i know there alot of egos,but how can we as racers and support people and whoever enjoys racing get this done? sbi has the schedule and apba has the rules makes a great combo.

I guess you didn't look at the UIM site. They don't seem to recognize our world Champions.

Lobsterboy has a good point.
We used to have the best parties in the pits.
Everyone would get together & have a great time. Each team would bring something & before you knew it, arch rivals were sharing cocktails, great food & old war stories. It really brought the teams together & quite often, spectators would share in the fun.

Having dozens of World Champions each year has some benefit in the number of entries. However, it dilutes the value of the title. If it were left to me, I would try to align our top class, and whatever class most nearly matches their Class II, to the UIM rules. They are seriously slashing the cost of participation, and it might be a good time to try to unite. I was the US delegate to the UIM Offshore Commission in 1967, 8 & 9. We had harmony around the world, ruleswise. At Key West, about a third of the entries were foreign. Great racing! The lack of foreign participants is nearly 100% because their boats can't meet our rules.

I strongly recommend that some branch of APBA get a working delegate to the meetings in Europe and try to lay some ground work for the near future.

Equipment is the current obstacle. If we were to give up the #6 for shaft/rudder boats they might give up the Lambo v12 for the v8. We are both too entrenched in our respective vendor bases.

UIM C1 is suffering from dysfunction as well and would be interested cutting costs (Lambo v12) and increasing competition (i.e. entertainment product) but will not go backwards technologically (#6).

Your are correct. BUT, my point is that we should plant some seeds of harmony that might bear fruit down the way. It can work.

Jim, not to butt heads with you butwhy do we need the UIM to recognize our champions? They don't recognize ours.
You say "without the UIM, we simply have national champions". Well, isn't that what we really have? I mean, how can a team achieve "world champion" status without ever competing in an international event?
The closest I've seen was when SBI had Puerto Rico, Argentina, Japan, Norway and a Bahamian team competing.
There are alot of other countries like Australia and others with some great teams/ boats. Do they all cry UIM?
Again, I'm not bashing you. I just don't see why we need to wave the UIM flag here all the time

I completely agree....it's time for a discourse. C1 is self-promoted....racers looking out for racer's best interests. I'd bet they would be very receptive.

I never understood how the baseball guy's claimed a world title by playing mostly teams here in the US. Atleast we only had a boycott this fall and not a strike - BH

There has been talk of a 6.0L class in Europe to get Major manufactures involved. They all make something in that range. BMW Ferrari Ford Chevy Chrysler Toyota ect....
pat W

You would think that the winner of the US world series would play those guys from Japan and possibly other countries like they do in little league.

OK ...back to boating..............:D

Brian,

You are correct,unity is the only way the sport can move foward. If all the racers push in the same direction we can make a differance. Sbi has some great sites this year and 2 new TBA that I hear are also going to be exciting.
I just dont know if ego's will ever let that happen. I've spoke to alot of teams and they all seem like they just want to race and stay out of the politic.It could be fun again the way it was ment to be.

Frank

Deep V, I always had a great time at SBI and made quite a few friends there, great sites, ect, but until David recieves the check from last years Worlds, I still have a bitter taste in my mouth.

Shuron
We all know SBI took a hard hit in N.O. John has been making good on the deal . yes the money has been slow on the come. but I think most of the teams have been paid. but I guess not all yet. by end of this season we are paid in full including the 2003 worlds.
Hey you still have a lot of friends in SBI come visit
LA

I agree with you 100% but before anyone meets with any European delegate of the UIM , i think we need to fix our own back yard !! I am sure they have their own problems but you must admit we look like a joke over here !! WE can't even get along in own family ! Three world championships in the same country ??? :crazy: :crazy:

Two in the same state and the third only a few hours
away!!!
I have to say, at least it was on the SBI schedule all year.

djd don't you have a diaper to change,sea what we've become.I wouldn't change it for anything,jus can't wait to do both.soon!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Lobsterboy. We need to work on uniting our sport here first. It seems that there is real potential in 2004 for this to happen.

I hope you are right. Only great things would come if we could make that happen.

So now that we all seem to agree!! Let's do it !! Were do we start !! Im ready :eureka:

First we find someone to buy out the shareholders of LLC and then buy out JC. He then can become a major player in the other division. With all of the venues at his disposal he will have a lock on it. Lobsterboy, you game? Maybe Hugh Fuller or Tom Abrams. Boy would that be nice, one org., the best racesites, maybe some good TV, prize money, shoot venues would be shelling out megabucks to the organization if it was the only game in town(or on the water).

kilokat you have the pull call for a sitdown,with apba without many sites and sbi with all good sites its a no brainer for it to be done,now how do you do it. sauron is on to something,but the shareholders of the llc only have apba licence whats that worth?
if there was a major meeting in a central location and a couple reps from the racers and jc and kraft.
ONLY GREAT RACING WOULD COME OUT OF IT!!!!!!!

