Food for thought folks

[mark poole]

After reading some of the posts on the noise issue, and watching what some clubs are doing, one thing becomes clear to me. Model boaters are not going to be welcomed inside city limits and running on county facilities where there are other activities. I don't care what sound level you reduce the noise down to. John Q. Public does not see a motorized activity such as this like they do baseball, tennis, soccer, jogging or flying kites. There are always going to be those who contest this type of activity being run under their noses especially in a city or county park. When i first became interested in this back in the mid 80's, clubs made an effort to find out of the way places to have club and race events. Borrow pits, golf course resevoirs (away from the golfers), private ponds and lakes. I know these places are getting harder to find. I think it is a mistake for clubs to think that more people will get involved if the clubs/races are stuck in front of everybody by running them "downtown." John Q. Public IS going to get the last word EVEN if you have permission from the county/city! Oh and electrics are not the answer either. I saw a fast electric boat kill a duck in a county pond one time in front of all the moms and the kids. That was the end after a couple of sad sounding letters to the newspaper. I saw gas boaters break off from a nitro club and go run their boats right in the middle of a city pond with a fountain in the middle. Kids feeding the ducks at the waters edge with big unmanned boats roaring by. THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GO ABOUT THIS PEOPLE!! The noise has become an issue simply because some boaters are taking the boats to the WRONG places. Urban sprawl is consuming some of the best ol places that races were ever held and the boat races are going to get pushed off. We don't need to make it worse by trying to "showcase" the hobby where it is not going to be welcomed by everyone. If safety is part of this argument then get some ear plugs. I already wear saftey glasses when i run my boats because i don't like the thought of a prop blade flying off and sticking in one of my eyes. The boats don't need restrictions. We need to restrict ourselves and be very responsible boaters. Whew hee!...Next?

 

[tracerbob]

Mark is right. If we don't govern ourselves, somebody else will do it for us. We must find a way to control inapropriate boating activities and show some form of organization. Good public relations can go a long way.

We already have a "concerned citizen" who parks some distance from our pond/flying field with a decible meter to monitor noise. When approached, he drives off. We know he's monitoring us because we've watched him through binoculars.

Noise and safety issues are the primary reason why we lose ponds.

 

[Don Ferrette]

"Urban sprawl is consuming some of the best ol places that races were ever held and the boat races are going to get pushed off. We don't need to make it worse by trying to "showcase" the hobby where it is not going to be welcomed by everyone."

Got to TOTALLY disagree with this one!!! I attended a new race in Columbia, Md. last fall that was on a "trial" basis with the county park commission. They absolutely LOVED it!! WHY?? Well it comes down to 2 primary reasons-

1- SAFETY & NOISE CONTROL were paramount! The park authority AND spectators were floored by the measures we took to protect everyone with fencing, etc. & required mufflers & Q pipes. You didn't see mom & dad covering the kids ears when the boats were running.

2- The people who stopped by on Saturday were so excited that most of them brought friends & neighbors back on Sunday to watch. Many of them packed picnic lunches & made a day of it. Why? Simple- good P/R from everyone including the host club to the racers themselves. These people felt like they were PART of the event! The "hot pits" were of course sealed off from non racers but the general pit areas were wide open to people to browse & chat (absolutely NO running of boats were allowed outside of "hot pits"). At the Sat. drivers meeting everyone was encouraged to talk to people when they were looking & treat them like you knew them. The people were fantastic, they loved it, they were INVOLVED. We made them feel completely welcome to be there. It was BY FAR the biggest crowd of spectators I've EVER seen at a boat race. And man the crowd CHEERING for the racing was UNBELIEVABLE!! It gave me chills it was sooo exciting!!

This park has over one million visitors annually, is in one of the richest counties in the country & home to some powerful individuals so it's not like we were in some po-dunk town somewhere either. These folks can't wait for us to be back next year, they've offered to get media coverage for the event, it's going into the county parks 2004 event calendar, simply fantastic!! All because we made the people feel INVOLVED!!

It amazes me how many events I've attended over the years where the boaters made the spectators feel like outcasts. Hell, I've seen newbies get treated like outcasts. Think about it folks, treat these people like you would want to be treated. Be nice, answer the questions, no matter how dumb they might sound to you. Don't stereotype people either! On Friday at open water a guy was there who was dressed like he was a lot attendant at the local Home Depot. He hung out most of the day, asked ALOT of questions. Turned out this cat was a big time COUNTY SUPERVISOR! On Sunday at awards time he & the county parks director were handing out trophies & getting their pictures taken with the boaters!

I can't wait to go back this coming season, what a fantastic time! Just remember one important thing, like the old saying goes- "you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar" Treat the "outsiders" like your very existence depends on it, because it does!! B)

 

[jydracing]

both of these post have good points but what about when grandma complains that she could not feed the ducks becouse people was running boats.how long do you think it will take the city to tell the club they can't come back. i guess the db limit was still to loud at 92 we should have had it at 15 db and no boats over 10 mph so that the ducks would not have left. it still does not matter if the owner of the pond wants the club off of the lake the owner will come up with a reason for them to leave from the cars are killing the grass to to noise. about eight years ago our club lost our lake it was on county property in an closed down air base the county had no problem with us using it. there were no houses around for 1 mile there was only big corperations around including lockheed. there was an airplane club on the other side one day the head of lockheed called our club pres and told hin that every thing that belonged to our club had to be gone by sat afternoon when asked why he said he did not need a reason he just did not want us there anymore well we could not afford to pay the county what lockheed was paying so we lost the lake what kind of a new rule do we need to force through to stop this from happning again.

