FYI Place to run!

F.Y.I. I have contacted Manatee County Parks and Recreation, We now have standing permission to run RC Boats in the lake @ Tom Bennett Park in east Bradenton. The only rules are you can not swim the lake to retrieve a boat and you can not put a manned boat in the water to retrieve a boat. So you will need a RC retrieval boat or take your chances. I have personally run my boat in this lake and it's beautiful, the boat I ran is a 1045mm Genesis that runs a little over 50mph. Eventually I'm going to try to put together a race, there is a point down by the dock that sticks out in the lake that is perfect for a drivers area, it gives you a view of the entire lake. there is also a little like harbor area right next to the point for launching and beaching. Here's some info on the park. http://www.mymanatee.org/home/govern...nett-park.html

We appreciate the heads up and perhaps its worth looking into again. WFMBC contacted Manatee county just as the park was being finished. It was open, but not quite done. Their answer was, absolutely not, there will be no club organized boating within the park. They never offered nor did I ask if we can run there as an individual. Not having a man retrieve boat is a HUGE deal. We have times where it can take 10 minutes to retrieve boats from turnovers during a race. With a retrieval device (RC) unless everyone has their own, that time could double or triple? Without a man occupant vessel, I just don't see it practical. 90% of the races involve at least one retrieval.

However, Im curious to know who you talked to. If its them being afraid of liability and whatnot, we can get "lake insurance' from NAMBA. We have it for Ackerman. This covers the county and keep them at no fault. if I could get someone to get their thumb out of their a$$ and listen to what we have to offer and the attendance we could create and knowledge of the park.. it sure would be nice. but it seems anymore, theyd rather tell everyone what they cant do and wonder why so many people get into trouble. OR, they want "their cut" which makes it unaffordable for a non profit group like ourselves.

In conclusion, until they want to not be butt heads, I personally would not be interested at all in going there and supporting that park.

they might be able to let a none outboard gas motor like ours into the lake just for retrival if they knew it was electric powered ya never know

I talked to a woman named Karen she is one of the heads of parks and recreation for Manatee County, she seemed very nice and accomodating on the phone. I kinda got the impression that a orginization might be able to do something with representation and a proper meeting. I think it's worth a shot, but first we probably need to get a positive track record of people running there privately and not doing anything wrong or causing any trouble. And then seeing if there could be some kind of event in the future, I just think it's too nice of a facility and centrally located not to give it a chance. I've got the door open on a positive note so let's see where we can take it, if anybody wants to talk to me about it PM me and I'll give you my Ph#

Haven't been there since it got finished. I'll take a look.

Indeed it would be a fantastic place to run. Great size pond and well seen by passer-bys on 75. Id be happy to call the county again and speak with Karen. Im not positive but Im pretty sure she was the one that told me "no" over a year ago. If youd like to PM me her contact info if you have it Ill call her Monday or Tuesday and try again to get in and talk to someone. But as said, they wouldn't give us the time of day when we tried this before.

I think we should run on a individual basis or a small group at a time for a while and then hit them up in the future. I've found when dealing with municipalities you need to do things slowly and work up to something bigger so they don't shut you down right off the bat. LOL:spy: