Sam's Club Regional open spots

[Fishiest1]

Sadly, this thread reminds me of the rise and fall of the FLW redfish and kingfish tours.

 

[Muzzlebrake]

Sadly, this thread reminds me of the rise and fall of the FLW redfish and kingfish tours.

can you fill in those of us that are unfamiliar?

 

[Fishiest1]

Muzzlebrake,

These cookoffs seem to be structured in quite a simular way ie top heavy and there was a lot of travel involved. The first couple years of the FLWs there were also other sponsors ie if you had a yamaha and finished in the top 20 then they would also cut you a check. Then the economy went sour and gas prices went through the roof and these events that started out limiting the field at 150 teams in 2 years had a third as many. Yamaha and the other boat sponsors would only pay you contingency if you had a unit less than 2 years old.

Even though we were a sponsored team it was impossible in that market to flip a boat without taking it in the shorts so we ended up keeping the one we had. I think it was in 2005 we got 2nd in the redfish tour and we didn't even break even after Prefishing, hotels, gear, food etc.

So pretty much they both disolved back in 2008.

It would be nice if Stumps, Lang, Weber, BWS etc also added extra incentives to the teams who are willing to make the trip and place well. I mean its really not a lot for these guys to jump on board and throw something to the teams that are willing to take their product to a national event and compete with it. Some cash or discount on new product might go a long way. At that level the cooking teams should be teamed with their cookers builder and the builder should be able to do something for them if they make it high on the national stage.

JMO.

 

[G$]

Honest question that I do not know the answer to:

Approximately when did KCBS competition cooking become "about the money or breaking even"? I know you'll have to generalize to answer. And heck, maybe the answer is "day 1".

 

[Jorge]

Honest question that I do not know the answer to:

Approximately when did KCBS competition cooking become "about the money or breaking even"? I know you'll have to generalize to answer. And heck, maybe the answer is "day 1".

I think your answer varies from team to team. For the teams that do a couple of local events, and view it as a social event it's not that big of a deal. For a team that's willing to travel, and has made a larger investment it can be a lot more important.

If a team is looking at 10+ events, and some travel involved with those events, I can completely understand the desire or need to break even or come close to it. Costs for everything are up.... fuel, meat, disposable items.... It's not unusual to drop $1k or more for a contest, so you are looking at $10k plus for a 10 event season. If you start the season with less than $10k in the BBQ account, you are screwed if you don't bring something back in. And then there are the unforeseen events. Blown tires, destroyed canopies, dead generators. Those things can wipe out winnings, or disposable income for a lot of teams.

The fun tends to end for me, in any hobby, if I'm bleeding money to the point that it threatens my standard of living:icon_blush:

 

[G$]

Do you think that previously, the average distance travelled to the average contest was shorter?

 

[timzcardz]

The fun tends to end for me, in any hobby, if I'm bleeding money to the point that it threatens my standard of living:icon_blush:

Wife . . . . Check.

House . . . Check.

Kids . . . Check.

Kids' cars . . . Check.

Kids' college . . . .Check.

Sports cards and memorabilia . . . Check.

BBQ . . . . Check.



BLEEDING MONEY IS MY STANDARD OF LIVING! :thumb:

.

 

[Fishiest1]

Kids' cars . . . Check.

Kids' college . . . .Check.


.

Now, that's gonna leave a mark!

 

[Jorge]

Muzzlebrake,

These cookoffs seem to be structured in quite a simular way ie top heavy and there was a lot of travel involved. The first couple years of the FLWs there were also other sponsors ie if you had a yamaha and finished in the top 20 then they would also cut you a check. Then the economy went sour and gas prices went through the roof and these events that started out limiting the field at 150 teams in 2 years had a third as many. Yamaha and the other boat sponsors would only pay you contingency if you had a unit less than 2 years old.

Even though we were a sponsored team it was impossible in that market to flip a boat without taking it in the shorts so we ended up keeping the one we had. I think it was in 2005 we got 2nd in the redfish tour and we didn't even break even after Prefishing, hotels, gear, food etc.

So pretty much they both disolved back in 2008.

It would be nice if Stumps, Lang, Weber, BWS etc also added extra incentives to the teams who are willing to make the trip and place well. I mean its really not a lot for these guys to jump on board and throw something to the teams that are willing to take their product to a national event and compete with it. Some cash or discount on new product might go a long way. At that level the cooking teams should be teamed with their cookers builder and the builder should be able to do something for them if they make it high on the national stage.

JMO.

A good friend of mine says that when competition BBQ is more expensive than owning a boat, he'll buy a boat:becky: Having owned a boat myself, I tend to agree:wink:

 

[Fishiest1]

A good friend of mine says that when competition BBQ is more expensive than owning a boat, he'll buy a boat:becky: Having owned a boat myself, I tend to agree:wink:

I hear ya! Have a boat, smokers, 5 kids, 2 chesapeake bay retrievers and a very patient wife! The fishing tournaments here in Florida started hurting and drying up at the same time I had done them for years already and was burnt out. My kids were starting to get older and we just had our twins so I really didn't have the time or inclination to go prefish a couple evenings a week and be gone all weekend. Now, I can just sit in the backyard, fire up the cookers, watch the kids in the pool, drink a cold one with the wifey and not miss a thing! Sorry about the derail!

 

[Muzzlebrake]

so how many qualifiers wound up dropping out of the Regional?
How did they go about replacing those teams?

 

[AZScott]

I don't know how many decided not to go to the regionals.

If a team decides not to go to the regional, an invite is extended to the next highest placing team from that local contest. I believe we have seen a few instances where the 11th - 13th place team has made it.

 

[Muzzlebrake]

I don't know how many decided not to go to the regionals.

If a team decides not to go to the regional, an invite is extended to the next highest placing team from that local contest. I believe we have seen a few instances where the 11th - 13th place team has made it.

Thanks. I was looking at the results and thought that might have been the case. It looks like invites got to at least the 10th place team from all the Locals and 11th, 12th and 13th in 3 of them. Thats has to be a good feeling, thinking you are out then you are back in.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Bigmista]

You got that right!

 

[fishinchef]

A good friend of mine says that when competition BBQ is more expensive than owning a boat, he'll buy a boat:becky: Having owned a boat myself, I tend to agree:wink:

My boat has not left the garage since I started this BBQ journey, I can't afford 3 hobbies (including chasing women as I'm single!!!)

 

[AZScott]

Thanks. I was looking at the results and thought that might have been the case. It looks like invites got to at least the 10th place team from all the Locals and 11th, 12th and 13th in 3 of them. Thats has to be a good feeling, thinking you are out then you are back in.

Good luck to everyone!

Yep. Gilbert was the only one that only had one team drop so that made it to 8th place. The 9th and 10 place Gilbert finishers were lucky enough to get the wild card invitations. There's a lot of stress knowing you're on the bubble. You want to go so freaking bad but it's not a sure thing until they have ran your credit card.

 

[Bigmista]

*thinking about leaving now and just sitting in the parking lot*

 

[MrSmoker]

:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:

 

[huminie]

I just want to say that I am really disappointed that I had to miss out on this. I would have loved nothing more than to be going toe to toe with this group of cooks. :boxing: What an honor that would have been.

Hopefully next year I will do better and not have the date conflict!

 

[big brother smoke]

Go get them Mista!