Welcome to Episode 112! Gregg Mansfield, a key player and an integral part of the Bayfair Board of Directors, joins the program. Greg opens up about his journey from his early days as a writer for Powerboat Magazine to his journey as becoming Board of Governor for Bayfair. We talk about the current state and explore the future of the Bayfair Regatta. Greg offers insight on the strategies being implemented to make the event more appealing to the younger generation. Join us to hear about Greg's thrilling experiences and his vision for the future of hydroplane racing on Mission Bay!
Welcome to Episode 112! Gregg Mansfield, a key player and an integral part of the Bayfair Board of Directors, joins the program. Greg opens up about his journey from his early days as a writer for Powerboat Magazine to his journey as becoming Board of Governor for Bayfair. We talk about the current state and explore the future of the Bayfair Regatta. Greg offers insight on the strategies being implemented to make the event more appealing to the younger generation. Join us to hear about Greg's thrilling experiences and his vision for the future of hydroplane racing on Mission Bay!
Ruchatel Talk, a podcast dedicated to everything related to the sport we all love. Hi, I'm your host, david Newton, and it's time once again to sit back, relax and welcome to Ruchatel Talk. It is October 24th 2023, and this is Episode 112. Well, listeners, we've taken a little bit of a break here on the podcast. Many of you out there know I'm a middle school teacher. We went back to school late August and I had some episodes out and they had this interview done and I was really excited to get this out. But unfortunately, a lot of my kids in the classroom they love to share, and one thing they love to share is germs and I got pretty sick in September, which ended up turning into COVID, so that sign lined me for a little while. So unfortunately this interview didn't get to go out as soon as I had hoped. But it is going out today and I'm excited for you to listen to this interview Because I talked with Greg Mansfield, southern California.
Speaker 1:Now Greg lives pretty close to San Diego and the reason we're talking with him in this interview is because he is on the Bayfair Board of Directors as a Board of Governor and he is really the go-to guy for Bayfair he has done over the past decade a lot of things to make sure that the race happens on the water every September on Mission Bay and unfortunately this year it did not take place. He was decided by the Board to postpone the race one year in efforts to save the race. Due to high costs and lack of sponsorship, the race did not happen this year but they're looking forward to having a race next year on Mission Bay and I talked with Greg more about his past and the sport, how he got involved with Hydro Clean Racing, some of his favorite moments and memories from Hydro Clean Racing, and we also look to the future of the Bayfair Regatta. I know many of you viewers and listeners out there have gone to San Diego for the races. It's such a beautiful area and I'm really excited to go back next year. It's such a great spot on the tour.
Speaker 1:That's enough of me rambling on about San Diego. Let's listen in on my interview. So I talked with Greg Mansfield, the Bayfair Board of Governor, joining me today on the podcast. I'm pleased to talk with Greg Mansfield down in California. He's on the Bayfair Board of Directors as Board of Governor. Greg, how are we doing today?
Speaker 2:Great, great Thanks for having me on here, David.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I appreciate talking with you. As we were saying earlier, today would have been a recovery day from Bayfair and unfortunately well, I didn't get to go down to San Diego and enjoy the sunshine down there. I know you're down in California enjoying the warm weather, but missed the opportunity this year to be in San Diego and I'm glad to talk with you today.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, I know I do know some people that actually still made the trip to San Diego regardless of there's a hydroplane race, so we appreciate them doing that, but, as I say, they'll find just some random boats on the water this weekend and nothing more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's. You don't have to twist someone's arm to go down there.
Speaker 2:Well, we know it's always popular, you know, there's no doubt about it. I think it's. Whether they want to say it or not. It's definitely a favorite for folks to come to San Diego. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, before we talk more about the race. Are you a hydrofan? Have you followed the sport for very long?
Speaker 2:I am, you know, and I want to say I'm kind of a new cover to the sport because I didn't get in the sport till probably about 2000, 2001. And the way I got into the sport was they needed somebody. You know, at that point I had joined on with PowerBot Magazine and they did somebody to come in and cover the sport. And so one of the other guys loved total boats. I kind of liked the hydroplane, so that's where it started. So I started, you know, covering the circuit back in 2001.
