My Nationals observations

[99R]

Since the other thread was closed down. Don't worry Mr. Gleason I wont pull Amber out. I would like to say good job to everyone involved with putting on this event. You did great for everything that was thrown at you. (Mud,weather ect.)

99R

[Nilsen Racing]

Agree

Since the other thread was closed down. Don't worry Mr. Gleason I wont pull Amber out. I would like to say good job to everyone involved with putting on this event. You did great for everything that was thrown at you. (Mud,weather ect.)

99R

I also would like to thank Tony Perman and the SOA board of directors for taking a chance on this early April race at Silver Lake, Eatonville. Add to that a 3/4 mile records race, and than taking on Winter Nationals when our friends in Region 12 ran into a snag. This is a lot to put on any ones plate, we are all volunteers, but I felt if any one could pull it off, this group could.

Thursday-Sunday we were 3 for 4 on raceable water, but the race was Saturday & Sunday and Saturday we were blown off. I wish we could control Mother Nature, but no one had been able to do that yet. It is what it is, that's boat racing.

The race committee's first priority was to get in our Stock winter national classes Saturday, than flip-flop the schedule on Sunday, as their is always the chance when we race as many heats as we do...you bring it, we run it...someone may get shorted each day. With Saturdays blow off, they understandable stuck with the same schedule. This left ALL the PRO classes (K-Pro, OSY-400, ACSR & 250/350 cch) + CMH in the 4th flight. For the record all of us PRO classes (other than testing Friday), also raced only one heat for the weekend.

Stuff happens, Mother Nature Saturday and a near 4 hour 1st flight Sunday including ASH (2 heats), CSH (6 heats) add to this two addition restart heats, and ASR (2 heats) + time for two flipped boats to be towed in, resurvey & reattach a dislodged buoy, and since a records race additional time for scorers to check and recheck their numbers. Than the 2nd heat we were delayed by the 45 blowover (thank you Oregon Race Rescue). To be honest, I was surprised we even got to the 4th flight, but again that's boat racing. Also, on a side note, I want to thank the 1st flight volunteers.

Regarding comments made over the PA system??? I was on the barge for the 3rd flight and like many of us, was being entertained by Master Tech (Dwight) on the PA system, who also was the announcer for the 2nd flight. Dwight kids about a lot of things, but those of us that know him, know that he does not have a bad bone in his body and would never say another negative about a class of boats...all in fun.

I appreciate the input and concerns. At our next SOA board of directors meeting we will review the race and discuss pro & cons of doing it again next year. Thanks for those of you who attended and helped out and sorry if anyone went away disappointed. Personally, even though we were blown off Saturday, it was great hanging out and catching up with racing friends at one of our sponsors place of business Saturday afternoon.

Take care
Jim

[RuthieRae]

Thanks again

We registered for 3 classes, 2 of which only got one heat. However, I know that being a race director, you have to make decisions, even at the end of the day that can impact a few, not all, and unfortunately that is what happened. I guess the only other alternative would have been to continue on down the schedule with two heats and shut it down at 6pm, then none of us in the fourth flight would have even had one heat to reflect on. They did what needed to be done to get everyone time on the water, one heat or two.

Like Mr. Bartlett said in the previous thread, we ALL drove down to Indio in 89....aka Windio....and sat there all weekend watching the window blow so hard it shut down I-5. The drive was almost as long as the trip to Illinois, so you can imagine our frustration....and yet, we are still here and still racing every weekend. The trip turned out to be a vacation. Nothing we could do about it. We made our own good time out of it, as we always do.

And trust me, they aren't kidding that the first flight of Sunday's schedule took 4 hours, I know, I was out in turn two kicker boat..........That said, my point is, Spokane, Montana or Seattle....there were alot of us who were impacted by the schedule change....for us it was 2/3 of our entries for the weekend that only got one heat.

Thanks again to everyone, the hard work and the last minute scheduling of Nat's and record courses. Hopefully we can run that 3/4 mile again sometime in the summer, last time we did we had over 200 entries

[Racerkyle20]

blueskyracer

Please do not use your power as the thread master to B**** about a race that you nor I could control! Sorry you got 5 minutes on the water but tough ****. LAST YEAR I FLEW TO FLORIDA FOR WINTERNATIONALS AND GOT ONE HEAT IN FOR 3 DAYS OF RACING!!!!!!!!!!!! 3000 miles away!

Deal. We can not control the weather! I knew as the stock commissioner that out of region folks were going to be few to none. Maybe some cali and midwest. But now fuel is $4 for regular and a cross country trip was not worth it to some. It happens. Come to Wakefield, MI for summer nationals and you will see how many folks really want to race.

Sorry for the rant, but your comments are uncalled for. SOA runs the best outboard races in the country in my opinion and our race committee did a phenominal job getting through sundays racing. I'm done now...

(also there was a driver who flew in from Colorado). So you were not the only out of region racer.

[sponsonhead]

Point of Clarification

Dear Mr. Phillips,

As a point of clarification, as a resident of the State of Montana, you are in fact a member of APBA Region 10 (Reference APBA By-Law 17.2.12). So, although you came the furthest from within the Region, you did not travel to Eatonville from out of Region.

