TBPNews #87 - Sept. 23, 2005
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In this issue: 
1) Crash eliminates piston-powered boat of the past
2) Villwock wins season finale, David captures championship
3) EXTREME MARINE TV A HALF-HOUR TELEVISION SERIES 
4) Ken Warby Test Run Video
5) CANTANDO WINS WILD SHORTEND RACE IN SINGAPORE!
6) Jimboat writes NEW Feature articles in F&PB & HotBoat magazines
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1) Crash eliminates piston-powered boat of the past

September 18, 2005 - The composite-coated, honeycomb aluminum hulls of Unlimited Hydroplanes are not designed to bang into one another and swap paint in the corners. This is what happened in yesterday's opening heat of the 40th anniversary Thunderboat Regatta on Mission Bay in San Diego. 

Although no one was injured in the collision, the accident has eliminated the most popular boat from today's season finale and probably decided the national driver's championship in favor of veteran Steve David. Damaged beyond repair was the tour's last piston-powered boat, the U-3 hull owned by Ed Cooper. Powered by a V-12 Allison engine that powered Mustang fighters in World War II, the U-3 is Unlimited racing's last link to the bygone glory days. And although the other boat damaged in the collision  the U-8 Llumar Window Film  will likely be repaired in time for today's racing, its driver, Jean Theoret, has probably lost his shot at winning the driver's title as a rookie. 

All David needs to do today to clinch the title is average a third-place finish over the final two heats and the Bill Muncey Cup championship race  which shouldn't be that hard since only four boats will be starting the first two rounds of heats. Plus, with the 400 points acquired by winning yesterday's runaway second heat in the Oh! Boy Oberto, David has almost assured himself a spot in the five-lap championship at 4:40 p.m. on the 2-mile oval on east Mission Bay. 

Only eight boats are vying for the six spots in the championship race, and two failed to earn a point yesterday  including first-heat winner and already-crowned season champion Miss Elam. Eight-time national champion Dave Villowck averaged 141.878 mph to win the accident-marred first heat but was penalized the points Elam earned because of a fuel-flow violation. As Cooper's team was preparing for an early departure from the East Vacation Isle pits and the crew of Bill Wurster's U-8 hull was working frantically on repairs  in the slim hope of giving Theoret a shot at the driver's title  the drivers were offering conflicting details about the accident. For the record, the American Boat Racing Association penalized both drivers for a lane infraction. 

Depending on whose alibi was being considered at any given time, King either cut off Theoret in the west turn of the first lap or Theoret was unable to negotiate the turn from the inside lane and plowed into the left side of King's boat. Clearly, the U-3 suffered the brunt of the damage. The left  or lead-bearing  sponson was destroyed and the boat also suffered damage to the left side of the stern as well as the wing and left stabilizer. The U-8 suffered damage to its right sponson. Both drivers managed to finish the heat, the extent of the damage not known until the teams got their boats back onto their trailers in the pits. 
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2) Villwock wins season finale, David captures championship

SAN DIEGO  Dave Villwock captured the San Diego Thunderboat Regatta in the Ballard-based Miss Elam to win the final race of the year in the American Boat Racing Association's inaugural season.

Villwock hit the start-finish line in an outside lane and made the lead just before the end of lap 1. Llumar Window Film, which was worked on all Saturday night and yesterday morning after getting damaged in a preliminary race, finished second with Jean Theoret driving. Steve David, driving the Oh Boy! Oberto, captured his first driver's championship in the Unlimited Hydroplane ranks by winning heat 3A.  David won all three heat races before the final.
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3) EXTREME MARINE TV A HALF-HOUR TELEVISION SERIES 

Osprey Production Group is producing a 13-episode series profiling the most exciting, unique, and fascinating marine activities in the world today. From jet-boats that race through rapid canyon rivers to a New Zealanders quest to shatter the motorized world circumnavigation record in his wave-piercing, 75ft boat, each 30-minute story represents a dramatic mix of technology, bravado, and good old-fashioned daring-do. 

All of these topics, and the characters that propel them, contain action and humor that translate powerfully to the type of inventive, high-impact, entertaining documentary television program Osprey has designed. As the 5-minute trailer for the first episode, "River Rockets", illustrates, the structure of the program will include immersive production devices, POV cameras and shot sequences and sound design that gives the viewer a unique insiderly experience. 

This innovative style will be coupled with uncommonly high image-quality and creativity; the entire program will be shot and posted in 720p 16:9 High-Definition with 24p film-look, using Panasonicss HD VariCam for field-production and Final Cut Pro HD for editing. And Extreme Marine will abandon the conventions of an on-camera host, using personality-filled interviews, fast-paced shot sequences, and minimal voice-over to propel the narrative. 