Speaker 2:You know we're talking on the era of Terry Troxel, nate Brown, ed Cooper obviously Dave Billwock was part of it and Steve David. So you're talking about an era that was, you know, kind of on the cusp of when they still had some money, but not quite the money what they had in the previous decade. So, like I said, I'm kind of new to the sport but I've been around it now for about 22 years and it's been fun to watch the ups and downs of the sport, but mainly it's fun to watch when it's up and doing well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean there's definitely been some ups. I think more downs than ups, maybe lately, but glad you're been a fan now for a couple of decades. Did you have any favorite teams or drivers when you were following the sport back then? You know?
Speaker 2:I'm probably going to go with the obvious one, but you know, steve David was such a great person to deal with, especially when he was running back then he was just. You know whether, when or lose. He was such a gentleman to deal with and it was fun to see him take the time to spend some time with the kids. You know, I remember he would interrupt interviews to go over and just do a quick conversation with a kid or do that something. He knew I was in a magazine so I had a monthly deadline, so it didn't. You know, he knew what he needed to talk and what he didn't, so he was always great, fun to deal with.
Speaker 2:You know, nate Brown was another guy that was great to deal with too, because he was just. I loved his humor, really dry sense of humor, and he was as competitive as they would come. And then, you know, lastly and this one may not be the popular one, but Dave Villach was you know, you knew you were around a great guy that demanded perfection all the time. And while he can sometimes be tough to deal with, I really respected where he came from and he always wanted to win. It didn't matter whether it was just an exhibition race or if it was just a time trial, whatever it was, he just he wanted to win, and so I have to respect that. You know that from him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, some some great names you dropped there and some people it's been around the sport there. Well, you mentioned Steve David and I always comes in my mind how he always had a smile on his face and, like you said, he always gave time to the people around the sport.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and I, you know, probably one of my first you know not to go back in the wayback machine, but this is one H1 still had Evansville and that was one of my first races with him. And then I think my second one was Detroit and, as you know, obviously at that point Detroit was always the gold cup, so there was a lot more on stake and and and. You didn't expect the adrenaline, the drivers to be as friendly, because everything mattered, but you know it honestly, it didn't matter. From the vent event, you know, steve David was always a constant, always a nice guy, whether it was in the media or especially to the fans. I mean, he was just always a professional and and, as I say, was it's great to work with. I'm talking like he's dead, he's not, but he was always just a great person to work with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, fantastic. So we're able to travel to all the different race sites while you're working for Powerboat magazine.
Speaker 2:I have, yeah, I have, and I also did some. Briefly, I did a little PR stamp with each one when they had the Air National Guard. So I think I've been to the majority. You know, I want to say call it the modern race I so I haven't been to the Houston's or the Havasus or when they had them. But yeah, you know, I've been to the Evansville, obviously, detroit, tri-cities, seattle, san Diego and then over in Doha a couple times. So I've been able to kind of the nice thing about running, you know, with San Diego Bayfair. I'm kind of able to see what was what worked well in other cities and didn't seem to work well, that we could always take, you know, back and possibly apply to our event San Diego.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't want to be biased here, but I'm just curious what, as a fan or just going to those different events, did you have a favorite one that you went to outside of San Diego?
Speaker 2:well, obviously I have to be by San Diego, just in the sense of it's a big, wide-open course. But with that being said, you know Detroit was a lot of fun because the city was a surprise and you were so close to the action down there on the water. So I would definitely rank Detroit up there. I'll be honest, probably my favorite is Madison, and I just say that because I think it's a great small town Fact that everybody rallies around it While the river is wide and I know there's other issues that you know with a level of the river, time of year and debris I think it's just because it's such a great small little town and everybody comes out to it and just loves the sport. It is why I think I would probably rank that as my favorite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, some, some great places can go around the US to visit there.
Speaker 2:I'm hoping to get back to you, david, but what would you write is one of your favorites?
