TBSC Winter Invitational 2007

[hogsniper]

All good points of view. Thanks to everyone who shot and came out to have a great time. Hard to believe that NOAA can get it so wrong so often. Thanks for the ride Spearchucker and congrats to Zacker and Bennett. They dove like crazy all day. Thanks to the setup crew and tournament volunteers, you guys did a great job. I think that we may have to limit our shooters to 400 next year too.

[Bucket One]

I would like to congragulate everyone that shot in the tourney. It was a lot of fun and everyone sure seemed to have to really work for the fish that they shot. The conditions were just about perfect. NOAA blew the forcast really bad. It was like 2 to 3's in the morning and layed down just about to nothing during the day only to have a sea breeze pick back up late in the day. The water clarity was really too good to hunt in. With it being just about top to bottom viz everywhere you went made for some sure spooky fish.

A huge congragulations to the Tampa Bay Spearfishing Club. For this to be their first tournament they've put on. They did a great job. They had two weigh-in lines, food, drinks and prizes and everyone to be taken care of and to be wraped up by 7 o'clock is pretty freaking good for your first time hosting a tournament with a turn out of 75 shooters and lots of people just showing up to watch the weigh-in.

Thanks John for letting me go out and shoot some fish on your boat again. Its always fun but I don't envy you for all the fish that you've got to clean for your party coming up.

[Spear One]

The folks who VOLUNTEER their time to make these events happen, seldom get the credit they deserve. You simply cannot expect everything to go "perfect", especially from a first time event like this one was. The real goal of these tournaments is to promote & support our great sport, and have a good time doing it. We are all damm lucky to have the volunteers (from all the tournaments) who make these tournaments the incredible events they are.

Before anyone starts complaining about something that was not PERFECT at one of these open events, first ask yourself............how many hours did I volunteer to put on this event? If you answer to that question is ZERO, then your complaining should be ZERO! My advice is...........if you are not going to volunteer your time to make one of these tournaments happen, then just pay your money, shut up and shoot! Then be damm happy you even had the opportunity to participate.

[Spearchucker]

Originally Posted by Bucket One

Thanks John for letting me go out and shoot some fish on your boat again. Its always fun but I don't envy you for all the fish that you've got to clean for your party coming up.

I think I may go ahead and buy myself a brand spanking new filet knife today!

[Spear One]

Originally Posted by Spearchucker

I think I may go ahead and buy myself a brand spanking new filet knife today!

Soungs like you will need it! Congratulations!

[huntinfish]

Originally Posted by hogsniper

Dennis, no rules were changed for Bill or anyone on his boat. According to the weighmaster, they were late along with 2 other coolers. This tournament has no provisions for phone in weighins either. Are you suggesting that the tournament was rigged even though no one on that boat won anything? Are you suggesting that the tournament was rigged when 5 of the top 7 places were shooters from a club outside of TBSC. Bill had a discrepancy with his time, but the weighmaster makes the call. Thank you for shooting the tournament, we all had a great time. I think things went 99% perfect considering it is the first year. Let's not make assumptions about TBSC or the integrity of the tournament based on a weighin line cutoff dispute.

I understand that in life it's hard to do the right thing when you have to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. They(Bill Hardman"s wieghmaster) kicked those 2 coolers and then allowed them to be wieghed. If you and your organization wants to grow this sport and your tournament(s) I would stay away from any bending of the rules for ANYONE. Where they placed has NO bearing on weather or not they followed the rules.

[hogsniper]

Originally Posted by huntinfish

I understand that in life it's hard to do the right thing when you have to look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. They(Bill Hardman"s wieghmaster) kicked those 2 coolers and then allowed them to be wieghed. If you and your organization wants to grow this sport and your tournament(s) I would stay away from any bending of the rules for ANYONE. Where they placed has NO bearing on weather or not they followed the rules.

Once again, we got it. You have made your point. Are you volunteering to police the weighin line next year? You will have my vote.

