NEW Florida Fast Electric Club

[sailr]

No problem. We have done what we could to attract others. Since we don't run very often most people want to test and tune. We used to run more organized heats but somehow that fell by the wayside. What several of us, not just me, have tried to do is get some action going with others around the area so we could reach the other boaters, etc. Running in the points series is a great way to do that. Until now, we haven't been made to feel welcome at their races. Now that they have outstretched their hands to welcome us, I'm gonna bust my ass to run with them. Nothing about the WCRA proposal has ANYTHING to do with changing anything with the Aquamaniacs. It's additional activity for us.

I do need to clear up that we will not be running against the nitro and gas guys! We will be running in our own FE classes!

You are welcome to take over the club. I will have the paperwork in my car on the 26th. I'm tired of bustin my ass to get the club started and keep it going and trying to improve things only to be crapped on!

Jim, it has nothing to do with the boat. I thought the hatch was ugly too. Your post is what bothered me. I know you mean well and are trying to help the club, but the way you want to go about it is not a good idea in my opinion. If you want to run with the gas guys, Aquamaniacs - thats up to Ya'll...

I'm not running for governor, but I can say I built an RC club and track in Ft Myers from scratch and it had over 40 members in less than a year and a half, so I know that there are a lot of things we can be doing but... were not.
I know for a fact that lots of FE boats flow off the shelves of local hobby stores and nothing has been done (till now) in years to attract these FE boaters.
I have already heard that people that have been to one of our club meets will not come back or join because we are so unorganized.
This sucks and really needs to change.
If you guys want to have a lazy non- organized club,
I won't be renewing my dues. We need to work a bunch of stuff out as a group.

RCK

[sailr]

Brian,

Just read your post again. I move that we have an election on the 26th. I will not be running for office again nor will I serve. Whoever gets elected to run the club will have to come up here and go to the bank with me to change everything over. Also will need to change the corporate charter and change the contact with the county personnel who I have been working with.

There, I said it. I'm done!

Jim, it has nothing to do with the boat. I thought the hatch was ugly too. Your post is what bothered me. I know you mean well and are trying to help the club, but the way you want to go about it is not a good idea in my opinion. If you want to run with the gas guys, Aquamaniacs - thats up to Ya'll...

I'm not running for governor, but I can say I built an RC club and track in Ft Myers from scratch and it had over 40 members in less than a year and a half, so I know that there are a lot of things we can be doing but... were not.
I know for a fact that lots of FE boats flow off the shelves of local hobby stores and nothing has been done (till now) in years to attract these FE boaters.
I have already heard that people that have been to our club meets will not come back or join because we are so unorganized.
This sucks and really needs to change.
If you guys want to have a lazy non- organized club,
I won't be renewing my dues. We need to work a bunch of stuff out as a group.
There... I said it.

RCK

[RCKong]

well then we need to get at least 3 to 4 of us to take on certain responsibilities within the club, and we need to get this sorted out.

[RCKong]

The treasurer should be local to the area, and all funds incoming and outgoing should be available for view to all club members to see via website.
I'm no accountant, that's for sure.
Jim, we are going to do EVERYTHING we can think of to make this the club what you dreamed it should be.

Brian

[tiqueman]

We have done what we could to attract others.

You are welcome to take over the club. I will have the paperwork in my car on the 26th. I'm tired of bustin my ass to get the club started and keep it going and trying to improve things only to be crapped on!

I think until only recently, we have befun to do things to attract other members. We have a local hobby shop less than a 15 minute drive from the Ackerman site, and my conversation w/ the owner last week informed me (us) that he had absolutely no idea we existed and no idea a club was still in existingce and running at Ackerman. So, I feel, we have much more to do to attract new members.

I handed out a stack of flyers down in Ft Myers today (thanks for printing those for me Bill) and the owner seemed pretty excited. Brian, Lawson, Rich and I all went there and discussed the membership and how the club runs, when we meet etc. Mark, the owner seemed interested and was very appreciative to have our flyers to hand out.