Regrettably, blow-offs and inclement weather situations are a fact of life in boat racing. We cannot control that. Sheryl has already noted Winternationals of 1989 in Indio. There have been numerous trips to other parts of the country that have resulted in abbreviated or totally cancelled events...seems to me there was a Wakefield Nationals some time back that got pushed back so late due to weather that many racers left before the finals were run. It happens.

I am proud of the efforts that SOA, Region 10 and the Race Committee put forth to make this event happen. And yes, our team got shorted one heat by the one-heat race format, and we were in fact a Winternationals class. Like they say: Stuff happens. We need to deal with it and move on.

Regards,

Patrick Gleason
R-19
APBA Region 10 Chairman
PROUD MEMBER OF SEATTLE OUTBOARD ASSOCIATION

[mdaspit]

Maybe the reason so dam* many champions and US 1's come out of The Seattle area is because they do less whining and more racing.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Regarding point of Clarification. I do believe the entire point of the post was missed. Wasn't to critize but to make a suggestion. Hence why it is frequently said emotion can be read into a post.

Just disappointing to spend $300 in fuel and see the water for 5 minutes. I get that you, the host club, can't control the weather, that wasn't the point. We had folks drive to Montana for a race last year and the water rose and the derbris flowed and we had to abandon Friday testing and Saturday racing. However we ran on Sunday and every class that had entries got on the water for their three heats. (Granted there were no runabout classes because none showed up.) Refunds were given for testing and the day of racing missed.

My take is it was a different way of running a race when weather had an impact. An expensive lesson was learned and if there is anything that clubs (not just SOA) can do to accomdate folks who travel a lot of miles whether it be from Oregon, Montana or Maine sure would be nice to see it happen.

Again not criticism but contructive suggestion.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Maybe the reason so dam* many champions and US 1's come out of The Seattle area is because they do less whining and more racing.

Hard to race when you don't get on the water or support for your class doesn't show up. But, that is all water under the bridge at this point. Lesson learned. Not whining just trying to find a constructive solution to allow folks with rigs to get on the water and participate before they abandon the sport for 4-wheeling and snow mobiling.

[DeanFHobart]

Circa 1965

In 1965 we drove to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania for the Summer Nationals and got one heat. What's my point ??..... I don't know.

But I'm still racing boats.

Best Regards To All,

Deano....................

[HydroKyle93R]

Maybe the reason so dam* many champions and US 1's come out of The Seattle area is because they do less whining and more racing.

MDASPIT: You just went way up in my book, again!

[HydroKyle93R]

In 1965 we drove to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania for the Summer Nationals and got one heat. What's my point ??..... I don't know.

But I'm still racing boats.

Best Regards To All,

Deano....................

Dean, you are the man.

[David Weaver]

Weather and Racing

Always assume that there is a chance that you will not get to race (at all) and then make the decision regarding the travel. Anyone who has been in the sport for a period of time can site many instances of sitting on the beach. The economics are such that some clubs are asking (in advance) that members contribute a day's entry fee as insurance against a blow out. We had all better enjoy the company and cameraderie of our fellow races, because we may send a race weekend BS'ing, eating, drinking and not racing.

Getting "stuck" at the end of the schedule is a bummer. It happens. The race committtee in this instance seems to have been in a "****ed if you do and ****ed if you don't" situation.

This is going to difficult year for many. Make the best of it and look forward to more prosperous days ahead.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

I think, again the point was missed. I love Eatonville, one of my favorite race sites, I love what it stands for. I too have friends in SOA. I too have driven a lot of miles to just BS because of the weather. That wasn't the point. I think these threads have become less that constructive. Now there are three of them. Time for a delete? Can we turn this into a positive?

[Ron Hill]

Actually...

In 1965 we drove to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania for the Summer Nationals and got one heat. What's my point ??..... I don't know.

But I'm still racing boats.

Best Regards To All,

Deano....................

All classes, JU, AU, BU, CU, DU and 36 Runabout, A, B, C and D Hydro, count them ten (10) classes ran two heat finals. All qualifying heat were two heats.

Now, whoever measured the 1 2/3 course must have used a yard stick because you could not see the first turn's bouy for the second turn. And the barge rollers were as big as my BU....Longest mile and two thirds course I ever ran...

[Ron Hill]

The Winternationals......

There was a reason we ran the first several Winternationals in Arizona, Easter week.....it was warm in Arizona in April!

No one is more sad that the Indio Winter Nationals were canceled for BOGUS REASONS, but money talks and bull **** walks. The golf COARSTS got more money than boat racers and boat racers have no advocate for them.

Ernie Dawe an APBA BOD member filmed boats on Lake Caquilla the weekend that the Winter Nationals were scheduled........Guess there were no Quavi Mussel on those QUIET boats...

I'm sorry the weather sucked for the Winter Nationals.....Washington is 1,300 miles north of Indio and
1,400 miles from the Arizona border.....Just an FYI!!!