[huntinfish]

Originally Posted by Spear One

Before you start complaining about something that was not PERFECT at one of these open events, first ask yourself............how many hours did I volunteer to put on this event? If you answer to that question is ZERO, then your complaining should be ZERO! My advice is...........if you are not going to volunteer your time to make one of these tournaments happen, then just pay your money, shut up and shoot! Then be damm happy you even had the opportunity to participate.

Kevin, I was damn happy to participate. Thank you to all who made this happen.

My contribution to this tournament.
2 trips to Action Aquatics from New Port Richey. (3 hours)
50 phone calls to organize shooters (2 hours)
50 more phone calls after the weather cancellation (2 hours)
3 trips to the gas station with 5 gal cans (3 hours)
Filling tanks for tournament (2 hours)
1 trip to Ray Odor's (2 hours) (I wasn't going to count this because it fun to go there)

I could go on but whats the point. We all went thru the same thing due to our love of the sport.
The whole point is that when you have a tournament that you pay money to enter, everyone should play by the rules and most of all the one who is running it. I felt compelled to say something because I know what my fellow spero's went thru to just come shoot with me on my boat. We won't add thier time and money. So next time I'll just shut up and shoot. Thanks for the sound advice.

[bgbill]

Originally Posted by Spear One

The folks who VOLUNTEER their time to make these events happen, seldom get the credit they deserve. You simply cannot expect everything to go "perfect", especially from a first time event like this one was. The real goal of these tournaments is to promote & support our great sport, and have a good time doing it. We are all damm lucky to have the volunteers (from all the tournaments) who make these tournaments the incredible events they are.

Before anyone starts complaining about something that was not PERFECT at one of these open events, first ask yourself............how many hours did I volunteer to put on this event? If you answer to that question is ZERO, then your complaining should be ZERO! My advice is...........if you are not going to volunteer your time to make one of these tournaments happen, then just pay your money, shut up and shoot! Then be damm happy you even had the opportunity to participate.

Kevin,

When you enter a tournament and pay an entry fee, you expect the rules to be followed, no matter if you volunteered to help out or not.

I don't think Dennis or anyone else was complaining that the tournament wasn't perfect, just that one of the main rules were not followed because of who was late.

[Spear One]

I did not direct my comment or advice toward any one individual. My comments were intended to try and get everyone to see the "bigger picture" about these tournaments and the volunteers who put them on. If my post ruffled someones feathers (as was not my intention).......I apologize!

[SpearMax]

So, where are the results?

[jerry1000]

funny how all these spearfishing ppl showed up saturday to shoot fish but where the hell where you guys for the meeting this past thursday????when the rules get changed we will no why .....

[huntinfish]

Originally Posted by hogsniper

Once again, we got it. You have made your point. Are you volunteering to police the weighin line next year? You will have my vote. We need someone that never makes mistakes and has lots of spare time, you would be perfect. I guess 72 out of 75 people had fun.

I'm not perfect in anyway and never claimed to be. I did have lots of fun, and I appreciate the efforts that were put forth from all the volunteers. Thanks for the personal attack, I assumed that would be coming, as for spare time I now have to go clean my boat from all the fun we had yesterday.

[fizisition]

I also agree, lets keep the focus on this being a positive event. I had alot of fun and thought it went well for their first event. Thanks TBSC.

I also need to thank John for the awesome ride. Call me if you want help filleting.

[hogsniper]

Originally Posted by jerry1000

funny how all these spearfishing ppl showed up saturday to shoot fish but where the hell where you guys for the meeting this past thursday????when the rules get changed we will no why .....

Jerry, I'm not sure that you want to go down that road with the folks in this thread. There are people here that have been hardcore FRA supporters for a lot longer than you have been on Spearboard. I applaud your enthusiasm, but that meeting was not one that required a show of numbers. By the way, can you post your speech from the hearing, I'm interested to hear your position. Oh yeah, just so you know, the tournament raised about $800 for the FRA, and Denny was in attendance.