Waterfoul

many of us are trying to plan our summers and may want to be patrol boats. Any information would be appreciated.

Mike

Waterfoul

Bummer, thanks Shane.

Julie22

iTrader: (1)

No Grand Haven Race in Michigan due to lack of commitment from the racers. The Series gave the Racers what they wanted more prize money / tow money / a voice / and this is what the Series gets in return no commitment. There is a race in St.Clair, Michigan in July 29, 30, 31 of 2005 if you would like to be a patrol boat or volunteer for anything else, please contact myself Julie at [email protected] or Steve Brunner at [email protected] Thank you

boatme

Julie that is not all of the story on the demise of a race in Grand Haven

My Girlfriend Cherie put on races for two years in Grand Haven (2002 & 2003) with help from myself and a few others she mended old fences that had been broken by past race promoters that had pillaged and ran

we paid all the bills, and the races were successful even though we had our share of internal struggles Cherie kept things on track

Then last year we decided to step back and wait till the dust settled with all sanctioning body's We told most all the groups they should wait and not pollute a pristine race site by letting just anyone put on a race on there behalf

well no one listened and a race came to Grand Haven last year Promoted by a new group

From a spectators standpoint the race was great, and went off well, but in the back round all hell was breaking loose

the city and the Coast Guard and even the DNR were firing off emails to each other about how bad things were run and i was given a copy of the email written by the person in charge at the Coast Guard that said, and I quote "I have never been so professionally insulted as I was working with this organization this weekend"

The city was left pissed off and I have been told by the Coast Guard and the city of Grand Haven that if a race ever comes back here "it would be held to a entirely different set of standards than in the past"

The City has been left with a unpaid bill for services (unpaid as of one week ago) and support services that were hired for things like Tents and signage have been left with unpaid bills in the thousands

The promoting group has shrugged off any responsibility and for the most part disbanded and ignored any responsibility

There will have to be many things done to clean up the mess left in the city. Do i sound bitter? yep i am, Cherie, myself and a few other volunteers worked hard to give offshore a good name in Grand Haven via the races, and in one year it has all been destroyed

Bob L and I have a good reputation with the Smoke On The Water Poker Run we put on in Grand Haven, but we tend to get lumped in with the race boats by local officials and it has required more baby sitting with the city to keep them calm with the poker run stuff

The GLSCS series started to crumble 2 years ago and its demise was imminent
It is our hope that the OSS will flourish, and the APBA/SBI group will grow.
both groups seem to be trying hard to do the right things to help racing on the water get back to the prominence it once had and god bless them in there efforts
Hopefully there will be racing back in Grand Haven in a few years again
but it isn't happening this year that is for sure

Marc

Julie22

iTrader: (1)

Marc you and Cherie have always done a great job I am not knocking that around at all. All I am saying is what I see with my own eyes. I have respect for Cherie and Marc you two are good people and you two have not done me wrong. I am sorry that other people have hurt you, it seems that we the volunteers seem to get stepped on the most along with the race site producers, there are some people out there who do not realize what it takes to put on a race, I for one thought it looked pretty easy, until I got involved, now all I can say is holy sh-- and please we need the racers to commitment. We the volunteers my not have the money that the racers have but our time is worth just as much. At least I think so. Thanks Marc Say Hello to Cherie for me. Also tell her I will not lift my shirt for her.

Julie

boatme

Julie ,

as site producers we have a responsibility, and we knew that going in

putting on races won't make money, it cost money, we do it for love of sport not to make money

to act professional and meet all criteria from the governing body's and treat them with respect and even to schmooze them a bit is really in the best interest of the event in general

the people we work with were all treated poorly by the other group last year, and they made demands on the city (not requests) then left them holding the bag

The city and coast guard were not even invited to the awards ceremony to be thanked for there help (We gave them Plaques after our events and recognized them at the awards presentations )

we came up just a little bit short on our bills when we put on the races here, but we paid them out of our pocket. It wasn't our suppliers fault we decided to put on a race, and it was our responsibility to see all got paid

My issue is that if you are not prepared to cover your losses or at least have a plan that address these issues you shouldn't put on a race

The organizations that are racing should look at the ability of the promoter to live to there commitments and shouldn't just be a part of a race because someone said they will put one on for them

We knew this group was going to be a problem and we shared that with the race organizations. It fell on deaf ears

Seems like the desire to race in any given area overshadows doing some research to see if those wishing to promote an event are capable

keeping the image up is important Lord knows offshore gets enough bad rap

We have alot more bad press in offshore than anywhere else we need to do it ALL right every time we are promoting the sport

I love offshore racing ,and offshore events. It is just that we need to keep a close eye on our sport and those who represent it and work to put it in the very best light et every turn

Julie I hope we see you at the MOPRA event in a few weeks

Marc

OffshoreRescue

So what else was it that you wanted and didn't get?

p4-33

Marc, nice summary of past events in GH. You and Cherie are great ambassadors for our sport, whether it's racing or poker running. It's the City of Grand Haven's loss for loosing you 2 as producers, and I can empathize with your position.

I have had awesome experiences racing in Grand Haven, and was hoping (planning) to do so again this year. Did I commit to registering for the entire season with GLSCS? No. Neither did a boat load of other race teams. The numbers speak for themselves, only 4 teams were on board.

Sanctioned racing, plain and simple. With the major sanctioning bodies making huge strides toward growing this sport again, we are seeing that satellite organizations trying to "go it on their own" are not surviving.

See you guys at Smoke on the Water!

Brian

OffshoreRescue

I couldn't get the actual quote in here, but you wrote:
"Sanctioned racing, plain and simple. With the major sanctioning bodies making huge strides toward growing this sport again, we are seeing that satellite organizations trying to "go it on their own" are not surviving."

You had sanctioned racing. Out of the 31 votes returned only 8 wanted to go with SBI/APBA. 19 said go with OSS. Both of those are "Major Sanctioning Bodies". As far as being a satellite organization, and not survivng, that remains to be seen. Noone has pulled the plug yet as an organization to my knowledge. You had a choice, it was made by majority vote. You can't race OSS without GLSCS, so now you can race in Florida (except for 3 races out of 12) on a national level, California (again 3 race exception out of 7 with one in FL), or you can race on the East Coast with OPA (all of those races were included in the GLSCS season). At least the GLSCS was trying to have some races in this area.

It takes more than an organization to put on races. Especially when that organization is all volunteer. The GLSCS does not have a paid staff that can go and setup and run an event whenever they feel like it. It relies on a race site producer to get the money and organize it. Find more people to take that job on between MI and OH, and you can have as many races as your heart desires. It's not that plain and simple.

Since you think that the GLSCS wasn't "Sanctioning Races", I would like to know what exactly you thought they were doing.
There aren't any benefits to having an SBI/APBA sanctioned race. They take the money you raise for the event leaving little to none for prize money (unless you up all the fees). They don't provide anyone to help with the event, and at the end of the year you end up with a divisional trophy that the series would have to buy. Why not "Go it alone", offer prize money, high point money, and a trophy for accomplishing the same thing.

This is not meant to bash you Brian as you are passionate about racing, and I know that is your goal (to race), but not supporting the local organizations doesn't help. If you think that SBI/APBA is coming this way anytime soon, I believe you will be waiting a long time. If that is the org you want to race with, I hope your wait is short, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Here's to you finding what your looking for

These are my thoughts on it given what I know. If I am wrong please correct me (and I know there are those out there that will).

boatme

Very interesting point "find more people to put on a race"
"raise money and and organizer it"

it begs the question WHY??? whats in it for the producers ???

This is where the famous line comes in

Question: How do you make a few friends in offshore racing???

Answer: Start out with a whole Lot of friends in offshore racing !!!

Until racing becomes more profesional and less like a another reason to party, it wont move on to the next level

OSS and SBI/APBA are trying to make Offshore a more professional operation in my opinion, and are working hard on Image as that is what will bring sponsors in (a good Image)
this is a step in the right direction

The divisional groups need to start the ball rolling in the right direction at there level, and should be the standard to move up from, not the standard to move away from

seeing a race boat on the water that has the following verbiage painted on the back of their boat is deplorable

"our drinking team has a racing problem"

(I cant find the picture of this i have somewhere)

Until the divisional groups rethink how they portray them selfs to the general public there will be very little reason for anyone to put on races on there behalf

And until those leading those groups start to LEAD they will come and go

Just like in advertising, consistency is imperative

Get the Organization under control first then ask others to help you