The Miss Peters and May, our local unlimited hydroplane, is entering the Mediterranean Sea on its way to the final race of the 2014 season in Doha, Qatar. The boat left Charleston, S.C. a little over two weeks ago for the adventure.

Owner Scott Raney told My Edmonds News that our local boat, along with two others, is being shipped via an innovative new system designed by the team’s sponsor. Peters and May is an international company, based in the United Kingdom, that specializes in shipping of marine vehicles.

In the past, and for the eight other teams making the trip this year, shipping involved driving the boat and support vehicles directly onto ships and then driving them off when they got to the foreign port. The new system has the teams loading all their equipment and spares into a container and then mounting the boat on a special shipping rack that fits on the containerized cargo ship. Once the boat and equipment reach Qatar, they’re offloaded to the pit area for the race, where an air-conditioned tent system is set up provide comfort while working on the boat.

The new system is expected to take two months off the transit time as there are far more shipping opportunities for containerized cargo then there are for when you need to drive on and off the boat.

Raney and his wife Shannon, who co-own the boat, will fly to Qatar on Nov. 16. The remainder of the crew will fly over on the 17th, and have a day off to acclimate themselves to the time change and to do some touring before preparing for the racing that weekend.

Once the race is been completed, the equipment will be re-containerized and the boat rewrapped and covered, and everything will be shipped back.

Our local unlimited hydroplane showed great progress at the last U.S. race in San Diego and is looking forward to having a good performance at the Oryx Cup in Qatar. You can follow all the action here on My Edmonds News.

— By Harry Gatjens