rc boating does not belong in the middle of public parks or in cities it does not matter if 1000 people love it all it takes is one person to say my tax dollers pay to keep up the lake and i pay taxes why can't i feed the ducks or just enjoy the calm water the lake is lost. just my .02 worth jimmy eddleman

 

[_laxmasta2039]

well-put don. i agree with you guys this is definitly an issue we need to cover, here's something to think about, mike tyson mentioned this to me a while ago:

i dunno how many people are actually members of ODMBA, but there's a group of about 30 that show up regularly or every other race about. dont you think out of about 2 million in eastern virginia, there are more than 30 people who would have the time/interest/$$ to race boats? probably, and if we as a community are more welcoming and supportive of newcomers, and if we are able to conduct races in heavily visited public places with strict safety measures like the race don mentioned, interest and participation will rise. for example, i would never have even known about ODMBA let alone raced there if mike hadn't noticed that my member profile on here with the location filled out and offered to meet up and help me get my [crappy ] .21 OB rigger running.

 

[Propjockey]

All valid points guys. But here's the key....nothing is constant but change.

Many years ago the city of Austin, TX. built this great big airport. Nothing around it for miles. As the years went by, residential areas began popping up around the airport. Soon, these residents began complaining about the noise levels of the nearby airport...THAT HAD BEEN THERE FOR YEARS BEFORE THEY BUILT THEIR HOUSES NEXT TO IT!! Guess what happened. Yup, the city was forced to build a new airport.

For now though, I like Don's approach. The more people you get involved in a positive aspect, the less people there will be to complain about it.

But never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups!

 

[[email protected]]

Noise, pollution, Tollerence, respect, community participation.......how ever you look at it, no matter what you'd deem it, WE ARE LOSING! Losing ponds, pits, reservoirs, sponsors, suppliers, hell even friends!

 

Look at what I'm doing with the Petition I have up, I'm gonna lose something that's been a big part of my life growing up. The pond I fear losing is the first place my dad took me to watch model boats run. I've passed that tradition on to my children, made new friends there that I'd never known in a million years if it wasn't for boating. Now, because someone thinks it's in inconvenience to share the pond, they want to take it away. Take it away without thinking twice just how important it is, how recreactional it is. Noise is an excuse, in a Public Park??? Do they know I know a lawnmower, garbage truck, chain saws, boom box......etc are just as loud maybe even louder at times?

 

What ever the reason that this post began for, it's important we stand up for the things we can lose.

 

For example, I heard the most hypocritical thing the other day when I was at the pond. I was passing around the petition to all the boaters to sign. One boater said "No, I'm not gonna sign, don't want nothing to do with it because I only run gas. It's the nitro guys faults this is happening". BS, like hell it is. We are noisy but to say that is lame. Gas/nitro whatever it is, the City is gonna close are pond up. Well, not close it but enforce a 60db, 15 mph, two boat on the water minimum at all times. Why couldn't he sign it??? Guess what, even with his gas Cooper pipe he ran a high 85db, more than my nitro pipes. It's that simple, if we lose the lake he can't run...Maybe his IQ doesn't comprehend that? Noise is to blame, not a nitro engine, not a gas engine but the EXCUSE of noise in general.

 

See that's just it, instead of ever voicing his concerns he rebels and refuses to sign it. I told him pack his S*** up and go run somewhere else. The other guys said, "oh ignore him you know how he gets". Screw that they din't stand up for nothing, that's why we can be our own worst enemies. Support is the key to a strong defense. I put a silencer on a good friends boat because the MAC .84 was well over 90db. I think it stung being told the boat was too noisy but....she understood the cause.

 

Yup, long rambling post but hey, here's my contributuon to this post. h34r:

 

[Kevin_R_Clark]

I agree whole heartedly with Don. Here in Spokane we have 3 sites right now that we can use. Right smack downtown on the river in the middle of a park is are oldest and from what I am told on of the nicer sites in the Northwest. We have to deal with the power company- water rites, and the park dept. where are pits are. I believe we have had this site for around 20 Years. We do have a Db limit and keep people back from the waters edge. We race about half our season here due to river flow. On the last 3 day weekend end of the summer we hold a 2 day distrct race and a 1 day RCU race, in conjuntion with a thing called Pig Out in the Park which the city puts on. I can tell you that what Don says is true for us at this site, the people Love it. Between this site and a couple of shows were we but up a booth is how we generate most of the interest in our club. Quick thought, this is kind of like a double edge sword. Yes all it takes would be for one person to complain or a spectator to get hurt- all would most likely be lost. The other is exposure, the more people that see us and like it the more power we have. RCU does a great job of running there events with the spectator in mind. Always boats on the water and someone on the PA talking about what is going on. I think anytime we are going to race in a public place clubs should go that extra mile to win over spectators. Sadly though we are in danger of loosing this site, do to expansion of the civic center. We still are not clear wether it will be a temporary deal or permanent.

The other site I would mention is a future county park. Our club had to negotiate for over a year to get use of this site. We had to use every tactic we could to secure this site as the county dude in charge was not about to let us on his site. In the end he was overridden by the commisioners, we knew a couple of them. The short of the story is we do have another place to race. We look at it like getting our foot in the door, every year that goes buy is money in the bank. We mind our P`s & Q`s and so far so good. We are heading into our second year at this site.

In closing I will just say attitudes like that of some you are not the way to do it. Reality is we are going to loose sites, so we should be on the prowl at all times for new sites. New members and new sites are the number 1 priority. Can`t grow without them. If we don`t grow what else is left, exactly!!!!! My 2 cents.