Maybe history can repeat itself....;)

A field of close to 20 boats perhaps???:)

:cool: :cool: :cool:

Good luck at the meeting on the 16th. Bulldog is a class act. There is a great bunch of SOBs (and MOBs) in the Babylon/GSB area. Kirk's idea of one ea LI manufacturer supporting one ea SOB (a great name, btw, keep it) is super. It would bring the racers together AND it would bring the manufacturers together.

You guys are doing a great job on this.


Mike

I guess we'll find that out after the OPA meeting...;)

The way i see it, How can you say NO to 20 + Boats and $10.000 in entry fees.


MIke

Thank You to all that attended the meeting today in Long Island at Pit Bull's shop. Looks like we have a good foundation to move forward with.

DPT

From the desk of Mr. Ron Polli

Hello Race Fans,

While there is still some racing to be done this year for the World
Championship title, OPA is looking toward next season and would like to hear your thoughts. OPA wants to discuss what went right in 2003 and what could have been done better. If you are racing with OPA or plan to race with OPA in 2004, please attend this meeting as now is the time to make any adjustments. Volunteers of OPA, NJ Offshore and CBPBA are invited to participate as well. This is the meeting where everyone has a voice.

Please mark your calendar for Saturday December 13th 2003 for the OPA meeting. The meeting will start at noon and the location of the meeting will follow in a few days. We wanted to give you as much advanced notice as possible as this tends to be a very busy time of the year for all of us. The meeting will be in the Point Pleasant-Bricktown NJ area.

Stay tuned.

Ron


Ron, If today was any indication of the participation in the Single Outboard Vee class...YOU ARE GONNA NEED A BIGGER PLACE!!!
May I suggest Jenkinsons? I think Mr Storino would be quite impressed.....;)

My Many Thanks!
 

I would like to thank the close to 30 to 40 people that came out today in support of the S.O.B.'s "Single Outboard Boats"
and meeting with us at Pit Bull's shop.

An extended thanks goes out to Pit Bull for opening the doors to us all.

Many ideas have been exchanged. I see some serious interest to make this class go forward.

What we will try to do is go over the notes that had been taken down and try to come up with several options for many of you to vote in favor for.

As I said, we all would like to try to keep it as simple as possible. Obviously nothing will be casted in stone, but at least we will have a starting point to address the OPA with.

At this point, I feel it will be more important than ever for all to do their best to make this OPA meeting. We had almost 40 people today, and we only started this post 2 weeks ago. Spread the word to whoever else you may know that may be interested in this type of racing.

Voices & Cash speak much louder than just a few of us showing up with some names on a piece of paper.

As it was once said, VOTE WITH YOUR BOAT!!!

If it is found necessary, will many of you be interested in having one more meeting prior to OPA to finalize the details a bit? If not, we will try to make use of this board as much as possible.

Thanks again for George Linder, Rich Luhrs (Designers & Builders of many great boats), Kirk from Kryptonite Powerboats, John of Superboat Powerboats, Herb of Intimidator, Kevin of Progression as well as Joey Impressia & crew from East Coast Marine along with many others that I may not have personally got a chance to meet.

Hope to see everyone again soon! Thanks again for taking the time to come out.....

Sounds like this thing is gonna happen! Sorry I can't get up to Jersey on the 13th (CBPBA Christmas Party). But I will get with Kurt ASAP after to find out what went on. I am really looking forward to seeing the little boats mix it up in Cambridge:cool: Heck, we got a couple of V8's hanging around, maybe I can find a 24 Banana or something like that to hang one on:D

Great meeting, great pictures also. Looks like it has the support of the manufacturers also, great rallying point for all. See y'all on the 13th!

Check out the Banana in the classifieds for 5k
It would be nice for this class

Ted,

How many boats from your area do you think would be interested?

Unknown at this time. If this thing looks like it is gonna happen we'll pump it up and see who pops up. I have spoken with a few people that might be interested but no firm commitments yet. The funny thing is I can think of 5 guys that sold boats like that in the past few years. Obviously there may be more racers from this area now that we have had a successful race here and they know racing is back. Good luck to all involved with this, I will do whatever I can to support the effort.


