Rib and advice wanted for England Circumnavigation Record

[Nathan k]

Hi,

I posted a similar thread on YBW but was recommended here as the plan has changed and i hear you ribbers are much more hardy


I am 15 and this summer I was hoping to set off to solo circumnavigate Britain in my 23ft Sea Fox 230 WA. It soon became apparent that my boat was not suitable for this type of journey and would simply not stand up the battering of the north sea. I was hoping to pay for fuel and some basic safety features like a life-raft and beacon by getting sponsored. Naming the boat, for example
Ribnet , and having any amount of decals suck all over. along with a giant flag it would serve as a great advertising space and the sponsor would be the key play in setting the new record.

After realising the danger of taking this trip on in my Sea Fox it turned to the one boat I knew could get me home safely, a rib. As i am sure you all know a decent rib big enough for this trip is not cheap and selling the current boat would simply not cover the costs, nor would my parents (both into fishing) want a fast rib instead of their nice spacious Sea fox.

What do i need?
The trip as gone from needing a thousand or two in funding to whole new level but I am still holding out hope.
So in order for the trip to go ahead i need to be lent a Rib, the size is still up for debate, my thoughts are anything 7m+ to complete the jouney safely. i'd also need Fuel possibly paid for, Although it seems un-reasonable.

How am i planning to get it?
Firstly, I will be emailing ( and visiting locally ) Rib manufacturers. I am hoping the media attention and exposure would convince a company to get behind me. The trip would set new world record for youngest solo circumnavigation of the Uk, and if i had a Rib i am sure i could be the fastest under 18 to do it solo as well. (please correct me if i am wrong)
I have and are still Contacting the Uk's largest boat magazines asking about whether they would publish my story. two have currently expressed interest which I think is a good start.
The boat could be tarted up however the manufacturer sees fit, large flags and all the other well placed decals to get the brand name out.
I would like to raise money for charity while i am doing it, Both Cancer research ( my dad had cancer twice ) and Naomi House are charity's I'd like to help out. after seeing what two thousand raised by my school has done to help Naomi house it would be great to see what maybe even four could do!
If someone has had experience is raising money for charity and how it all works i'd really like some help. could i possibly do it via the website so there would be a running total? also is the money paid to me and then onto the charity or directly to the charity? if it is paid directly how do I keep track of what I have raised.
I am also hoping to maybe get a radio station involved to raise awareness of the task and help raise money for the chosen charity.
I'm no marketing expert so I am sure there is many other ways to use this opportunity to advertise, if anyone thinks of anyone a PM would mean all the world to me
If anyone knows someone that might be interested in funding or lending me a boat for the trip please give me a Pm, again it would help me out so much mainly as i know little about the company's not local to me (solent).

if you got this far, thank you for reading my lecture i am looking for any advice regarding all of the above especially getting sponsored, that is after al what the entire trip is relying on.

Back onto a more interesting subject, the boat itself.
I'm not a big Ribber myself, all i know is you cant get livewells or oversized fish lockers Well i know a little more than that i guess...
What Size, type, Layout, engine would you recommend for a journey like this? i think a fair amount of storage would be handy for spares, tools etc.
also i am thinking that the best engine size would be a comprimise with fuel efficiency (long journeys) and speed to recoup time lost when i get nice weather (touch wood )

i will probably add and change as the plan develops, anything i change will be in red so you don't have to read the whole thing agian even though i'm sure you'd love to
Like I said any advice on sponsorship side or if it's even possible is vital at the moment and really helpful

Thank you in advance
Nathan

[Downhilldai]

Are you planning on zipping around England, Britain, or the UK?

[Vandad]

You plan to go alone?!

Don't bother too much with rib manufacturers, other than one or two, the rest are small businesses and some even struggle to survive in the middle of recession.

Do contact Banks, Utility Companies (National Grid, NPower, etc.), windfarm developers (they have huge fundings available and do need publicity) etc..

You may be able to get funding from these sources.

How far have you planned your journey? which ports will you call at? What's your sailing/boating experience?

I would suggest you get in touch with people who have done that before, either sailing or power boating, they can give you better advice.

http://www.roundbritain.org/

[Nathan k]

Ok thanks for the advice, i haven't really looked into panning the route yet as it's only a idea and really depends on the range of the rib. training wise i will be doing
• RYA Advanced Powerboat

• RYA Dayskipper Theory

• RYA First aid

• RYA VHF Radio

• RYA Sea Survival

• Some form of engine training
I'm not old enough to complete most these courses so i can't get the certificate at end, oh well i lost my last one it's the training that matters

[Poly]

Nathan,

Why do you want to do this?

Are you really planning to break the record? Do you even know what the record is? Have you discussed it with the RYA (who would need to "certify" the record) - I know they have recently insisted that very experienced round the world powerboaters need to have "race licenses" to get their record attempt recognised.