Hey Roger , i am not sure that is the ultimate answer here ? I still think that this is a gentlemen's sport and that a meeting among the "gentlemen" that are operating these races needs to happen, call it a "summit meeting" if you like,locked in a room ,and hash it out . Now let's not forget most of us involved in this sport is very opinionated {stubborn ,hard headed bastards} Not you guys reading this of course !!! Because of that maybe an external non conflicting person[s] you know someone like an accountant or a sailboat owner ! To be a buffer or negotiator!?!? Or maybe both organizations could possibly race at at the same location on the same weekend with different starts , but utilizing the same paceboat same helicopters and so on , you get the picture !! And maybe have a trailer to sell all the team shirts,every team would give X amount of shirts and all a portion of the sales would go to support some of the overhead and it would save us the B.S of having to sell shirts , because you all know at the end of the day we wined up giving more away then selling them !!!

KiloKat, if anyone can do it, you can. Godspeed.

SEA THIS BOARD CAN BE PRODUCTIVE ONCE THE NO-NAMERS AREN'T INTERFERING. YOU DON'T NEED THAT PRIVATE CLUB.
KILOKAT GET WITH GARY HE GOT ONE SITDOWN.
LOBSTERBOY YOU'RE ON TO SOMETHING TOO,BUT YOU NEED ONE BODY THOUGH TWO I DON'T THINK COULD WORK. KRAFT SEEMS LIKE A DOWN TO EARTH GUY,NOT LIKE ALLWEIS.

Kilokat I guess we have a lot of people that share the same dream we have.No matter what happens, with common goals next year will be great.Setting our goals are the first step but,having fun while we achieve them is the most important. We'll talk soon. Gary

And Lord knows Scott is doing such a great job of that...
Ya know Scott, if anyone started throwin chit directly towards SBI, you'd be all over them with flame throwers.
Keep up the good work there buddy... :rolleyes:

Roger,

You know there will every be a unity between LLC and SBI it was tried a few months ago. JC is not interested at all in any thing like that. I'm not even sure what LLC would have to bring to the table right now.

Frank
Koolhand

With all do respect Gordo ,some of the LLC members have been throwing crap about SBI over the years , MA being one of them ! And when the shoe is on the other foot ,the same people are on the attack !The bottom line is everyone is seeing all the facts now,i am not saying SBI is perfect in any way either , but John does not have a two page thread in powerboat mag making his organization look bad ! The bottom line is , we all agree that we are passionate for this sport and should use our power for good and not evil ! I am just as guilty as everyone else , but it is time to forget all grudges and move forward , at least for the holidays!!! Let's not forget this is a Gentlemen's sport , let's be Gentle 'MEN !Happy Holiday my brothers

Marc for President!!!!!

Hip Hip HOORAY !!! Hip Hip HOORAY !!!!

Actually, there has been quite a bit going on already. I have spoken/visited on numerous occasions with the parties involved and believe they are closer than they realize. It's really pretty simple, they can continue down the IRL/CART path of destruction or unite with good venues and solid rules/enforcement and prosper more like NASCAR! A "summit meeting" is probably a very good idea at this time and I would be more than happy to do whatever I can to facilitate this when the primary parties are ready. They monitor this board and know my phone number. All they have to do is call.

thank you kilokat you're a good person to have in our sport, now the people he's talking about call him and sitdown and lets move forward.
you want to trade a gtx for one of the bacardi boats 1200 sterlings.

some people need to read the powerboat article, kraft is quatedas saying kraft said "he will take a fresh look at everything,includingapba offshore relationship with sbi and key west and lee mills"
get the summit meeting set!!!

Is Gordon Kraft still the one in charge of APBA?

I heard (rumor mill) that it might be Nemshoff (sp?) these days.

For the good of the sport, this needs to happen.

LOBSTERBOY,
You brought a tear to my eye. And as usual you are on the mark. I think we also have to look at things from JC's point of view. 150 boats a race is his worst nightmare. He had a good and improving thing going before the LLC meltdown. He does not benefit greatly by merging with anyone at this point.

I think he might listen to a proposal which standardizes the rules and divides classes among two or so organizations.

Of course if someone buys and combines everything the parties could get lethal. SQ

Gary,
Are we going to see that big bad CAT race a few SBI races next year.

Frank
Koolhand

As many as we can afford . We are working on a co- sponsor that will help us run all of them.

Great,looking foward to see you in Miami.

Frank
Koolhand

I hope the 3 sanctioneers will be saying "All for one and one for all";)