woogie

I don't even follow it much anymore and its prob off topic but what the sport needs to grow is high quality production. The Apache clip that's been floating around this week is more exciting than what I see on the tube these days - the announcer is enthusiastic compared to these robots they hire now.

Not saying go Hollywood but to sell it they need to focus on the personalities of the drivers and set the audience up with them throwing down the gauntlet. People want a real person to root for- not just a boat. Take a look at what John Force has done for Drag Racing - a reality show this fall. Its about the guy who DRIVES the car.

The driver interviews after a race are terrible - usually standing next to the boat a few hours afterwards all cleaned up and they all say the same thing. People want to see a team climb out of a boat with full pants and run to the Here's Johnny.

Also the classes ... try and explain them to an average spectator between yawns. People want it simple as its recreation and who wants to think much on the weekends.

The best times for the general public spectator, and that's who they need to get ratings so sponsors will bite, was back in the celebrity/$ days - they ate it up. But then a series of tragedy's.. Genrtry, Casiraghi, etc.. and then Melanie started ragging on Don. Then the bs really got going and Batista headed back to the diamond mines.

Hope a leader surfaces that can make it all happen again.

birdog

Nah....That dude is 'Obsolete"....

Offshore & one organization...Maybe I would care again.
I am {was} just a fan so who cares what i think

Poo

Whats and old and sour and irritates youre skin ?..............(hint not a lemon )

dockrocker

What about choice 5 - "Who cares, the constant b.s. has lost my interest entirely - now, where's the poker run schedule?"

Chris Sunkin

If you think about some of the most classic motorsports video action, the one that comes to mind for me is the shot, right over the wall- behind the fence with cars 3" off the wall on the other side, blazing by. They've been doing that shot since the 60's and do it at ever race I see. Maybe the buoy-cam's time has come.

Callan has some great shots on their website- one is their big cat coming about 20' off the side of a spectator boat. The shot stops just as they pass as I assume the cockpit of the spectator boat was drenched. It was pretty cool right up to that point.

Tantrum

Unity
Everyone needs to have a dream

lowblue320

funny I was watching a world championship last night (I think 96-97) and was comenting to a friend how many more boats were there (Puerto Rico,Argentina,Japan,Italy etc.)It seemed to be more unity....... I wish the pits looked like that again.....I really think it will help the sport(media,sponsers,$$$$$$$).

OldSchool

You beat me to it, except that I really could care a less about poker runs as well. It's just all about having a good time on the water for us!!

I do enjoy the OPA Cambridge event every Sept. and I'll be there this year.

100-Plus

Lots of interesting stuff here, but I always chuckle when "ego" is cited as a reason for offshore racing's failure to capture a mainstream audience.

Without ego, there is no offshore racing. Even the kindlest, gentlest offshore racers you'll ever meet have big egos. Why else would they do it? It's not putting money in their pockets. Sure, they love the competition, but that means trying to beat someone else in a race, it means winning. Winning is an ego-driven thing.

On the organizer/promoter side ... I don't know John Carbonell, but I'm sure he has an ego. I'm also sure that 99.9 percent of his motivation to do everything he does with SBI is money. He makes his living from SBI. So scratch ego as a problem there as well.

Are OSS leaders ego-driven? To race, sure. But in the way they run their outfit, they seem more like a collective owner's group, which they are, than a bunch of egos running amuck. Maybe they just got tired of being dictated to since they were and are footing the bill.

Is there no ego in P-class because it's "grass roots" racing? Please. Just read a few posts. The P-class guys are the heart and soul of the sport, but they have loads of ego.

Ego isn't the problem. That's not why the groups aren't unified. From the SBI side, it's about commerce. Nothing wrong with that. From the OSS side, it's about a group of owners controlling their destiny. Nothing wrong with that, either. What's the potential upside for the two groups getting together, aside from giving us, the fans, a better show? Will both groups suddenly get rich and prosperous. Heck, the guys in OSS are, for the most part, already rich and prosperous. They's just looking to flex their egos and have a good time.

From the SBI side, why would Mr. Carbonell want to relinquish any control? Who's going to guarantee him that he'll make more money if he unifies with OSS? He's been around a long time. He's watched "visionaries" come and go, and he's managed to survive. Not a big SBI fan here, but I have to give him credit for tenacity.

Offshore racing isn't a public trust. Suggesting that groups unify for "the good of the sport" is a pleasant notion, but not terribly realistic.

I think an absolutely killer television show on offshore racing, maybe even series coverage if handled right. People watch bass fishing, for god's sake, and surely we can do better than that. But would offshore attract a mainstream audience? Never. Because it's not a mainstream activity, nor is it (like NASCAR, though I hate the comparison) related to a mainstream activity.

History is not on our side. Sad as it, splintering, factionalism or whatever you want to call it has been going on for a very long time.

Take it farther offshore and you'll lose the casual fans we have. Sponsor bucks will become even harder to find.

I think the key is to scale our expectations. Just because we love offshore doesn't mean it will ever play to the mainstream. We need to enjoy it for what it is. We can push it to be better ... a great television product is completely possible and streamling and making it more fan friendly is the only sensible answer to this poll ... but it won't be mainstream. Ever. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see it.

Chris Sunkin

You hit the nail on the head. Think about the mindless drubs staring at their TV's watching the crap that's on there. NASCAR (and virtually every other sport) didn't get popular until it became much less about the action and more about the drama. Remember, Jerry Springer is a ratings god- nobody watches C-SPAN.


NASCAR wouldn't play in China because no one there can envision themselves behind the wheel. Since everyone hear has a car and drives on highways thru cities, it's not too tough a sport to relate to for us. Boatracing is way too foreign to most people. A huge percentage of our population has never been on a boat and of the chunk that has, it's a very infrequent activity.

I do remember back in the 80's that offshore got quite a bit more media attention. Something to do with a very popular TV series and celebrities involved in the sport.

Maybe if Mann hadn't cut out all those scenes...