marinetrans

Chris, How is your motor. Did you yank it out yet?

chriscarbone

nope not yet, played with it on monday nothing major

KenD

It looks as if that this announcement is extending the olive branch to the offshore community, creating the opportunity for unification that the majority of us have been longing for.

After reviewing the SBI/APBA Rule Book, it appears there is a way to unify SBI/APBA, OSS, OPA, GLSC, and POPRA under one big tent. After all, the groups are not really that far apart, they have the same rules, just worded differently, and each does the same thing, put on offshore powerboat races…each with their own flavor.

The mechanics are in place that will allow all groups to unite for a World Championship, and with a little creative interpretation of the SBI/APBA rules, emerge into 2006 as one unified offshore racing world. Do yourself a favor, read the SBI/APBA General Rules and every time you read the word “Association” or “Member Club” plug in GLSC, OSS, GLOPRA, OPA or whoever you like to call your home team.

A little tweak here, a little tweak there, and WALA. If unification is what you truly want, the opportunity is here and the time is now.

As for those who would to turn this into something negative, American journalist, Sydney J Harris said it best, “If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem”.

Ken Doyle

thedonz

I happened to look at the SBI site yesterday and noticed this at the bottom of the page. I also interpreted it as a means of allowing everyone to race together for a unified World Championship if they were there last year.

good questions about the points...it seems then that the points accumulated last November should count.....

I see this as a very positive move

chriscarbone

It would have been alot positive back in may, u would have a lot more boats

chriscarbone

They should set something up for next year for any two starts anywhere counts towards the worlds, let sbi, oss, opa, the california club all have there races and a national if they would like, crown there national champs and everyone race under sbi for the worlds since they have key west locked down as a site, its by far the best site. ( the two starts really killed us this year)

Ron P

Is nothing sacred? After all that has happened, now SBI is saying to the OSS teams that they don't have to have two SBI starts to race in Key West? Wasn't the exact opposite told to them many many times?

That 2 start rule has always been in the APBA UIM rulebook. This was never the ruling in the past. If so, a boat could just run at the Worlds and not anywhere else throughout the year. The two start minimum was to prevent exactly that. That's why no one could argue with John's reply to OSS about having two APBA starts in 05. Now, a complete reversal of that decision?

The Worlds are the last races of the season. It's only becuase of when registration money is paid that it has an overlapping effect. Your actually saying that last years worlds and this years worlds, are in the same year.

If last year was 04 and this year is 05, then how could the 04 races qualify anyone for the 05 season?

If last years races were the 05 worlds, and this is the 06 worlds, please show me who won the 04 worlds.

It's a good effort to get more boats to run in Key West, however this kind of creative thinking should have taken place many months ago. I truly wish it had.

KenD

Apparently, the most sacred race in offshore is the Key West World Championship. Otherwise, the countless conversations, web posts, and opinions expressed would not have been devoted to the subject.

Arguably, the Key West World Championship races have created the most dissension between OSS and SBI/APBA this year. However, lets not forget that there are other benefactors of the decision to count the 2004 Worlds races as qualifiers for the 2005 Worlds, most notably the teams in the Central Division who had no opportunity qualify for the 2005 World Championships due to the absence of qualifying races in their area.

As Albert Einstein observed, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." The decision to revisit this contentious subject and find a solution to one of the major issues that has plagued the offshore community for the past several months is in my opinion, commendable. If we can keep the momentum of this type of problem solving moving forward, without getting bogged down in the muck of finger pointing and accusations, there is a chance of making real progress toward what should be our goal for 2006, unification of offshore powerboat racing.

It seems inevitable that someone will complain when something good comes along. Reminds me of the guy who found a one hundred dollar bill on the sidewalk and complained about how he had to find someone who had five twenty dollar bills to make change. Your fellow journalist, Sydney Harris, whom I quoted before was right.

Respectfully,

Ken Doyle

AugiePensa

Ken, very good. The bottom line is if you want to race Key West, Come and Race!

Xtremeracing

Ron,

I'm not sure what part of this you are not getting ?? It is not a reversal of any rule but a clarification. The 2004 Worlds is the start of the 2005 season, and someone ask a question and it was answered.The board reviewed the rule book and replied quickly as always .

Nothing has changed, the rules stand and still say that ALL boat must race 2 SBI races to qualify for the 2005 Worlds in KW !!! Also remember that the winners from the Worlds last year qualify to run the 2005 Worlds.

The boat count will be what it is and I'm sure from the teams that I've spoken to it will be another great year at KW like always. With teams from SBI/APBA/OPA/OSS/POPRA/UIM this should be a true Worlds again as it was last year.