, we got a couple of recordings of it, for your pleasure.
First the Evolution class
Next the SuperSport class
You’ll here one of the later boats had some problems with their engine misfiring.
I was lucky enough to take part in a race at Cowes Week On Wednesday, by the lovely people at Cheetah Marine (only joking), BT.
It was all great fun, but one thing that really struck me was how many RIBs there were there. Clearly they’ve become quite the thing to have, as you can see from the shot above.
Sad news reaches us that three people were badly hurt last night when a RIB crashed into the the breakwater at about 11:15pm.
If you were planning to go to Shindig on Saturday night (and crying into your hankie over it’s postponement) but still hoping to get out for the night, you might want to head over to Cowes and check out SuperFly.
It’s for over 21s only and kicks off at 9pm. Although we’re still waiting to hear back as to who is actually playing, the flyer promises ‘great grooves’.
If you missed the details of the first SuperFly which was held in Northwood House, you should know that it is a members club night. Membership is required to get in, but will be free on this ‘re-launch’ night. All you need to do is take some ID along to prove that you are as old as you look. (more…)
On Saturday the Guardian had a blitz of article on the UK as a destination for beach holidays - and the Isle of Wight came out in most of the pieces!
By our quick straw poll, it appears that The Island was mentioned more than any other part of the country. Well done to Sue Emmerson and Kellie White in the press office at the Isle of Wight Tourism Press & PR Department for getting so many items in there.
Biggest tip ‘o’ the hat goes to The Spyglass, Ventnor who got the main photo in the article covering the Seaside Pubs. (more…)
Looks like Wight cable have secured the basic Sky TV channel package for their subscribers (although there’s currently no mentioned of it on their site).
Sky TV is now doing deals with many of the small cable TV companies, attempting to put additional pressure on Virgin Media, who they’ve been having a big bustup with of late.
The channels that Wightcable and another two cable companies based in Jersey and the Borders now have, including Sky One and Sky News are exactly the ones that Virgin Media customers don’t have any more. (more…)
All of last week, BBC2’s Working Lunch were running reports by Graeme Le Saux (the footballer) who came over to the Isle of Wight to look at our diverse collection of businesses.
On Friday we see the report when Graeme came to “Vent-Nor to find out how it is establishing itself as the food capital of the Isle of Wight.”
There were two films shown, the first focused on The Ventnor Fishery. Geoff Blake certainly flew the flag for Ventnor in this feature and it was very interesting to hear what he had to say about his business and it’s development. Good to see him taking the anti-Tesco stance too. Look out for the really sinister smile from one of the chaps in the fishery when he talks about how the crabs are ’slowly suffocated’.
The second feature on Friday covered the success of the Isle of Wight Cheese Company (as we’ve mentioned on the blog before) and Graeme also took a walk down to the Ventnor Brewery and had a chat with Ventnor’s very own master brewer, Xavier Baker.
It appears that the negotiations have now finished and the new proud owners are Prudential’s infrastructure specialist Infracapital (no, I’ve never heard of them either).
Being sold for over £200 million, the previous owners, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), have walked off with a tidy profit of £40million. Not bad for three years investment.
The new owners have stated that there will be NO changes to the fares or running of the operation. We shall have to wait and see whether they keep to their word.
Perhaps they’ll even lower the fares? We can but live in hope!
News hits us this morning that WightLink’s cross Solent ferry rivals Red Funnel, are considering putting the company up for sale.
The estimated asking price is £200m, some £25m less than Macquarie paid for WightLink.
Of course, Red Funnel are the original cross Solent ferry company, shipping people and cars across the waters since 1861.
Managing director, Tom Docherty said
“We’ve no changes planned in the senior management team or in our on-going commitment to provide a pre-eminent cross-Solent ferry service. It’s very much business as usual.”
We’ve heard that the if the sale does go ahead, it would not affect any of the 400 staff.
There’s very little that can quite prepare you for the sound of a powerboat P1 engine firing up and revving when you’re standing alongside.
You might’ve heard the powerboats roaring past yesterday (and if you didn’t 
An action packed event on at Powerboat P1 Cowes today. Loads of variety - JetSki and RIB endurance races. A P1 testing session and a couple of races in the 
Some of the 
As you may have seen yesterday, the 
If you like the throbbing of big machinery, there’s going to be no better place to be than at Cowes this weekend.
It’s for over 21s only and kicks off at 9pm. Although we’re still waiting to hear back as to who is actually playing, the flyer promises ‘great grooves’.
On Saturday the Guardian had a blitz of article on the UK as a destination for beach holidays - and the Isle of Wight came out in most of the pieces!
Sky TV is now doing deals with many of the small cable TV companies, attempting to put additional pressure on Virgin Media, who they’ve been having a big bustup with of late.
There were two films shown, the first focused on 
It appears that the negotiations have now finished and the new proud owners are Prudential’s infrastructure specialist Infracapital (no, I’ve never heard of them either).
The estimated asking price is £200m, some £25m less than Macquarie paid for WightLink.