Cord

iTrader: (2)

For those prices, you could buy a navigator's position on Jim Valenko's boat! You could even split the cost and go One Design racing!

Ron P

Why do you guys love to throw mud at OSS, you know they aren't going to see a penny of this money, and the promoters actions will probably have an adverse reaction to thier race. Such as not having any patrol boats on the course.

Someone is smoking crack.

boatme

Ron,

You asked for the facts and I posted them along with the promotors web site who are asking for the money. No mud slinging here just providing the facts you and others requested

Mbam

Donz, didn't realize that was you, I was the turn boat @ 1-2, we did good there didn't we, everybody else got rained on. I've done medical for Carbonell a couple of times in the past, as you say nice people and always very apreciative.

THEJOKER

Leave the OSS Group along gang. They're non-profit and the best thing offshore racing has ever seen. BH

Chris288

Talk about cutting off your nose,,, I can't imagine people paying to volunteer their time.. good luck,,, wait until THEY have to start paying people to volunteer because nobody shows up,, well then they are no longer volunteer's are they... want to help out and get involved with being a partol boat,, stick with SBI, you get tee-shirts, a flag and they treat you with respect and value that your willing to help..

Rambunctious

thanks for the consistent response all.

I think we can separate this from the racing organizations as i think it is a promotor thing locally.

(he did respond that it is common across the us for OSS,but i know better )

so we have about 4 boats from our club that will volunteer for free if they get into a bind and cannot fill the required patrol boats. that is what i am going to email him. then i will wait and see.

no major loss as i know the race course and what time they will clear the course. if i am not a patrol boat this year, I will know the line to stay behind by 1' and will be anchored for a good view regardless. I don't blame them for thier efforts to raise funds to hold the event. just getting sponsors for race patrol might work better than patrol fees.

thank

Ramb

pappo

I was a patrol boat in last years race and had a great time. It is always a pleasure to donate time to folks who appreciate it. My friends and I were treated with respect and received t-shirts and a bag full of assorted goodies. I definitely would have done it without the t-shirt for the love of the sport and to do my part to promote it, as I'm sure most other people would have too!

I couldn't believe it when I saw the title of this posting. I find it so hard to believe that someone would think that keeping drunk idiots off the race course, dealing with morons who don't know how to set their anchors, running up hours on your engines, burning fuel, donating your free time to go to drivers meetings, is somehow a privilege that you must pay for!

Putting on these races is a huge undertaking. Trying to charge the very people that help them to make the races a success is probably not the best thing financially and definitely not the best for the sport. You end up with two things, not enough patrol boats to make the event safe and run the risk of having it cancelled by the Coast Guard and reduced turnout for the event because of the bad publicity that this decision has made. Bad turnout=less sponsor money! Hmmmm?

Since I boat in Grand Haven I am embarassed and disappointed. I can't tell you how cool it was to see offshore racing back in Grand Haven the last couple of years and the huge amount of boats lining the outside of the course. I can only hope that this mismanagement doesn't hurt the future of racing in Grand Haven.

I will not be participating as a patrol boat this year because I refuse to perpetuate stupidity. I definitely do not want this to become standard practice at races. It will kill the sport! It is shameful to take advantage of people's generosity.

The promoter should be big enough to admit that "Hey I f*@k'd up" and rectify the situation. The promoter should also realize that there are a lot of people in the Grand Haven area that would love to see the races be a success and wouldn't mind donating their time. I happen to be one of those people. There's a lot of money to be saved when you are able to tap into people's kindness and love of the sport, not to mention the future following that comes out of it. The more people you get involved, the bigger the sport will become. BEING A VOLUNTEER IN THIS SPORT IS NOT A PRIVILEGE, ITS A NECESSITY! How the heck are we going to grow the sport this way?

When someone wants you to pay to work, THATS UN-AMERICAN!

My $.02

Tim G.

I highly doubt that I'll volunteer again...let alone pay to volunteer.
I was a turn/med boat at a race earlier this year. We paced/started the second heat.
The organizatio of the event left a lot to be desired.
Weather was so bad that safety was a huge factor.
The rescue diver in my boat was extremely scared and nearly crying.
Three big boats broke on the inlet, one landed on the beach.
My bilge ran non stop.
It took three days for me to clean my boat to my standards.
Swimplatform was scratched up from me retrieving rescue divers from the water.
Ran my engines for about 4 solid hours.
Never even got so much as a "thanks".

I'm not trying to bash the organizer at all. My point is that they need to respect and value their volunteers. Certainly not charge them.

This is going out the inlet. I had the entire second fleet behind me.

Ben@SRP

Ok... Just to clarify something; this event is not being promoted by OSS. This is being run and promoted by: WMPA Offshore, OSS is simply bringing raceboats. http://www.wmpaoffshore.com

Please understand each race event can vary as to who promotes the event. It could be OSS, APBA, GLSCS, Lee Mills, Biloxi Group, SBI or many others. Each event chooses how to pay for and raise money for its own event. As this case shows, WMPA Offshore has chosen to help compensate for some cost, and charge a (what I consider) small fee to some of it's volunteers of which they do receive some material compensation and other benefits of which they might not have originally received as volunteers. And these same people might even have bought these things anyway to support the local group, such as t-shirts, posters, VIP passes, etc.
I ask that we not judge someone or group as to how they choose to cover their expenses. APBA was bashed when Lee Mills chose to charge the people in Marathon a $175 VIP's entry, remember?
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...ead.php?t=79559
But APBA Offshore didn't have anything to do with that this VIP area or its rate. Again each event can vary. So please, let’s not judge or as was stated, throw mud at things, people or groups, that we might not truly understand or have all of the information. If you don't like it, don't volunteer. It's that simple.
I really don't want to offend anybody and I hope that I haven't, I just wanted to help some people understand a little more.

Also I saw this on their web site:
For more information, please contact Todd Chmelik @ 616-638-6204
http://www.wmpaoffshore.com/courseboat.htm

Ben Hedrick OSS