A key value to the program is the personality of those involved with these pursuits. Located in distinct locations across the country, these men and women exhibit a geographic vernacular and sense-of-humor and true joy for what they do...Natural-born characters that give life to each episode and viewers a vested interest in their success and survival. 

download FREE video at:  
http://www.extrememarinetv.com/Extreme%20Marine/Video/ExtremeMarine.wmv
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4) Ken Warby Test Run Video

June 2005, Taree NSW - back in June, Ken Warby and his WWSR Team went to Taree NSW, Australia for a test session.  The boat's speed was increased on previous runs.  Ken believes the only speed worth talking about is the one that will be clocked over the kilo course.  If you would like to know what speed he has got to, let's just say Ken is very, very happy with the performance of Aussie Spirit. He is looking forward to returning to Taree later this year for further testing and tuning.  

download FREE video of Ken Warby test run: 
http://www.kenwarby.com/video/AussieSpiritTareeJune05.wmv
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5) CANTANDO WINS WILD SHORTEND RACE IN SINGAPORE!

GILLMAN & CAPPELLINI HAVE HUGE CRASH IN LEAD BATTLE!

SINGAPORE - (18TH OF SEPTEMBER, 2005) - In what turned into a bizarre day on and off the water gave Italian Francesco Cantando his first victory of the season as the native of Milan took home his 11th career win at the 3rd Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating on Marina Bay in downtown Singapore.

The scheduled 52 lap event around the 1.8 kilometer course started as expected with Guido Cappellini jumping off into the lead from the pole with American Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team following closely in 2nd looking for his third straight win on Marina Bay.

Early in the first lap Belgium driver Julius Leysen crashed just past the start finish line stopping the race and forcing a restart. Cappellini again was holding off Gillman by less than 5 boat lengths with the Emirates Team driver closing. The yellow came out again after Mohammed Al Ali of Qatar stopped just past the start finish on the race line. The restart followed with Gillman this time closing on Cappellini and getting dead level when another yellow came out with a boat again having problems and getting in the way of the traffic.

On the restart it was Gillman and Cappellini almost side by side for the next seven laps with finally Gillman taking Cappellini by a nose going into the right hander and as they approached the turn the 8-time World Champion had no where to go with neither driving giving ground forcing Cappellini to go over the top of the current World Champion with Gillman barrel rolling violently to a stop unside down, while Cappellini riding over the top destroying his day with a terrible barrel roll coming to an immediate and lightning fast quick stop in front of a horrified audience of thousands of fans around the race course.

Following the event, the U.I.M. officials ruled that Cappellini caused the accident and was given a red card and thus will be unable to participate in the next round of the championship in Doha, Qatar in November. This will open up the championship with Cappellini failing to get points now in two straight events.

Benefiting from this was Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Team who pickup up his first victory of the season and his first since the opening round of the 2004 at the Grand Prix of India. Finnish driver Sami Selio finished 2nd with French driver Philippe Dessertenne of the Ligier Sports team taking 3rd and being the only driver in the last three years since arriving back to Singapore to finish every year on the podium.

The officials restarted the event and got in 8 more laps before a time limit stopped the event with a total of 18 laps run forcing the officials to give out one-half points in the event.
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6) Jimboat writes NEW Feature article in F&PB magazine

*** NEW *** 
Jimboat writes Feature article in Family & Performance Boating magazine.  'The Bottom Line'-"Why does a Pad make a vee Hull faster?" is the FEATURE in the F&PB September 2005 issue.

Get your copy of the full article at:  http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/adverts/Vee%20Pad%20Design.html
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and Recently published...

Jimboat writes Feature articles in HOTBOAT & F&PB magazine
"10 Smokin' Speed Secrets Revealed..." - Jimboat has new article in February 2005 HOT BOAT magazine. "If you don't want to make expensive modifications to your hull or engine setup, then here are some tips for getting the most performance from your current setup.  By Jim Russell, author of "Secrets of tunnel Boat Design" [editor-HB]
Check it out at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/adverts/HB_Feb2005.html

and Recently published...

"Winterizing your Performance Outboard" - Jimboat has new article in Jan2005 issue of Family & Performance Boating.  Check it out at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/adverts/F&PB_Jan05.html

"What a Drag" - Trim Angle & Engine Height Can Reduce Drag and Increase Speed", by Jim Russell, author of "Secrets of Tunnel Boat Design book [editor-HB].  See September 2004 issue of HOT BOAT Magazine.  Or get your own copy of the feature article at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/adverts/HotBoat_Sept2004.html

"10 Safety Tips" - The author of "Secrets of Tunnel Boat Design" offers ten safety ideas for high performance go-fast boats [editor-HB].  See August 2004 issue of HOT BOAT Magazine.  Or get your own copy of the feature article at: http://www.aeromarineresearch.com/adverts/HotBoat_August2004.html
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See you next time!

/Jimboat

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Note: The articles presented in TBPNews are edited excerpts from the "Secrets of Tunnel Boat Design" book, by Jim Russell, published by AeroMarine Research.  The STBD book explains the theory in full, and outlines example design calculations, step-by-step.  The "Tunnel Boat Design Program", software, does all the force calculations, dynamic force balances at all speeds, and reports the analysis automatically, including complete graphical performance results for any tunnel or modified vee hull design.
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