March 18th , 2009...............
Where to start.
Last year June the host server came up to renewal
and I switched hosts and had to re-route the
domain. We were having bandwidth problems, the
old host jacked up prices and reduced their service
on the cheap accounts. Like anything else it
takes time which I did not have. Last summer
was very busy. With work, other projects and
issues to deal with. I did not get around re-posting
the website until now.
One question on many minds is what about the
Nationals? Sure it is on my mind too but with
real life issues, lack of time and picking what
is important the Nationals took a back seat,
in another car. Was 2006 the last Nationals and
Batavia will fade into oblivion? I don't think
so.
Batavia
was formed as a club in 1994. It was an offshoot
of the Amp Eaters that dominated the National
FE scene. Batavia has a really looooong club
name but everybody refers to it as Batavia, which
is fine by me. Batavia has been a stopping point
for many in FE. For some it was a stop along
their lives, others might be Batavia diehards
and the few that wished to continue in Batavia
passed away (Doug, Dick and Tom come to mind).
One thing I have realized over the years, Batavia
is a family of sorts. We are not ego centered,
ego driven or let the new expensive technology
drive who we are. If some can afford it, that
is fine, we try to look for ways to keep an expensive
hobby, affordable as well as fun.
Back to the Nationals. I have been pondering
and thinking about it. I organized 10 years in
a row of National events. I believe we put set
a standard of races that were ran well and competitive.
The running of the race does weight heavy on
my shoulders as well as the rules that seem to
change every year. I am looking from the standpoint,
how can we make our race easier, yet keep the
same standard. 2009 will be a warm-up to 2010
which will include communication among members
as well as regulars that come to Batavia. I am
looking at the 2 day Nationals as a Olympic type
of event, every other year to prepare and look
forward to it. Maybe, if there is time and motivation
have a fun 1 day "race" on
a course or just do a glorified practice during
the odd off years. Maybe the way the economy
and industry is, we will only be able to promote
a 1 day race as our Nationals. It will remain
to be seen. It will be easier to prepare for
a big race in 2 years, than in 1 every year.
I personally took it easy the past few
years with FE boating, some of it was burn-out
from hosting the races. Just ask Ned, he got
tired of seeing my little hydro screaming each
fun-run one summer. The technology has changed
and become more affordable. The concern in my
mind is lipo safety, which is something I don't
see many address. Another concern is hull size
which some have gotten carried away with. I have
plans of setting up a forum so members and diehards
can discuss the rules in Batavia and common classes.
I am also planning on pushing the number registration.
I know, what a pain but, from my standpoint it
is a must. If you race cars they have transponders
and numbers on 4 sides. Boats I don't see going
to transponders anytime soon, although we might
get a laptop with software for manual entry,
we will have to see on that. With boats you get
4 boats the same color, it makes our job that
much harder. I also have hear racers even get
confused watching the wrong boat, which is a
danger to the wall and the boat. It will be something
we play with over the summer on a local level
to see the best number sizes. It is not that
hard; you can use microsoft word, make the numbers
to size, then print them. Make a left, right
and front. There are cheap sheets of monocote
in many colors, just tape together and cut. I
have been talking about it for years, it just
needs to be done. I will create a simple way
to do it and post it on this site. It might be
a little bit of work for the racer, in the long
run, I think it will be worth it. The numbers
NOT available will be 0 thru 9. We will use those
to give to racers that are new to the hobby and
may not have picked a number for our race. I
am also reserving #1 for Ed Hughey and #24 for
myself.
Any questions just email.
Keep checking back for Fun Run dates.
I will
coorinate those soon with the Park District.
Expect Fun Runs to start in May and end in September
once a month.
Thank you for your support!
Jeffrey Stevens
www.bataviarc.com
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