SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2011 - While the news of adding BRL Solutions this week as a associate sponsor for our 2012 race season was the most newsworthy events of the week, it wasn't the only thing happening around the race shop and offices a week before the Christmas holiday.

To conform with the new 2012 APBA rules that all pilots must wear completely orange or yellow helmets for better visibility in crashes, we ordered a new Bell marine open face and Bell marine full face helmet this week.  Both are 100 percent bright orange to match our capsule suits.  Being unsure which will feel the best and work the best with our Tiger breathing air system we decided to go ahead and purchase both.  Once they arrive we will send them to Tiger to get the brackets installed to receive the Tiger air mask system so that regardless of which style I choose for 2012 I will have a backup should one become damaged during the race season.  I am torn on which to wear.  I like the added protection of the full face helmet and how it holds the breathing air mask in place, making it less likely to become dislodged from my face during a crash.  But, I also highly value the open face helmet which allows you to unhook one side of the mask and breath without it on your face during cautions, restarts and other times when you are on the water and not racing.  As with any type of racing there is a lot of waiting once you are in the boat so being able to breath air without inhaling it through the mask takes much less effort.  I also ordered a new capsule suit that is slightly smaller than the one I have been using.  My old suit is really a tad big on me so hopefully this one will fit a litter more snug and allow me to tighten the seat belts a little tighter to get that secure feeling in the cockpit.  You guessed it, the old one will hang in the hauler as a backup.  You have probably learned by now that I prefer to have a backup everything.  It saved our skin last year.  If not for a backup F-3 boat we would have been out of business before the season even started.  Our F-2 boat also became unseaworthy by season's end and had to be replaced at a moment's notice.

And, we're working with our webmasters to help the Buckeye Outboard Association redesign it's website for 2012.  Our hope it to have it up and running before the stike of the New Year.  It will feature each BOA member with a profile page and photo, as well as photos and information on the club's 2012 races.  You can see the new site, once it is uploaded, at www.boa-racing.com.  I hope to be able to have a somewhat functional page up there by Christmas.

And lastly, if you are interested in a new Herd Racing t-shirt then we have added two new designs to our online store.  You can find our new tan embroidered shirts from the Herd Racing Foundation and our new 5K run t-shirts in our online store at http://herdracing.com/store.php.

I also have some meetings this week with the Huntington race site folks to I'll let you know what develops on that front.  I am trying my best to get the Huntington and Portsmouth race dates away from one another.  I think both venues are too nice to have to compete with another less than an hour's drive away.  With boat racing sites hard to secure in this economy I think most all racers would prefer to have the option of choosing both races rather than having to choose just one.  My goal is to get the Huntington race weekend moved up or back a week or two in order to make it possible for racers go be able to go right down the Ohio River in 2012 with races at Marietta, Huntington, Portsmouth and Aurora with dates in July and August.  I'll let you know if my lobbying is a success.

Dana Tomes