Jim, I cannot talk for others, but my feelings are that Brian isnt trying to take over the club, but rather just state that he has also run one and may have some new ideas on how to make ours more succesful. Taking your position away, I dont feel is any kind of answer but, helping you and letting us (us being the "locals" of the lake) will certainly be beneficial in finding more members. Being a few of us are really right around the corner from the lake and living in the area to know whats around is a big help. Bill has done fantastic in beginning to make this happen w/ the flyers he has produced. So basically, what Im saying, is "WE" the club people all need to step up our game and not rely on only Jim to grow our club. We all need to make it happen, and I dont feel that going to an established clubs site is going to do much at all for us in the sense of creating new "paid members" if "we dont have to join thiers and they dont have to join ours". Thats in now way going to help us to grow and eventually be able to "do our own thing".

Just my .02. I think in the very near future this needs discussed at Ackerman. We have a lot of good ideas, lets get them out there and make the Aquamaniacs a team everyone wants to be a part of.....

[tiqueman]

well then we need to get at least 3 to 4 of us to take on certain responsibilities within the club, and we need to get this sorted out.

I think thats a great idea, so that all the respopnsibility is not on one persons shoulders. Responsibilities can be divided up and I think this will allow a lot more to happen in a much shorter time.

[sailr]

The reason the treasurer, etc. are not local to Akerman is because the club started up here in Land O' Lakes by me and HighnDry.

Bill did a great job on the flyer. I'm not gonna rag on this anymore. It's easy to get a bunch of rc car guys together because they are far more numerous than boaters and more places can be found to run.

I'm burnt out. You guys decide who you want in charge. I'm steppin down. I will be at Akerman on the 26th and will hand the paperwork to whomever you choose among yourselves.

[RCKong]

Dude - your like a legendary RC boat Icon, thats great, but I think we can help to turn this around 180* and point it in the right direction.

[ron1950]

wow hope u guys get this all worked out

[bbill1]

Finally got around to reading this today and boy did this get overblown.

I am a nitro guy who races regularly all over the S.E. united states. After seeing a P Tunnel run I was hooked and have built a P- Spec, and a P tunnel. I have convinced others in the Tampa area that "If we build em, they will come". and now a number of FE Tunnels are being built. I have talked with 2 of the three local clubs that hold WCRA events and have gotten word that FE is welcome and bring your boats if you want to race.

All they ask is that at least three boats enter to make the class. These would be on top of the regularly run classes so things would be a little busier but I for one am willing to do more to push the FE side of things to make it more popular. I would love to see regular FE classes run anywhere, and my affiliation with the Brandon club and being a regular D3 and WCRA racer gives me the ability to expose a few nitro guys to the FE side of things.

Jeff Westbrook and I have been the only two guys to run FE at a WCRA event in recent history and the Brandon club graciously allowed us to run Two boat heats to do it. I though we could do better by getting more FE boaters to run with us at our races. Myself, Mic and Jay Halbrehder, Ron Drake, Randy Premo, and Mike Culhane have all built or are building FE tunnels to spark interest.

Jim and I thought that if you guys could race at the WCRA races, that the exposure would get some of the nitro and gas guys to look into FE. There are plenty of gas guys that run nitro and vice-versa, (and now some run all three) and quite a few that would be willing to run FE as well if they were exposed to it more. But I did not expect the backlash from the FE side about even attending a nitro/gas event that also ran FE classes. I do hope that we did not spend the money on a frivolous dream because you will not race with us "gas" or "nitro" guys.

This hobby is supposed to be about fun and friendship. I for one enjoy running boats. Jim, Mic, Jay Jeff and I are all trying to bring FE a little more into the spotlight and gain a few more friends in the process, and will continue to do so. I look forward to running with you guys at your pond. And look forward to seeing you at ours...

If you want to race.

[Skullcracken]

Just an outsider's opinion

I live in Winter Haven, Fl and have been itching to get into a "fairly" local FE club. Despite my town having unbelievable lakes to romp at, there's not many RC boaters over here. Once you get things sorted out, I'd scrap the recent threads that have the bickering. I didn't even know there were RC boat clubs around if it weren't for this site. But someone reading a little "turmoil" like on these threads would likely run off.

