is this sport dying?

[Ron Olson]

Mark Jr., I'm in the same boat (no pun intended). The closest district race for me is about 135 miles away. The closest race is the Hobart Masters race at around 114 miles. In order for me to hit any race I need to take a weekend off from work IF I can get it as I worked the 3-11 shift 6 and 7-day weeks. If not a lot of people sign up for weekend OT then it's possible for me to be forced to work.

I'm still building boats, 4 since last winter but I still have little time to run them. Some that I built more than a year ago still haven't gotten wet.

Mark, I'll see you at Hobart along with many others. I chose not to race there this year, sad to say but I am rolling down on Friday for the day to schmooze with my friends and watch the racing. I'm really excited to see the .12 'riggers in a big event and hoping that others will find out how much we're having with our little boats.

OK, speaking of Hobart. Last year I had one of the first pit spots (behind the library) as people we walking across hte covered bridge from the other park. I was asked a lot of questions by the people of Hobart and the one that was hardest to answer was "Where can I get one at?". There isn't any place near Hobart that really carries RC boats. I did hear of one around Valpo otherwise they'd have to head up towards Chicago. There is a club forming in Hobart but not too many people know about it. Right now I'm kind of an unofficial member of it.

 

[brett english]

i kinda felt the need to add my opion here since ive been involved in this hobby for close to 30yrs...1 big problem is exactly what

Kerry said..too many new classes are available which creates a chain reaction and thins out all the other classes(esp in gas)..

also this takes up alot of xtra time and work for the clubs..But i dont feel that this hobby(sport) is dying..Just take a look at the

entries to the upcoming chaleston S.C. race(fall nationals) on rcracing events..and with all these new motors that are awesome right out of the box life is easy now to have a very competitive boat..all we need is positive thoughts thru these tough times..what else are we gonna do..sit at home all weekend or be a spectator..this is a great challenge for all of us involved, this hobby keeps our heads clear and out of trouble..we need to keep the fire burning!!

 

[SeanKewley]

Too many classes are the cause of low turnout at club race events, and the lack of new members???

 

[David Santistevan]

Interesting, I am just getting back into the sport after a break of about 30 years. I had raced the district races in my youth and I always missed the competitive aspects of the boats. After deciding to get back in to the hobby I noticed two things that were huge road blocks. First the lack of presence of the hobby on the web. Many of the hobby distributors/stores only had minor boat inventories. Most of what was there was electric "toys" and very few of what I would consider racing equipment. This also extended to even You tube where I only found a small amount of material for model boats.

The seond thing I noticed is that it was hard to find local club organizations. The NAMBA site listed scheduled races at various sites here in Colorado but I cannot find a location where I can go and see people run their boats on any given weekend.

I think part of this is marketing. People who see the boats like the boats. However if the public is not exposed to our hobby then it's pretty tough to generate interest. I know that in the past we have had charity events designed to generate donations for a given charity and this did two things for the club. First it would allow us to run on more "Public" waters for a special charity event where we could expose more people to the sport. Secondly it would give us local media coverage of the event that once again would help to generate interest in the hobby.

Our local hobby stores here in the Denver are carry virtually nothing in the way of model boating which is one the primary sources for interest. I realize this is a chick and egg scenario since they won't carry the product unless the demand/interest is there. I do think the economy definately plays a large part of this but I also think it is incumbent on us to expose more people to it.

My two cents.

D

 

[Tom Foley]

It's a micro , black market hobby that is hard to find a place to participate / run . Racing is your best bet to hook up with those that run . I too have noticed that in general, clubs in our area almost completely discount the local hobby shop as a place to announce a race . Before the Internet the Hobby Shop was WHERE you found out about events . This needs to change . Local mall shows are a great idea . The AMA is a prime example of how valuable an accepted public opinion of Model Aviation is so valuable in obtaining and maintaining flying sites . Model boating is dwarfed in numbers though compared to Aviation and Car activities .

 

[mark holton jr]

ya i hear ya ron, it sucks having to drive so far.i joined the saginaw club last month just cause it was the closest, but they seem to be a good bunch of guys so that helps lol.

 

[TUNLBOTR]

In the Tampa area we have 3 active clubs. Brandon Model Boaters (est.1986) Tampa Model Boat Club and the Gulfcoast Model Power Boaters. After 20+ years with BMB, set up and tear down still falls back on a handful of dedicated members. I still try and volunteer my time to other clubs for events, and we try to "foster Model Boating", something Don Pinckert always felt strongly about.People want to race I believe, they just don't want to get involved in the grind of putting on the deal.

