Coachella Valley Water District Cancels SO Winter Nationals

[DeanFHobart]

Dear Mr. Urbin,

Your web site home page has this slogan right on the top:

"Friendly smiles and courteous, professional service greet those who visit Coachella Valley Water District facilities."

I have raced boats for 50 years with APBA and have never seen such un-professional things.

Coming from Washington we have had plans made for months and had to change them due to your "Re-scheduling" the race already prior. Now cancellation.

The reasons for cancellation have obviously been there for months, if not longer. To cancel this major APBA event at this late notice is the most un-professional thing I have ever experienced.

You need to revise your web site slogan.

Sincerely,

DEAN HOBART

[russhill]

Bill Sandberg just called me and gave me the email address of Vernessa Garcia, the Manager of the lake
vgarcia@rivcoparks.org He couldn't post, so asked me to post that address

I rcommend being polite, firm and specific. Tell her about real costs lost.

Thanks

Russ Hill

[AZOutlaw]

Steve Robbins, General Manager-Chief Engineer

Dear Mr. Robbins: I write to you with regard to the recent event the American Power Boat Association (APBA) had planned to hold on Lake Chuhilla next month. By way of introduction, I am the Stock Outboard Category Chairman for the APBA. The APBA is the United States National Authority for the Union of International Motorboating (UIM) which is the world organization reconginzed by the International Olympic Committee as the authority for power boat racing across the globe. The Stock Outboard Category is the largest category of racing in the APBA and we had planned to run the APBA's largest class, C Stock Hydro, as well as other Stock Outboard Classes at the event at your lake for the 2011 APBA Winternational Championships.

I wish to respond to the decision that was apparently recently-made not to allow power boat racing on this lake due to a perceived risk of infestation of the lake with Zebra and/or Quagga Muscles coming from our members' racing equipment. I can assure you that this concern is unwarranted.

Our members utilize specialized equipment made solely for racing purposes. In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has granted the manufacturers of the engines for our category of racing special permits for the production and use of these engines solely for racing purposes. This means that none of our members' equipment is designed for pleasure use. This, in turn, means that our members' equipment is only placed in the water for the short period that the equipment is actually being used for racing. In fact, our racing boats and motors are stored on the beach when not being used even while the equipment is at the race site. Even in between heats of racing, the equipment is nearly always removed from the water for refuling and/or adjustment. I believe that this removal was even part of the re-fueling plan filed with your organization with regard to dealing with fuel spills by the conducting club, Southern California Outboard Association (SCOA). Thus, it is only when the equipment is actually being raced that the boat equipment is placed in the water. This is true for all of our events. Therefore, the time that the equipment is actually physically located in water is so short a duration, it is nearly impossible for one of these animals to attach itself to our members' equipment.

Thus, the risk of infestation of our members' equipment by these animals is virtually non-existant. The risk of infestation would be similar to the risk that a swimmer might pose of transfering these animals to a waterway. Since the equipment is never in the water long enough for the muscles to attach themselves to the equipment, the risk of transfer to another lake or water way is nearly non-existant.

I would ask that you reconsider the decision not to permit powerboat racing at your lake. As I am sure you are aware, this is a large event for our organization and we have many communities that bid for these events based upon the positive economic impact the event can have for a local community. In fact, based upon the information that has been received in the last 48 hours with regard to the decision made with regard to this event, I have already received three (3) requests to hold this event at other locations: one in Northern California, one in the State of Washington and one in the State of Georgia. While transfering the event to another location might be possible, it would be an extreme hardship for our organization to do this and for our members who have already made travel plans to attend the event in Southern California.

I would appreciate it if you would advise me directly of your final decision no later than the close of business tomorrow, February 11, so that our organization may make a decision with regard to where this event will be held. We will make this decision over the weekend.

Thank you for your kind consideration,

--
Edward W. Hearn, SO Category Chairman,
American Power Boat Association

cc: Gloria Urbin, Executive Director, APBA
Stock Outboard Racing Commission, APBA
Mr. Ernie Dawe, SCOA
Mr. Roger Carr, SCOA

[AZOutlaw]

I agree with Ed.....Please do not write these guys and tell them they are unprofessional, stupid, incompetent or other similar characterizations. You will not be helping our cause if you do that.

Just write them, tell them about what we do, why it would be impossible to get the muscles in their lake from our equipment and ask them to reconsider.