[hebner]

Wow go on vacation for a few days and all he** breaks out. Jim called me couple days ago to get my input on racing at the WCRA series. Sounds good to me especially since they will offer at least three classes maybe more. I have attended several races at the Brandon club's lake in Dover and always had a great time. The only negative than was only having one class to race. I am looking forward to attending more FE races. Not sure I want to join their club however, would rather grow ours. Scott, if we could find a new lake in the Bradenton area that is better protected from the wind, with parking and facilities that would be great!

[bill34207]

I went on google yesterday to look for that lake. I'm wondering if it's the one on the west side of the interstate pretty much across from the one in the Encore trailer park subdivision.

[tiqueman]

Yeah this is getting out of hand.

For those not members of our club, and those who are, theres "behind the scene stories" you may be un aware of.

We have a few issues going on here and they all got thrown into this one coversation so its become a mess. Heres what I see and feel is going on and what we need to focus our attention to.

First, we have our club, THE AQUAMANIACS, an established club for "x" amount of years. We have a handful of members, a rescue boat w/ an electric trolling motor and a nice site w/ bouys for both 1/6 and 1/8 mile courses to run our boats. We still need a few things in order to begin to invite others to come race with us. These include timing stations, facilities etc etc. We talked about this months ago and how we could "rasie money for the club". Kong came up w/ series racing to help fund it. We talked about it a few weeks and then it faded away. The NATS became top priority and so it went.

Now the issue, or issues, is/ are, taking our club to go run w/ an established gas or nitro club to attract "them" to get into FE, when we dont have to join thier club and they dont have to join ours, doesnt make sense in the fact its going to help our club with what we need to do.? Running w/ other clubs is a great idea. If someone wants to run a series w/ other clubs, thats fantastic, I would, but will not for two reasons... not running the classes I want and I dont know how often I can travel to go run, so series racing out and about is out for me. But, to go every once in a while when I can would be buckets of fun.

So to break it down

1. Will us getting outside club members to run FE boats at thier club help us to grow our club? I dont see how. My feeling is, they will just tie FE into thier own clubs.

2. Would running races w/ other clubs be a good idea, just to say we ran with "x" club, had a blast and the Aquamaniacs are a dominating FE team? You bet your bottoms!

Oh and one more thing. The biggest problem w/ forums, as well as emails and text messaging if you do that kinda thing, it can get taken out of context so quickly. And if you dont know the "behind the scenes" stuff, an outsider reading it would screech at the posts... Things get read wrong all the time. The Aquamaniacs are a fantastic group. I used to race cars, trucks and dabbled in gas a bit. I quit all those (racing) b/c I felt very unwelcome no matter where I went. And anytime I won or placed well, all the experinced drivers wanted to do was crash me or make me tear down my vehicle to prove I wasnt cheating. I quit all that BS real quick. Everyones all hush hush, throwing towels over thier stuff so no one can see... hiding props so you cant see thier work.... WTF ever. We at the Aquamaniacs will give even non club members/ visitors any and all advice we can. Ive personally seen a member give one of his winning and seriously worked props to a stranger to keep for his collection. We have a bad a$$ bunch of folks in our club. The "people" side of the club is there, now we need the material items stuff.....


-Scott

[tiqueman]

Scott, if we could find a new lake in the Bradenton area that is better protected from the wind, with parking and facilities that would be great!

I went on google yesterday to look for that lake. I'm wondering if it's the one on the west side of the interstate pretty much across from the one in the Encore trailer park subdivision.

I googled it yesterday as well. I was a bit wrong... it actually runs more WNW and ESE. Its just before the Manatee River (South and West) Also, google maps shows it looking nothing like the surrounding area thats there now. Its mostly sand beaches, playgrounds and pavilions now. And I think there is a facilities building. Some of its still under construction. I dont think its open quite yet to the public, but I could be wrong.