South Coast Channel Racing

[Pompey Mick]

What is the future of Channel racing for South Coast clubs with the double whammy of the 7day rule and the ever increasing race programmes of the National/Specialist clubs.

We are at Saintes with the Solent Fed and with the holdover birdage is predicted to be in excess of £3.00 per pigeon for a Club/Fed race.

With the NFC, BBC,BICC & CSCFC South Coast fanciers have the opportunity of 16 races from 130mls up to 540mls.  Many fanciers are forsaking Federation races for these races and who can blame them with spiralling birdage charges in the Federation Channel races.

My federation, The Solent Fed, races weekly across the Channel and is badly feeling the pinch. A radical overhaul of future programmes will be needed to stop this once great Federation going into terminal decline.

we have a state-of-the-Art Geraldy Transporter going across the Channel only 25% full, with a ferry charge of £2000 a go you can see how the birdage escalates.

We have four Guernseys (112 ml)in our YB programme all with 7day restrictions, so the YB 's will have a stop-start flying season. Also the Ferry charges for Guernsey are well in excess of £2000, so it will not be cheap.

For Federation Channel racing to continue in this part of the UK I think almalgamation is an option plus a more selective Channel programme rather than a weekly one.

[Guest]

Agree with you that those on the south coast who 'flew' the channel weekly as part of a federation race program are hardest hit. Think as soon as 'AI Year 2' race program has ended, you need all the worst affected organisations to agree a joint convoying / race programme for 2008. Alternatives that are within your own control appear to be (1) split your teams and race them fortnightly or (2) race fortnightly.

 

Also need those negotiating with DEFRA to go back to the table with a comprehensive report on the various effects the 7 day rule has had on fanciers, organisation's finances and birds' welfare.

 

To me its a kind of cost / benefit analysis, all this 'cost' on an extremely low risk activity, with no tangible benefit to UK economy as there is nothing tangible to spread therefore zero risk to UK economy. That for me is good grounds for a claim for financial compensation.

 

And 7 day restriction is disproprtionate given the 'Bernard Matthews  Experience' a very high risk activity with tangible disbenefit to Britsih economy - there was tangible infection present to spread AND many countries stopped importing poultry products from UK - DEFRA didn't stop import of poultry from Hungary, or stop poultry operations within the UK restricted zone. Both of these were high risk activities given there was tangible infection present in both countries. Yet we are quarantined with no infection present in the countries we are racing from and to?

 

 

[RoryTheRed]

I have posted elsewhere regarding this problem. The South Coast Fed is in the same situation, we are transported with the SMT over the channel at higher expense than the BICC.

 

I shall go to the AGM and propose that The South Coast Fed should become an inland racing fed only for the future of the Federation.

 

I'm situated in Brighton and Newton Abbot is near on 200miles to me and we can basket on a Friday Night without any problems, this is as far as we need to go for 16wks of the year. 66 -200MILES races every week would ensure a profit for the fed each week and if we allow yb's to be raced in June as well, we would have full transporters nearly every week right upto September.

 

I prefer channel racing and fly with the BICC not my fed, this isn't my way of securing sprint racing for myself; this is the way of securing a federation in this region, channel racing in our region has the NFC, BBC, BICC, CSCFC & LSECC to fulfill their needs and at a cheaper outlay than our own fed.

 

Channel fliers usually belong to at least one of the above clubs so they rarely supoort the fed races and i don't see areason why inland racers should support a few who send to the channel. Eleven inland races with upto 2500 birds most weeks compared to five channels with max 850 first channel race down to 250 if they are lucky from last race.

 

The profit from the inland races are then ate up by the charges for the channel events and maybe the fed will break even again! Enough is enough, time to make a profit each year to cover the costs of fuel, insurance, holdovers etc....Finally, with inland racing you can always delay basketing, or move racepoints due to the weather forecast; most fanciers just want to race each week from April-Sept.

[Guest]

What if members of your club belonged to the bicc & when entering the bicc races competed for club honours at the same time,our channel racing this year coincided with the bicc prog

[RoryTheRed]

What if members of your club belonged to the bicc & when entering the bicc races competed for club honours at the same time,our channel racing this year coincided with the bicc prog

 

We race the fed programme for channel races, though this was changed once it was decided to go with the SMT. Club racing for me is only about getting birds fit for the channel and educating yb's.