And I would look cool in that Banana:D :cool:

Sharkey
 

We have two 21 Challengers here, one is already being rigged Wazzup II

Ut oh......
Looks the level up competition in the S.O.B'S just went up dramatically.....I already see a LI vs NJ rivalry in the making with WAZZUP II joining the fleet.Maybe one of the LI teams should be called YO:crazy:

Re: Sharkey
 

WAZZUP,
You don't know how great that is to hear! So I take it you will be a yes vote... ;) :cool:


3 more to go fellas!!!! :) :) :)


I really didn't want to state any #'s that I see will be going racing, but after your commitment, let me just say I feel we are well into the double digits! :cool: :cool: :cool:

Sharkey et al, did read the minutes. I don't at all speak for OPA (my adoption papers are barely 6 months old ..) but I noticed two points:

Course: If the SOB race will be part of an OPA race, then the SOBs will have to race the course everybody races. There are no special courses for certain classes.

Fees: In the past, OPA did pride itself to have the same registration fees for all the classes, and the same purses were paid in all the classes, no matter how big or small the boat. I can imagine that they want to continue that. They might not want to offer a lower fee/no purse for certain classes. For fear of the can'o'worms.

Why limit the class size to 21ft? I have a 16.5FT v-hull with a hand built bridgeport, that I would race any single outboard. How does your average joe boater get into racing?

The guys had a (consideration) of keeping the course real close for the spectators and safety. If OPA has a 4 mile course, then they figured that at the halfway mark they could then have their turn without altering anything. Also, it was brought up as a safety concern by John of Superboat, that it may be better for them to run in a separate race from the bigger classes.

So the thought is, keep the course tight, make it the first race by themselves or with one other class. And put a time limit of 1 hour on the race so as not to interfere with the next race if it were to be too rough and may take too long to finish.



Originally posted by Peconic

OPA also said that they would consider the racer's point of you last year. Majority of the room at last year's meeting raised their hands in a vote for lower entry fees and no purse.
What happened?:confused: All classes got a higher fee and a purse to win. What will they have to lose by allowing these boats in at a reduced fee? The way I see it, they have everything to gain. More boats, more registration fees, membership fees, hotel rooms and a better sell to their sponsors. The other option, keep it unaffordable, and they will not see an increase in anything. It will remain status quo...
Hopefully this year, things can be worked out.

With this being a separate portion of OPA, if set-up right, it will not effect the larger classes purse and will not interfere with them out on the race course.
Picture it as being the Pre-Show for the bigger classes.
If OPA can make it truly affordable for these guys, they will get an unbelievable turnout.
$500 to go and race for a trophy is just not going to be attractive to them...and unfortunately some may not bother going racing. :(

Originally posted by H2OMPH
We are talking about Ocean Racing, not Bay racing.
It is possible for Insurance reasons to not permit a 16 footer. I don't know...
But take a look at APBA, they have several classes for the smaller boats from Stock Outboard, Outboard Performance Craft, to Formula One. That is if you want to get your feet wet...;)

I think that course size could be dictated by weather and wave conditions. Also you have to take into account the fans. If you have people stretched all the way down a beach to watch a race and the last half find out that there is a race they can't see-they might get a little testy. In Cambridge we woul likely run the full course since the place is calmer water and the course is like a stadium anyway. Running with other classes should be an option depending on turnout so that each race will have good boat counts. Although I suspect OPA turnout will be great next year due to their growing popularity.
As I said before-as long as fixed costs can be met there should be a way to lower fees.


As fo size restrictions,there are 2 determining factors-insurance and the Coast Guard. You have to give them minimum boat sizes and maximum speeds in order to get insurance and permits. I doubt either would approve of the idea of a 70 mph 16 foot boat out there in offshore conditions.

To all those interested in SOB Racing that plan on attending the OPA Metting December 13, 2003. We need to get input from the people who are wanting or talking about running in this class for next year. We need to submit a very good proposal to OPA and we need input on it. PLease feel free to post your concerns,ideas, etc.,etc. or email them to me.

Dennis P Tracey
[email protected]

Dennis,
I heard that they were thinking of making the single outboard boats run in P5 I hope that is only a rumor.Do you know if they will have there own class or what,hopefully they will be a stand alone class.

