Congratulations to the B1 organization (2009 post)

[pmilot]

I would like to congratulate the B1 team for the huge success of the B1 event.

Everything was extremely well organized. They though of just about everything for the anglers. From restricted and monitored parking areas for B1 competitors only to ropes on the docks so that we can tie our boats while boat anglers weight there bag on stage. Great weigh in format for the final day with a hot seat format.

Ben, Mike and Vickie, you guys did an awesome job putting this together.

Mike and his staff did a great job getting all the boats in and out of the water in an organized way. Sure it was a little long on day one. But things ran much smoother on day two and I'm sure will be even better next year.

Ben also did a great job as MC. Really worked the crowd and offered great visibility for the anglers and there sponsors. It's a great platform for the anglers.

And Vickie, talk about one organized person getting all the paper work done, explaining everything, answering any questions. If only I could be this organized at work.

Rick our tournament director did a great job, was really involved making sure any tournament related issues were handled appropriately. Really involved making sure things were running smoothly with blastoff and weigh in.

There was also a ton of volunteers and observers involved, and they also did a great job. Showing up on time, they also played an important role in making sure things ran smoothly.

When packing up to leave last night I had 3 different spectators telling me how much they enjoyed the show that we put on for them.

The best ran event I have ever participated in. And will only get better from here.

Thanks for all the hard work

Pat Milot

[Richard Elliott Jr]

May be next year they can get some results out sooner for the people that can't Be there
Thanx Richard

[NeilCard]

Different views if anyone interested on the Renegade bass site

[mikemacneil]

From my experience this weekend, the tourny was very well organized. There were some glitches but overall from for a first tourny run by Ben and his crew, I would say that they did an excellent job. Right down from having people down on the ramp Monday morning and getting us our fishing license. I would definitely be back, and it was pretty cool catching my first sturgeon. I would keep your head up though because the sturgeon are jumping everywhere. The biggest problem I had was the endless potholes in their roads, my trailer is glad to be back in Ontario. Thanks Blake for the vote of confidence, I went for the inferior species and shud of followed my rule, largies rule.

[Brett Miller]

yeah I've heard a lot of negatives from poor management of launching and loaded to variable weights from the scales etc....not enough to turn me off next year but I am disappointed in the coverage it received. As a non participant it wasn't until after work I saw a list of the top 40 teams.....still no results for all the teams that competed...I have several friends that tried it and while they didn't do well it would still be nice to see exactly where they ranked. To say it was covered by the WFN it's sad that they were the last to post the winners....and had all of a half dozen pictures up even this morning. I will give credit one of them was of Mariko but sometimes that's not enough lol
I hope they listen to the complaints as well as the praises to continue to improve.

[FRamsay]

Well guys, I was there and thought it went very well for the first year. The crowds were incredible and I had a great 7 days in Lachine fishing two bodies of water I have never fished before. There are growing pains in the first year, with trying to run an event this size. I know Ben and the crew will learn from this year and make improvements to ensure all goes well next year. I know I will be back next year.
I have read the Renegade forum and I am a little disappointed in Spencer's comment, and it wasn't his first Bass tournament and he should have asked for a re-weigh if the scale weight was off that much. As for the other comments on in that forum, well I look at the source and its probably because of a few individuals (attitudes etc) that I haven't associated myself yet with that Bass series, but hey, maybe next year. Cheers, Frank

[Pepe Parisien]

This event had both pro's and con's for a first time "big" event.

Pro's - a. I liked the blast off announcing of all team members and sponsors for the crowd as they idled for boat check and blast off. Everyone had equal recognition, no matter what sponsor they had, rig they were running or how cool they looked.

b. Secure parking area with gated entrance and patrols was a welcome touch.

c. guaranteed payouts as promised was also well received by the competitors.

Con's - a. unloading/loading - needs to be improved on. We were in the second flight weighing in at 3:30 pm. It was 6:45 pm when we pulled out, with approx 25 boats behind us still. This combined with the quite long idle zone to bring our partners to the dropoff/pickup point didn't seem acceptable.

b. Unless you were a angler weighing in, you were unable to view or particpate in the "show" - maybe possible to have weigh-in/stage closer to docks or another suitable option.

c. Weigh-in area was very congested. This, combined with it being a public access area (tour boats coming in and out) added to the congestion of waiting to weigh in.

Overall, again with it being a first time event, I think I will participate again and hopefully the organizers take all the criticism in hand and make for a bigger and better event next year.

[FRamsay]

Hi Pepe, how's the lower unit. I agree with some of your points, but Mike and I had no problem with the launch (pays to register early LOL) You missed the second day weigh in for the boats 26 - 58 . Both angler went up to the stage with their fish. Had time to talk with Ben and Nickie and the parking was basically across the street in a school yard. I thought having the stage where they had it was great, because you could come back after you parking the boat and have a wet of your choice and watch the final weign in. Again, for a first year, it went very well. I will be in early next year for sure. GL with the LU.
Hey Mike the roads are only good in Ontario in the GTA region, come to Ottawa and give your trailer suspension a test...LOL

Cheers, Frank

[Mark Weare]

I thought the event went quite well for the first year, we had a great time and when something was just not right or what we thought we wanted to see we gave it a fairly wide berth so to speak. Now that it is over a few respectful words will go a long way in helping to make adjustments for next year.

I think Ben made a good comment to me when we were leaving, the bar for this event has been set at a certain level, the goal now is to only raise the bar and make it better for 2009.

Hope things go good for you Pepe and the lower unit, let us know how you make out. I know of another smacked unit on day 2, ran their keys back for them to have truck retrieved. I also saw a boat get towed in by the Coast Guard about 2 hours after the event ended, he jokingly asked if he was late for the weigh-in. Another team had engine problems on day 1 and used a different boat for day 2. Guess when there are that many boats around, something is going to go wrong somewhere.

Mark

[Fraser Muir]

Let me guess Pepe....Lake of Two Mountains??? Hope you get it fixed before opener!