November 20, 2008

Support Boat for the World’s Greatest Windsurfing Adventure

Once a year the annual Highland Spring HIHO (hook in and hold on) windsurfing race takes place here in the BVI. With competitors arriving from all over the globe to compete in an island to island race it is dubbed the world’s greatest windsurfing adventure as competitors will race from 150-200 miles on a windsurfer. For the event our RIBCRAFT will need to transport 2 windsurf boards as well as six sets of masts, booms, and sails to various start and finish areas which are often remote beaches difficult to access.

Our RIBCRAFT 5.85 is a perfect boat for this event. The custom top RIBCRAFT built for us has a rack system that allows us to store a large amount of gear keeping the precious deck space clear. The top also provides excellent sun protection for those on board and is ideal for our two young children. In the event a competitor needs to be rescued, the tubes on the boat serve as a soft buffer to protect people and gear. At the same time it's so much easier to retrieve equipment or people that are in the water over the tubes compares to a hard sided boat with a high freeboard.

With top windsurfers regularly racing at 30 knots the support boat needs to be fast and maneuverable to get out of the way fast. However, with an open ocean race the vessel must be seaworthy enough to handle 6 foot seas and 20 knots of wind. Lesser quality RIBS are simply not up to the challenge and are not used for these races.

During the event our RIBCRAFT served a number of functions including general transportation for our family, a start boat, carrying buoys for setting up the course, placing photographers right in the heat of the action, and even rescuing competitors.

So I'm sure you're all wondering what Dave's boat looks like - well here are a few shots of the boat at the HIHO Race.

From Dave Pettigrew, a RIBCRAFT 5.85 customer

Posted by ribcraftusa at November 20, 2008 11:54 AM