There is no new generation stepping up...

They cant go to a LHS and buy a magazine anymore to learn about products, we skwashed RCBM.

 

[Scott Schneider]

As we collectively as a district have shrunk due too few ponds for newbee's getting there boats wet gaining experience.

Years past most clubs and outlying areas had ponds, lake access allowing the local hobby shops to sell R/C boats.

Now days the legal issues of having public access to water let alone running R/C boats has all but dried up.

If would be a safe bet that if you as an R/C boater has or can get easy water access your growth in membership likely is still strong.

 

[maddog]

My two cents worth is that it begins at club level. We started a club in late 2009 and currently have 15 active members. We are a very family and friend club we have "Days at the Lake" were we spend a day running boats and cooking out. And our members are always ready to help new comers. We have one member that is a great mentor and has been responsible for introducing several of our current members including myself into r/c boating (my wife fusses about him all of the time) There is a problem that I see and is being discussed in another thread on this board, as a cd it concerns me to see the problems arise like this with very little support. No more on that subject. I think it begins at club level but the clubs have to work and advertise in order to promote the hobby and bring in new members. I have seen a slight decline in race attendance and I think much of that is due to the economy and people just do not have time anymore or the spare funds. I race the Evansville races as much as I can but by the time you figure a hotel for two nights, fuel and food and other incidentals it cost around 300 to 400 dollars. Our club has hosted 2 races so far and has another on august 27th and to date we have about 7 entered and the race is 10 days away. This drives me crazy and I know its because people have to wait and see if they have the funds or they are trying to save to attend one of the larger races in our district. Our club members try and support other clubs as much as possible but traveling is getting very expensive and the hobby isnt getting any cheaper. So clubs have to work to keep what members we have and work harder to get new members. I wish there was a way to get the IMPBA and NAMBA together and get rules the same across the board so that a person could race anywhere in the country. I never did understand why there are two national clubs doing the same thing. I know this is gonna open a can of worms but sometime debate is a good thing.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Okay, lets not start talking about the cost of traveling. If you find other reasons to go to an area over the same day(s) as a race, it's not so bad. The wife and I had 8 destinations on our road trip spanning June and July, made it to all without having to go much off the preplanned route. It wasn't an "inexpensive" trip, but we did go places we've never been, met some of the forum members that we wouldn't have otherwise and have several new friends scattered all across the country. That's what a road trip is all about. If you're looking at going to town "X" ONLY TO RACE, you're missing the point all together

 

[glenng]

Interesting, I am just getting back into the sport after a break of about 30 years. I had raced the district races in my youth and I always missed the competitive aspects of the boats. After deciding to get back in to the hobby I noticed two things that were huge road blocks. First the lack of presence of the hobby on the web. Many of the hobby distributors/stores only had minor boat inventories. Most of what was there was electric "toys" and very few of what I would consider racing equipment. This also extended to even You tube where I only found a small amount of material for model boats.

The seond thing I noticed is that it was hard to find local club organizations. The NAMBA site listed scheduled races at various sites here in Colorado but I cannot find a location where I can go and see people run their boats on any given weekend.

I think part of this is marketing. People who see the boats like the boats. However if the public is not exposed to our hobby then it's pretty tough to generate interest. I know that in the past we have had charity events designed to generate donations for a given charity and this did two things for the club. First it would allow us to run on more "Public" waters for a special charity event where we could expose more people to the sport. Secondly it would give us local media coverage of the event that once again would help to generate interest in the hobby.

Our local hobby stores here in the Denver are carry virtually nothing in the way of model boating which is one the primary sources for interest. I realize this is a chick and egg scenario since they won't carry the product unless the demand/interest is there. I do think the economy definately plays a large part of this but I also think it is incumbent on us to expose more people to it.

My two cents.

D

D- Go directly to the NAMBA District 20 website- there is racing in Colorado and Utah-and they're great people. The hobby shops here in UT. carry very little in the way of boat parts-not as much demand as car or plane stuff but will order boat stuff if you ask. There are parts and supplies out there-you just have to know where to look. IW has a for sale and Mfgs. for sale sections and is a great place to find needed items also all the NAMBA sites have links to folks that supply the boating hobby. Things have changed a bunch in 30 years- before internet we all bought at hobby shops or made our own parts. If there's anything you need in the way of parts send me a personal message nd I'll try to find the best source.

Glenn