As of right now nothing is set in stone. All the final decisions will be made at the OPA meeting of whether it is P5 or whatever it will be. We need as many people from your area including yourself to make it to the meeting to support this. Thanx for your ?s and concerns

DPT
:D :D :D

ps 1HYPER1, Please email me at [email protected].

Hyper,

What most are hoping for is simply a 21 to 24 ft Single Outboard Vee bottom class. If it means to modify the rules in P-5 to make this happen then so be it.
If inboards are going to still be allowed in P-5 with these guys, then the will seek another venue. Some of us just suggested to give OPA a shot at taken on these boats. It is certainly a WIN-WIN situation for OPA to take them on. If not, then OPA will just stay the way it is.
If they are not willing to push the Inboard boats up to P-4 than the only alternative would be to create another class.
We will have to see what happens at the meeting....

my old 22 Velocity
 

..just found this pic

Re: my old 22 Velocity
 

Now all we have to do is find the boat! ;) :D :D :D

Ha!....you're right there Shark!!....Proroc sold it for me..think it's in South Jersey.....

I didn't know Regal made any of the O/B boats. I thought they only made the I/O ones.

Something else that I heard in the rumor mill is that the supercats might want to come and race with OPA but Kurt will want them all to run in P1 and they feel that they should have a Super Cat class & A Super Cat Light class which I think is the correct thing to do,I also think that it would be great to have these guys at the OPA events because they deffinetly draw a croud and have a very large following.What is the rest of your opinions on this.
I will see you guys in December at the meeting.

If you limit the P5 class to outboards only you will be pushing boats out of the class like myself. I cannot and will not compete against true P4 boats. I am a true P5 boat. I was not competitive this year....but the boats that need to move to P4 are going to do so. If OPA is not willing to make the SOB's their own class then what happens to me?

QBall,

I am not really sure of what route OPA is going take with this as of right now. May be possible that the SOB's will be running against you in P5. I don't think it is going to effect you in anyway other then maybe some more competition for you. If not P5 then maybe another class. Again to soon to really tell but I think you will be fine.

DPT

Keith,
I agree, the simplest solution and the way to accomodate the SOB's is to let them run in there own class. I would think this would satisfy the OB guys and also bring some revenue into OPA. The SOB's have the potential to be the largest class. Running IO's with OB is what ruined this class to begin with, so running the SOB's in P5 won't work.
I'm sure this will all be addressed at the meeting.
Bob

I hope they let the SOB's run in P5.....I would welcome and love the opportunity to run against a field of 15 or more.
If an inboard boat runs 70 mph and an outboard run 70 mph what is the difference? The only advantage i see is the weight issue....but, next years OPA schedule looks like it may be split 50/50 between ocean races and river races.....so then who has the advantage?

any of you OB guys know of someone looking for a 24' twin??....my bro's boat.....bad azz!!

See!! I told you not to sell the 22' :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D

Hell...we could each have one now!!

:mad: :D

And tow them with our Harleys.:cool:

Kurt Does not want more class . If he lets the cats have a class then he has to have a class for the SOB .

Then everyone want there own class


Mike

Sharkey and Myself met with Smitty and Kurt of OPA this evening briefly and received permission to move forward as we are. They are very open to the SOB's and Smitty himself has a boat that he is going set up to run in the class. Needless to say even though short, Sharkey and Myself feel very good about this moving forward the way we anticipated.

DPT
:D :D :D

Why wouldnt Kurt want more classes like Super Cat and Super Cat LIght it would only help the sport especially in the North EAST area,Hell he could even put motors in his cat and race it again.Anyone that is apposed to positive change like growing the field of boats whether it is single outboard boats or super cats needs to either have their head examined or just plan get out of the sport because there ego is getting in the way.Lets face the truth our sport is full of ego maniacs and rich winey hineys but it is also filled with people that do truly care and love the sport,with or with out alot of money lets do what is right for the sport.Let the single outboard guys run in there own class where they should be and let the Super Cat guys run in there Super Cat or Super Cat Light classes and grow the show of boats and spectators and that will help the sport grow.Be part of the solution or get out of the way,the sport needs help in any way it can get not a bunch of bull**** like running boats in the wrong classes like what has been done in the past.