Way to go Ralph, VFW, and other MCPA officials involved!
Regards,
Steve

Just a thought if the whole thing goes south...Maybe since it is an "organized event" you can make it an " unorganized event." In other words, they don't stop large groups of friends gathering at one place at the same time and they don't stop groups of friends switching locations all at once. Cards could be issued in some other fashion/method to keep it legit. Of course hoping for the permit to go through, but just thinking of all the people who took days off, reserved hotels, etc. could still have a good time. MCPA has always shown friends, members, and out of towners a good time and I can imagine it won't stop here. In the worst case scenario I suppose an "unevent" could happen I imagine the corp would frown upon it, but just a thought on taking the officialness out of it.
The Wife.

Good news, we won't have to change the name to the "Outlaw Run" We got the TWRA permit to complete our permit trifecta. We had to agree to some changes in format to get the permits, but in my opinion it is better than nothing or running the event as an "unofficial event" and having the TWRA looking for anyone in a powerboat the rest of the summer or worse.

This is what changes:

1. No big group start. They want boats to leave in groups of not more than 3 boats each.

2. They want the boat captains to be instructed that they can visit the five stops in any order they wish.

3. They do not want boats congregating around the stops unnecessarily, waiting for other boats and leaving in large groups. I think this is pretty much what everyone did anyway.

The gist is that they don't want large numbers of boats running at speed in tight groups. They were most worried about the start format.

Best regards

RP

I appreciate the kind words Steve. I'll let them know. I can't take much credit on this one.

RP

Awesome!!!!

Just out of curiosity what brought this about?? is there someone out there that is trying to put an end to this run?? just curious..THX!!!

As tight as the channel gets in places, I'd say their concerns are fairly legit. Although we all practice caution and consider ourselves pretty good captains (see Chad's soap box comments yesterday), it probably looks and sounds pretty darn dangerous to a family in a pontoon boat with a 40HP OB humming along at 15 MPH as we blow by.

We should all be aware that the TWRA and others will be watching to see if we comply with their wishes.

I really don't think so Buddy. See Chewy's previous comment - he sums it up very nicely. Next year will depend on how we handle ourselves this year.

RP

Another idea... once the run is over, maybe MCPA should send a "Thank You" letter to each entity that provided us with a permit as well as to Anchor High and any sponsors. I think it would be important to let the granters of the permits know that we appreciate the fact that they let us conduct the run and that we had __ boats, from __ states, __ total people participating, provided __ free demo rides and raised __ $$$ for our veterans.

I bring it up now so we can collect the stats when the run is held.

Let me know if I can help. Thanks!

Chewy, I like your idea of sending follow up thank you notes along with the stats. We definitely don't a good job on building good will and capitalizing on the good PR opportunity. I had also suggested that they invite some of the key people to the Friday night meet and greet so that they can spend some social time and find out for themselves that we are a pretty good group of folks.

Thanks,

RP