hi, i am very very very interested in doing this sprot, however i do not know the age to start, i am 15 and my mate is 16 and we are both interesting in starting can some one advise us and give some information cheers jamie.
You don't have to be any age officially to drive a RIB (or any sort of powerboat for that matter). You can do the RYA powerboat courses from quite an early age (is it 8 or 13, I forget). If your new to RIBing then PB2 (which is like a basic driving lesson/test for boats) is a great course to do.
Apologies, should have paid attention to this being in the racing forum.
If you specifically want to race ribs, I'm afraid that will be difficult. Rib racing is pretty dormant at the moment.
Brand new race ready zapcat is about 7.5k. Decent second hand you're looking at between 4 and 6k. You then need buoyancy aids at £150 each, helmets, wetsuits, PB2 course at £150 ish, RYA race license at £250 ish i think, entry fees at about £1000, fuel and travel/accomodation for the races! Its not cheap, but zapcats are bloody good fun.
The other thing to consider if your 15 is that you can't drive so taking the boat out is going to reply on a kind friend or parent who can drive you to whereever you intend to race it.
