2 Trick Rick

When people started racing boats seriously back in the 60’s it was a fun small sport back than. Very small, but incredibly fun or so I have been told. There were no out of the box race boats if you wanted to be part of the sport you had to work at it than build it. Than Don came along and you could buy a boat from the factory race ready and every guy living on a canal became a weekend racer. And the “old school” racers were cool with that because they saw it as confirmation of how great the sport was and how great it had become.

Offshore grew exponentially in the 70’s. To the point were it was much bigger than it is now, but because it was such a new sport everybody felt like they were on the ground floor of a great new thing. They would not complain about the way things were simply because they did not know any better. Than when it lost its fad status and settled down, the changes started coming. Some good and some bad, the powers that be became fixated on popularity and the who’s who in the pits.

Now too much popularity may not ruin a sport, but it changes it for the worse most the time. A sports founding traditions, history, customs, values and beliefs go out the window and will be quickly forgotten as new people flood in. People will dilute the purity of the goal, abuse the value system, alter the mindset, and weaken the resolve of the founders and then move on to wreck havoc on the next fad they find. It doesn’t matter to the new guys whether the sport they jumped into and eventually changed with their non-core values maintains it’s purity, because they are just passengers on the bus that stopped at an Offshore Race and will pick them up and take them to the next “hot” spot after this. We have very few people left in this sport who remember were it came from (much like me) with new teams and people entering and existing the sport every 3 to 4 years with each adding a little to the stew or taking something away.

Now look what we have today, Forget about the minor squabbling we see and look at the full on name calling, back stabbing and fighting online for everyone to see. I watched what appeared to be a great class grow and than start to tear it selves apart right in front of me in a matter of months. Why? It seems like this sport has developed the lobster effect; simply put one lobster will never let another lobster get free from the pot. This unfortunately seems to be the norm. Modern offshore racers don’t usually like to see other succeed were they have failed. If one tries to do something positive, another instantly starts looking for ways that it will not succeed. Instead of giving hypothetical reasons while something will fail, why not encourage someone efforts or work together for a positive result? Teams need to realize what might be good for the sport might not be good for them and try and remember the sport is bigger than anyone, no one is bigger than the sport.


I for one I’m tired of all the negativity.

Runnin-n-Gunnin

I'm with ya Rick!! The problem is that it's always so much easier to be negative about things than be positive!! It seems there are no strings attached when you are negative/destructive, and the only repercussions that occur when a negative direction is taken, is it becomes a joke!! But it’s no joke!! The people who try to build something are left with a growing bag of sh!t! It takes enough time and energy to be positive and build! It would be something else-like fantasy land-if any negative movements were either not said or the statements turned positive! Or, more people actually, physically worked in a positive direction to BETTER “The Sport”!!

The economy has been hurting us all bad enough without even one other person adding crap to things and causing further harm!! We are part of something awesome that few people get to do, and we should all respect that and each other. Fun smack talk is one thing, but people gotta back down when bad intensions creep in.

Individuals are their own worse enemy!! That is mirrored across today’s society. You can replace “Individuals” with “Racers”, “Workers”, “People”…He!!, even “I” can go there. I’ve made my share of mistakes, and I learn and move forward! The negativity needs to be handled in a way that its desired result is not achieved.

“I for one I’m tired of all the negativity.” X2!!


Steve

Wahoo ATV

Negativity brings more negativity. I have been feed up with the constant whining of some of the non P Classes and that has changed the tone of many of my posts. I don't care for people slamming manufacturers or coming on these sites and whining like little girls because they are getting beat, spent their inheritance or someone took their line in the first turn.

That being said it can not always smiles, sometimes people need to tell it like it is.

DriverofDonzi

bring negatively needs to stop!

Chris

wot

"Why do cats and dogs fight? Cats are suspicious of anything .. but curious too. Dogs like to chase movement!
When they meet ..the dogs wants to sniff the cat, but the cat is afraid ..and so he runs ...that run is a challenge to the dog.. he immediately runs after the cat.

But if a dog stays still the cat gets curious ... he tries to approach the dog .. the first thing a cat does, when facing an unknown object or animal, is to test him. This cat's test is usually done with the paw, beating against the unknown thing... usually the dog sees this as an attack ... and riot starts!!"

Hauling Trash