Sunshine Chapter Meet at Silver Sands

[Kris H]

I will be the first to talk about outcome of the move the Silver Sands. It was a disaster!!!! It has to be one of the worst ideas ever thought up by a small group of directors of a local AMCA club in the history of the clubs. I feel this move did nothing but hurt my club. I really hope the national directors got a good look at what happens when a club is run by a couple of people with an agenda of their own, Joe Gimpel and Carl Sorenson! These two people have to be voted out so the club can move back to Eustis, Fl where it belongs and take advantage of the first rights of refusal on the new Fairgrounds that are in the planning stages. This debacle hurt the vendors who are the top reason people come to this great meet, Joe and Carl are turning their backs on them! They will soon find out how disgruntled the majority has become. Please feel free to give your own opinion on how you feel about the state of this club! Rememmber that this club can be the top meet out of all the meets of the year if people/members realize they have the power to change, not a few people with only themselves in mind!!! You are able to vote by proxy, e-mail, power of attorney and in person at the next meeting this April.

[Pete Gagan]

Hi Kris:
Did you actually go? The other thread seems to take a far different view. Just curious- I was unable to attend FL this year, ( the first missed in many years)
Pete Gagan

[exeric]

I did hear that you had to have a strong stomach, or no sense of smell to use the facilities at Silver Sands.

[bikerdds]

Kris, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. There were more positive words than negative word regarding the change. I specifically asked lots of questions and not all to people I knew. I am not on the chapter board, but just a member. I was not involved with the vote, but was willing to support my chapter and help in any way as I believed the change was good after years at a decaying 90 year old venue that is near being closed anyway. Any new venue will have it's hiccups the first time. The guys did an outstanding job preparing and trying to deal with many new things. There were many new vendors and many returning BECAUSE of the move. You will never satisfy everyone. A meet needs venders and attendees. There were both. The chapter will definately review all problems so as to deal with them in the future.
Anyone who wants to poke a finger at Carl Sorenson better realize how much he put his heart and soul into this thing whether it was appreciated or not. He recognized the need to change and a lot of it was based on vender input. He was in a god awful accident weeks before and the rest of the chapter had to shoulder the responsibility of carrying out his plans in his abscense. From his hospital bed, he went crazy to still trying to be the field general and help out. You would do better at this time to leave his name of of your complaints at this time out of respect.
Being able to hook up larger motorhomes and having at least one shower for men and for women was much appreciated by many I talked to. Yes, there was a plumbing problem but it was fixed. All the b.s. regarding Volusia county by the nay sayers was complete bull. There was no problems of any sort from officals, county or state. The old Eustis fairgrounds is slated to close and we need to do something anyway. Many enjoyed the fact we were near Dayona, yet still in the sticks to a degree. Even at Eustis, there was the same issues of food and rooms. The Cabbage Patrch hysteria was pure hype. You would never have know the Patch was even there. Should be obvious there was an attempt to try and make this meet fail, and it didn't. This was a swap meet, pure and simple.
There were many not willing to give this a chance no matter what. Some hate change just for the sake of change. I had a ball, one of the best times at a spring national in years. If you came with a negative attitude, you probably left with it. If you had a positive attitude and it changed for the worse, how about trying to have input how to improve it. If you started negative and came out positive, thanks for having an open mind.

[Sargehere]

...Some hate change just for the sake of change. I had a ball, one of the best times at a spring national in years. If you came with a negative attitude, you probably left with it. If you had a positive attitude and it changed for the worse, how about trying to have input how to improve it. If you started negative and came out positive, thanks for having an open mind.

You got that right: "change just for the sake of change." Find/build a new place with a paved floor for the Sunday morning judging. Once again, the chapter treated the event like a swap meet, and judging on Sunday morning was treated as an after-thought; like the club's red-headed step child.

Judging was jammed into the only two small hard-floored rooms in the entire place. It was wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder all of Sunday morning, with the bikes, the entrants, the judges and the spectators competing for space. All this, in search of solution to a problem that existed only in someone's mind, "change just for the sake of change," while one of the finest judging venues on the AMCA summer circuit went unused at the familiar Eustis site. We're back, after sixteen years of stability, to a Chapter in search of a meet site. Maybe some motel nearby will lend us their parking lot, just like the old days.

[Bill]

I don't think I have ever been to the "perfect" show. It is either too hot, too cold, too far away, it rains, the field is too hilly, or combinations of those issues. Had the Silver Sands meet been poorly attended as many had hoped, there would have been loads of room but since that didn't happen, the judging portion is an area that can be improved , if others think it's needed, next year. I guess there are some people that, if given a brand new red motorcycle, would complain because it wasn't blue. How do you fix that?

