Yea , sure it's the fans fault the boats no-show or break frequently.

I was far from a spectator. I got involved in offshore when my father was one of the founders of the sarasota race. I built Reggie Fountains 40' and 47' that he raced, worked for Bill Sirois with the Super Hawaii team. was Alcone's crew chief, built Relief Band Supercat, Spirit of Puerto Rico Supercat and many more. milk was more than .50 cents a gallon and we ran 160 mph for 140 miles often with seas getting to 8-10 foot in some parts of the course. we spent millions for nothing in return but we did it to win races and championships and we did both. no they run courses that are barely bigger than the unlimited hydros run and still drop lilke flies. I was involved in offshore because I loved the sport but and I was part of it. after giving it up and watching it as a spectator I can say it is really boring to watch. sorry if that offends you but it is a fact. if it was not fact then it would have a bigger audience than a couple thousand people on this website.

For every opinion there is an opposing view(Nobody is right or wrong)... Your right Comp, those long distance races were great and where we all came from, however, why did they ALL change to the new short course format? OPA, SBI, even the former APBA LLC, the former OSS part 1 and Part 2 all run/ran the 5-6 mile lap courses.... Now if its boat count you want, might I suggest you go and support OPA as they have a consistent fleet of 30-40 30ft and under boats and put on a great show... With your resume, I am sure they would appreciate any insight you could bring to them... Or you can sit behind your keyboard and complain how bad it is now and keep telling us how great it used to be

"Build it and they will come"

personally I dont like the short courses, I dont think it added anything to the excitement (just my opinion). I think of all the groups OPA has done the best to create something and I hope they continue the way they have. as for sitting behind the keyboard and complaining nothing is further from the truth. I spent many years working with those in charge, my late wife put on the Ft. Lauderdale event back in the day and we both met with the same end result. "this is how we have always done it and this is how we are going to do it". after years of dealing with short sighted people who have no desire to even consider a better way to do something you find something better to do. again just my opinion but in order for offshore to be something bigger than it is all the people in charge of running it need to go away and you need to start from a clean slate. the few thousand people that live and breath boats is not going to sustain it. more people turn out to watch kids on skate boards ride around than have ever shown up at an offshore race. this is probably the only sport that has grown and collapsed as many times as it has and yet the same people are running it, how can we expect any different results going along this path? again just my opinion and probably not worth the keyboard it is written on.

Sounds like you have a great plan, you would be the perfect guy to start a new organization and get the ball rolling.

concur. also will be curious to see if randy returns with something other than the current UL class mti is sold. Hassan has been dropping hints, so that remains to be seen as far as anything concrete. good luck to lucy to get anything of significance racing in Sarasota, for a long time

I think it's all a matter of opinion- I know I've been vocal before on this topic and have been absolutely blasted. I think it would be different if we were talking in person.

I feel yes as a fan- that the courses were shortened smartly for viewing purposes for the FANS. I've always just simply said that why not just do away with extremes class and have more boats in Super Cat. I think (my opinion) it would just be better with more boats in same class. It would do these things for the teams already racing in extreme-
1. Finish more races
2. More completion- better racing. It gets too spread out.
3. Less Maintenance
4. More fun for teams when they can make it to the checkered flag more often
5. Savings in $$

Now I respect all the teams in extreme, never said I didn't, they do put on a show and it is cool. But from a competition racing stand point, I'm simply giving constructive feed back.

-Chad

I would have no problem with helping with that but I dont want to be the lead simply because I have other things happening but there are multiple problems with doing so. since everyone wants to voice their opinions (which is the great thing here) lets do so but without the rose colored glasses people on here tend to have because of their love of the sport.
a sport makes it or fails not because of the number of people who are directly involved but by the number they can draw in as spectators and fans. so far offshore has failed to draw those outside the circle in to watch. that is all that sponsor's, cities, and media care about. offshore needs to find a way to fix that.
television is not going to happen (except here and there, but nothing of significance) until you have something to show them that is exciting to watch. so far none of the shows have been. it has nothing to do with it really being exciting but rather what it is perceived to be. NASCAR is pretty boring with the exception of a half dozen moments but they make it seem to be by the way it is edited and the way the announcers call the events. golf is the most boring thing in the world to watch but millions tune in to watch because of the way it is presented. there is no magic to it but there needs to be tons of video shot from the helicopter, in the boats and from every turn boat and support boat so you can edit it into an exciting appearing show.
classes need to be realigned as was said so you have more boats in fewer classes. also they need to bring back divisional racing. back in the old days you raced in your division with the exception of the few national classes. the national boats raced at select division races which then made up the national circuit. if you finished the year in the top three of your class you then got to go the KW to race for your national championship against the top teams of the other divisions. this gave you an incentive to race all your races and you didnt have to travel all over the country if you ran a smaller divisional boat. this kept costs down and travel time down for the smaller guys.
as for smaller courses, while I respect the opinion of those that like it I still dont think it helps. go to a NASCAR race. if you are in the stands or the infield you rarely can see the whole track but people still come. F1 draws huge crowds and you are lucky to see 1/4th of the track. some of the excitement comes from not knowing who is going to come back around in what position. again, the illusion that it is exciting.
stop tying to make gate at the pits. there are not that many non OSO people waiting to get in. just accept that there is no money to made by fans showing up and instead give them something to come see to help make them want to learn more. also more needs to be done in the pits to give them that fun experience. I dont know how many times I have walked through the pits and team members were sitting on the trailer drinking beer in dirty t-shirts. that is not someone with their kids in tow want to see. teams need to be more professional appearing and acting. I know that not all can afford fancy uniform shirts, etc. but they should always be in a clean t-shirt and all similarly attired at the least. they should also be aware of how they talk to and interact with the public. it doesnt take much to turn someone off that is new to the scene.
one thing I always wanted the organization to do is provide a tent for the teams to bring sponsors and VIP's to. all the teams could kick in a few bucks to cover it and it would give them a place to sit and talk with sponsors and the like and a place for them to go to relax while teams may be out practicing, etc. not everyone can afford a big hauler and when you have a sponsor show up they need to be treated like royalty and more often than not they end up wandering around in a hot parking lot. a tent with cold drinks and a big tv showing the races would go a long way in making the money people feel special.
there needs to be a better commitment from the racers at the beginning of the year to the organization. cities dont give a rats butt how many people you think will show up. they dont care anything about your race. they care about one thing. how much money will it bring in to the city! heads and beds. in UIM they put up a bond at the beginning of the year as a guarantee they will show up at each race. if they miss one they lose part of the bond. why? so the race promoter can go to the city and say "here are the number of boats that are going to be here". not "we hope 20 will be here but maybe 30 or possibly 10". if you cant fill the hotels and restaurants with certainty then the cities move on to the group that will, even if it is the federation of sidewalk street artists. they only care about the money.

lastly, and sorry for the long winded post, in order to build a real organization it takes money, there is a lot that needs to be done and it would take years for it to come back around so the funds need to be there to survive the teething years. so far lots has been spent by many well meaning teams but most seems to go to entertain or fluff ego's. nothing wrong with that in and of itself but it doesnt make for a better series.
again just my opinion for someone who has been on every side of it.

The editing part of youre comment is spot on .All the action is there ,you just need to show it .
Cam.s on the buoy,s ,helo ,support boats , and of of course in the cockpit .and shuffle them around during editing .
As far as a live show this past year they did the best to date in my opinion.