Speaker 1:Well, my favorites Did. I haven't been to able to go to all the race sites. I really wanted to Detroit I'm hoping they'll get back there but I Really love going to try cities because they're very close to you. It's another town that really rallies behind hydroplane racing, but I also went down to San Diego as well. I've been able to go down there about four or five times now and watch the race and that's like I said, it's not not hard to convince someone to go down to San Diego. So I've convinced my wife to go down there a couple times and make a little trip out of it. But it's just beautiful down there beautiful weather, that, the beaches there, and it's a fast course, so so it's a great place to watch a race.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I you know, and I agree with you. I think the other thing that's nice is there's a lot of real estate too, you know, and that's that's one of the nice things, so you can kind of get a different feel. You know, if you want to be on East Vacation Island where the boats are, that's great. Or if you just want to be out with the people, you go across the Fiesta Island and then you know, crown point in previous years has always been a little bit quieter. So if you just want to kind of go out and take in the event but not be really tied to the event, you know, so it kind of gives you some more how do I say real estate? Yeah, you mentioned tri cities, and the tri cities is a great course, but I always remember it just seems like it's really tight, which which is good, because that tells me there's a lot of people there. So that's always, always good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is interesting in tri cities, like you said, it is tight. You have to kind of work at finding a spot to watch from there. But it's nice to have the real estate in San Diego so you can be comfortable down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah well, we hope, we always hope to change that, but at the same point, you know we work, we know we work in pretty big islands, so that, yeah, it does open it up.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, talking about Bayfair, you've been working on the board for a while now. How did you get involved With working closely with Bayfair?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started. I'm trying to think back when I started. I want to say I started back in either 2010 or 2011 with them. I knew a couple people that that were on the board at that point and they said you know, can you come down? You know, can you help? People may not know. This is the dirty little secrets. I actually live probably about two and a half hours south or north of San Diego.
Speaker 2:I don't actually a Ventura, but I, as I tell people, I, when I was kid, we used to always vacation down there on Mission Bay specifically. So I've always had a soft spot for that particular area and also that event. I had covered it a couple times with power boat and and really liked it, and so when they brought me on, I was, you know, like I tell people, it's a blessing to curse, right, because it's a. It's a blessing to be able to help keep this event going, because I know it's it's really important and it's big for families, a lot of families. You know they have cloud, they have family reunions there and it's the one time they get together.
Speaker 2:But it's a curse because it's just, it's one of those events that takes so much time to put together and you know, trying to trying to give it the the time it needs is Is difficult because, again, like all of us were all volunteers and so it's one of those. It's tough to motivate yourself when when you're not necessarily getting a paycheck from it. But, like I said before, I just love the fact that people come there as a family re-in and or we're making a getaway, and I also love the putting on an event and staging a successful event and and watching it, and watching it work. You know, those are all the reasons about. That's how I got involved and I've been with them since. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean, there's so many unique things about the sport and it is it is like a big family with each one in the Hyderabad racing. Because I do enjoy going down there to San Diego when I can to see people that I've met over the years down there. Not necessarily family reunion for me, but fun to see friends again You're not normally get to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And you know, and, as I say, a lot of people, as you probably know, realize they get an RV, they make that kind of their you know their destination spot and then the family comes in and stays in hotel rooms or sometimes we'll get RV spots and they make their own little campsites. So but it really is fun. You know, and, as you said, there is a big H1 family and I think a lot of people that extended H1 family kind of. It's almost like a, you know, the bat signal they come to come to San Diego is kind of the end of the year, but but you know they get to check in with other friends and see how they're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, you mentioned that it's. It's quite an ordeal to put on an event like this. It's hard to motivate yourself sometimes. In lieu of all the work, can you talk us through? I know you can't talk us A through Z on the whole process, but can you kind of give us an insight and what it takes to put on an event of such caliber in San Diego?
Speaker 2:Well, okay, I could, I could do that, you know. The first thing I'll let you know is that today one of our board members contacted the city of San Diego Park and Rex department with next year's states. So as soon as the event start or is done, we always are starting towards next year's. But but you know, for example, the biggest part of it is is that we do have some muscle memory because a lot of people have done it. But one of the first things that we'll end up doing is in the next couple of months is we get.
Speaker 2:In the past, we've received funding from the San Diego Chours and Marketing District and this is basically. Their role is to get heads and beds to fill hotel rooms, and so we've received the subtle money. We've received funding from them. I want to say it's probably seven or eight years now and they become kind of in the sense of one of our title sponsors. It was no secret that, like in the past, we've gotten 115,000, 95,000 dollars a year and that helps start to offset some of the costs that come about it At the same point.