[Kris H]

Let me say this first and foremost, my heart goes out to Carl and his wife and hope only the best in their recovery. With that being said I do not appreciate anyone thinking they can sensor any thought I might have about anything. It is called freedom of speech! This problem that the minority few members of the Sunshine Chapter, Joe Gimpel and Carl Sorenson started all this last year, not after the accident. I feel I have every right to name the people that started all this baloney. The post by bikerdds must have been done with rose colored glasses on. I was there Saturday morning for four hours looking over the entire grounds and thought it was the worst move ever. There was now where to ride a bike unless you brought an enduro, The bathroom and one shower was discusting, There were deep mud trenches just about everywhere you looked, the "hard" packed arena was anything but. The Silver Sands was in no better shape than the Eustis Fairgrounds if not worse! I did not see all these "new" vendors, matter of fact there were a lot less vendors than Eusits last year, far less! I have talked to many people, many that I did not know before and was hard pressed to find any thinking it was the greatest place, only bikerdds! I went to the Eustis Fairgrounds on Friday for part of the day and was saddened by the lack of vendors there. To think this is was in the top five events of the year being ruined by a few with their own agenda make me more determined than ever to change the course the club went this year. This club is member driven and needs to given back to the members to make the choices. As far as food and rooms in and around Eustis, there are many, many choices. Far more than near the Silver Sands. If you came to Silver Sands with an open mind and left with a negative, sad feeling, welcome to the club!

[Kris H]

Some people are followers and some are leaders. Some feel they need to sit back and some feel they want to help. I want to help the club and the event be the best in the nation. Some are just FOLLOWERS!

[Sargehere]

No one expected "Perfect," Bill. Now, rising to the level of an adequate judging venue would have been a nice score, tho. To some people, that's important. To some, it's the whole ball of wax. To some, it's an irritating afterthought.

The Silver Sands was a muddy-when-wet, horsey-stinking place without an adequate restaurant, gas station or a decent motel within miles, but I just didn't go into details cuz I didn't want to hurt yer feelin's. Funny. how misguided "loyalty" can drive some to defend the indefensible.

The Silver Sands would work if we could figure out some way to use that vast, dirt, horse arena for our motorcycle judging floor. There's just not enuf hard-floor to judge our motorcycles, the real reason for the club, in the entrance lobby, again.

[Kris H]

Yes, I attended, please read my post and keep in mind I love my club, but things/people need to change!

[brian_groff]

I'm not on the Board, and not a Sunshine member, and not a VMA member. And I was unable to judge on Sunday because we had to hit the road, so I can't comment on that. However, my friends and I that attended the meet thought it was fine. We also visited Eustice, and thought it was fine too. It would have been good to have everyone in one spot, but there seems to be quite a number of people who simply won't play together. And it seemed pretty clear that Eustice may not be a long-term solution for this meet, so something was bound to change at some point. IMHO, the only thing that needs to change is the naysaying needs to stop, the finger pointing needs to quit, and folks need stop taking themselves so seriously and have some fun.

Our experience at the meet was similar to that described by bikerdds. We really did not hear a lot of bi*&%ing and moaning about the location. In fact, we really didn't hear a lot of bi*&%ing about any of the b*&#&it going on in the club. Why? Because it seemed folks were doing what we always do at swap meets; having a good time with our friends.

[rwm]

I'm not on the Board, and not a Sunshine member, and not a VMA member. And I was unable to judge on Sunday because we had to hit the road, so I can't comment on that. However, my friends and I that attended the meet thought it was fine. We also visited Eustice, and thought it was fine too. It would have been good to have everyone in one spot, but there seems to be quite a number of people who simply won't play together. And it seemed pretty clear that Eustice may not be a long-term solution for this meet, so something was bound to change at some point. IMHO, the only thing that needs to change is the naysaying needs to stop, the finger pointing needs to quit, and folks need stop taking themselves so seriously and have some fun.

Our experience at the meet was similar to that described by bikerdds. We really did not hear a lot of bi*&%ing and moaning about the location. In fact, we really didn't hear a lot of bi*&%ing about any of the b*&#&it going on in the club. Why? Because it seemed folks were doing what we always do at swap meets; having a good time with our friends.

this is the best post on the dual meet subject.

[c.o.]

IMHO, the only thing that needs to change is the naysaying needs to stop, the finger pointing needs to quit, and folks need stop taking themselves so seriously and have some fun.

I have to agree with Rob. I narrowed down the quote for the general gist of how things should be looked at in this club. You said it well Brian.

[Matthew N. Olse]

I had a great time at the new location. I talked to a lot of old friends and made some new ones. I asked every vendor that I talked to if they like the new location and no one had anything bad to say. I agree with Mr. Brian Groff a 100 percent-- people need to stop being so polorazed, we are all in this club because we like old motorcycles.

I had every intention of going to Eustis to spend some time hanging out with friends that were set up there, but ran short on time. I thought the new grounds were nice, they had lots of room for parking, vending and I was really impressed at how well the water cleared out so quickly after it rained. It sounds like the Eustis fairgrounds will not be around in the not so distant future, the meet would have had to move eventually.

[T. Cotten]

...judging on Sunday morning was treated as an after-thought; like the club's red-headed step child.

Because it IS the AMCA's "red-headed stepchild"!

(Actually, its more like a nagging spinster aunt, badly in need of a "make-over".)

....Cotten
AMCA#776