[biffer]

I'm sitting here reading this thread and I'm thinking good luck and it's good to see a 15 year old with some focus. But in reality I don't think this will get off the ground. It has been done to many times now. Granted not by a 15 year old. It has been hard enough for some of the more high profile round Britain attempts to get funding let alone a young lad with nothing but a dream to bring to the table. I do wish you the best of luck and very much hope that you succeed. Try the rya and see what they say.

sent from a remote device

[Boats&Outboards]

Great ambition and i hope it works out for you.

My only advice is dont ask anybody to "sponsor your fuel" or boat for that matter. A friend of mine recently completed this same trip in a team of 8 firefighters from the UK and the NYFD on a rib supplied by Humber. They had media coverage and lots of media from here and the USA. They were raising funds for the Firefighters Charity to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the twin towers atrocities, so a very worthy course.

I got canned on here from a few when I posted a similar thread (although not in as much detail) asking for anybody to make a small donation to this charity. The response I got was "I'm not paying for a bunch of lads to go out on a jolly paid for on my fuel"

Granted like I said I did not put it out there in as much detail and my responses to the comments made things worse but nobody seemed interested at all in helping.

It may be different for you as your young, willing and obviously have the drive and determination to see this through. It's going to be a tough ask on your own so get as many people onboard the project to help you as you can. I think you will need a better "angle" than setting a new record to get the sponsorship. Maybe something to do with the Olympics (perhaps starting/ending on the opening day etc) would get corporate interest better

Best of luck with it. I hope it gets off the ground and works out well for you

Note to Ribnetters, please keep responses based on this rather than going over old ground, I don't want to take any attention off this attempt

Peter ~ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[EnglishLes]

Nathan

Regarding the sponsorship money have a look at two sites "Just Giving" and "Virgin Money Giving" these allow people to donate online and the money goes direct to the charity (less a small admin fee, the charity does need to be registered with the company), running totals are given, it also allows Gift Aid to be automatically claimed. You can add photos and a description of what you are doing and why.

The address of your page can then be e-mailed to any contacts you have - family, friends, parents work colleagues etc.

Whether you actually get to do the trip or not I'm sure you will gain an awful lot of experience that will be useful in your future life/career.

Good Luck

[Fenlander]

Nathan have you been out on a boat on the sea yet? I only ask as just a month ago you said you were new to boating.

Planning an adventure is great but the proposed trip needs substantial experience.

BTW be great to see some pics of the Sea Fox restoration.

[Alzi]

.....

[Alzi]

A couple of 6.8m-7m ribs did this in September ,Have a read of their story/Blog, one Ribnet member was

"SIRIB"

The link below should be day 1

Take Two Ribs

you will have to scroll to the bottom of the sreen to "Older posts" to start from the beginning.

Well worth the read , and will give you a good Idea of what you would be up against.

I think "DEEP POCKETS" will be required

Good Luck !

Alan.

[Nathan k]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

Nathan have you been out on a boat on the sea yet? I only ask as just a month ago you said you were new to boating.

Planning an adventure is great but the proposed trip needs substantial experience.

BTW be great to see some pics of the Sea Fox restoration.

I have little rough weather experience, 4-5 foot waves in a bowrider and abit bigger in a 39ft rib. I am hoping to improve this during winter and hopefully take part in a trip to the scilly isles.

would it be ok to post a thread on the restoration on here? It's not a rib

[Chris]

If you need to borrow a rib then Mollers will lend you his. It will probably even have some fuel left in it as he doesn't normally use a whole tank over the summer unless the sun is out loads.

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Nathan k

would it be ok to post a thread on the restoration on here? It's not a rib

We're reasonably open minded...

...obviously some people may point and laugh - but they will keep it reasonably polite.

[Courageous]

"but they will keep it reasonably polite"....... Does that come with a guarantee?

[wiLlfish]

Originally Posted by Nathan k

i hear you ribbers are much more hardy

i fink yew mus av misherd

thay probubly sed larrdy

[Nathan k]

Originally Posted by Chris

If you need to borrow a rib then Mollers will lend you his. It will probably even have some fuel left in it as he doesn't normally use a whole tank over the summer unless the sun is out loads.

Really? What rib does he have?

[Boats&Outboards]

Originally Posted by Chris

If you need to borrow a rib then Mollers will lend you his. It will probably even have some fuel left in it as he doesn't normally use a whole tank over the summer unless the sun is out loads.

Oh dear now look what you've started. He thinks your being serious now

Peter ~ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

[willk]

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

Oh dear now look what you've started.

LOL - Unlike me, Chris isn't bound by The Rules...

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Courageous

"but they will keep it reasonably polite"....... Does that come with a guarantee?

It comes with a guarantee that if they break the RIBnet posting guidelines* that posts will be removed when the admin team get round to it... and repeat offenders will be dealt with**



* purely in the view of the admin team
** in extreme cases Garfish or Wilfish may be commissioned to educate the offender in the ways of ribnet.