Speaker 2:We'll, in a few months, what we would do is we would start negotiations with H1 and limited to say OK, we want to bring you know X number of votes and typically in the past we've always requested just six boats to do it.
Speaker 2:And at the same point we're also working on sponsorships and then also kind of looking at our entire event. You know what worked last year, what brought in revenues, where did we lose money in trying to readjust the event every year so that we can make sure that we accommodate boats but also give people that aren't fans of boats the reason to come, whether it's an RV convention or whether in the past we've had freestyle motorcycles. We do concerts you know we did a barbecue event doing stuff that so people that maybe aren't traditional boat racers or H1 folks would have a reason to come to the beach that weekend. Because, again, I think the problem that sport has now is it's just not a household name and most of us that have been involved with it of course know what it is, but the average folks that aren't into the marine industry or anything like that, they don't know. So that's a big challenge for us to get the help from those people at.
Speaker 1:I'm glad to hear that you're trying other ways to draw people in. I'm just thinking I'm a school teacher and where I teach now I've got quite a few families that moved into the area and when I talk about hydroplanes in the classrooms I try to reflect on my personal life and make connections with students. Students don't know what a hydroplane is. So glad you're trying to bring other people into the sport, hopefully grow the fan base.
Speaker 2:And again, our goal is hopefully on that one and it's not necessarily a knock at each one, it's just one of those things that it's just they don't know. But I think, like a lot of it, like myself is they get there and they see those boats and they become a big love. Well, these things are pretty cool and they become a de facto fan of the sport. That's the goal is, hopefully they get there, you know, whether it's the C families or whether it's H one or the boat teams are, you know, extended visit to the folks that come through and they become a fan that way. But it, you know, we need all sorts of touch points to make it make it fun for folks that want to come to the event and hopefully want to come back year after year to see the boats.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely, definitely. Well, in all of your work you've done the past 12 years or so, what do you think has been the biggest challenge to get the race on the water?
Speaker 2:Well, I think it like anything, it's funding, you know. I think that people have to understand that San Diego is the largest market that H1 races in and, I would argue, probably one of the most expensive markets for H1 Unlimited to race in. That's not just Unlimited, it's the other boat classes too. I think Seattle's probably not a cheap area to go, but I do think there's a lot of days where we can say Seattle, hold our beer, we've got other expenses to come around.
Speaker 2:You know the challenges, like I said, is fundraising is making sure we have a good title sponsor in place to do that. We have a really good dedicated core volunteers. We have roughly 700 volunteers that will help us out through the weekend and that can anybody that's. You know it's a full week to somebody who can give us a half a day, and so trying to keep that volunteer base in places is important. But you know, just to go back to your original question, you know there's other things or other challenges that come up. Like you know, we have to put up 3.8 miles of in-league fencing around the property so you can start to understand what, where the costs are coming in. Just you know for those alone, without you know city permit fees, insurance costs and other things that come about it. So while we appreciate the RV sales, those things bring in the money and walk up it's really ultimately the sponsorship that keeps us going, that makes us whole each year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think to the average fan a lot of that goes unseen and unknown, all the costs and all the kind of behind the scenes work that goes into it. So a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:And not to David, not to throw too many numbers out, but I think you know it's probably fair to say that you know just to bring the H1 and unlimiteds in and, mind you, the grand prix and other things kind of ride off their infrastructure. So it's not fair. But the minimum H1 is kind of the minimum standard and so that's, you know, between appearance fees, insurance and everything else, you're talking about $250 to $300,000 just to support H1 and limiteds and that includes cranes. You know we have to do, we have to collect the water so that it doesn't go back into the bay. You know security, other issues like that.
Speaker 2:So it's a big nut to crack just off. You know just off that one organization alone, and that doesn't include bringing in concerts and other costs that come around. So you know it's pretty substantial. But you know, on the other hand, with the fees and everything that we've been charged from the past, we've been able to make it. But you know, this past year, with inflation costs going up, city fees going up, everything of that sort, we just felt it was a gap too far for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and yeah, you mentioned that it was canceled this year. The event or hopefully it's a stay it actually postponed until next year. Earlier in the year the board announced that and with the withdrawal of Home Street Bank as a sponsor, at what point did you all have to decide this was too much of a task to do this year and have to postpone until next year?
Speaker 2:Well, you know I say that I don't have the dates in front of me, but I want to say it was somewhere in June. You know we had about. I'd say they gave us roughly about a six weeks heads up that wasn't going to happen and or that they were not going to be able to renew their contract for this year. And while we had talked to the I mentioned before San Diego Churs and Marketing District, they were willing to contribute more money. We just didn't feel like we had enough money to make up that difference. The other thing is, too, is that as soon as we found out that Home Street wasn't able to return as a title sponsor and not only do they come as a title sponsor, you know, they bring in some hospitality, they bring in other revenues that come with it that are maybe not unseen. I think people have probably seen there, you know, when they had the hospitality area at the Muncie Memorial, that you know those generate generates a lot of money for us on top of it. So we so, when we found out that was the case, we sped up our quotes from our providers, you know, and that's for everybody, that provides the cranes to the toilets, to the security to everything else and quickly our suspicions were confirmed. Where you know, for example, security was maybe a $20,000 bill. We were getting quotes of $32,000, you know, same thing with the cranes were almost maybe $50,000. We were looking at $57,000 to $60,000, but those just kept compiling. But understand that crane bill that was $60,000 before the pandemic would have been about $42,000. So you can see where the sponsorships were.
Speaker 2:Just not we couldn't get enough sponsorships. Nor were we willing to raise the ticket prices or RV prices to a point that we would have. We would have run off people that we just felt was better for us to just take our loss now and reset for next year. I've judged with my wife and some other people. I said we probably have more money in the bank today than I think we would have if we ran the event. It's just a matter of us hopefully finding the right group of folks that want to sponsor it. I personally don't think we won't see a main title sponsor. I think what we're going to see is several smaller sponsors that will come in and help make up that difference for us and get us back to where we need, which in some ways may be good right, because if you lose one sponsor, it doesn't knock the legs out where you know with several different ones.
Speaker 2:You can hopefully replace it. But that being said, I say this Homestreet were great sponsors. They came to us one time when we really needed it and you know they've been nothing but supportive and I think in some ways it hurt them more than it hurt us to be able to have to say no, because, like everybody else, they love to come to San Diego and they love seeing how the event was coming along. So, but like I said, I speak the world of Homestreet. They helped us out for a lot of years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, homestreet really has. I know fans are disappointed that they're out of the sport, but they for quite a number of years. Not only did they help San Diego but they helped Seattle with their race, the race team. They really helped the sport in a lot of different ways I think.
Speaker 2:So yeah, when it really needed it too. You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:They needed. Not, I won't say they were a burning little by means, but they were definitely. They were that stabilizing influence that the sport needed Definitely definitely.
Speaker 1:Well, you mentioned the idea of having several small sponsors kind of team up to replace the fallen Homestreet Bank sponsorship. Can you speak to any of the sponsors that are stepping up or the process you're going into getting sponsors for next year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, basically what we've been doing is relationship sponsors. You know anybody that we know getting in front of trying to see what we have. You know we're actually have been talking to a couple of beer sponsors again, which has been been a while, and I think that there's, and you know, and you know so we're hopefully that we're hoping that one of them will will come in at a much higher level so that they can control the event. But for right now we don't have a title sponsor in hand. But we've got, you know, I'd say about two or three. I want to call them like presenting sponsors is probably the best term because it's still really good money. It's just not title sponsorship type money.
Speaker 2:So we've done the same thing. We know budgets get finalized coming up in October, november, so we'll see if we make the cut with them. But the nice thing is we still have a year to work on this as far as getting sponsors. But we're really hoping that we have enough in hand that we feel comfortable, you know, with what we have from reserves that we can push forward. And you know, make an early announcement and you know, get people buying RV spots and keep pushing us forward.
Speaker 1:All right, well, sounds like a lot of work's being done. Go ahead and see the answer to that. It is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, like I said, it's a lot of. Who do you know, you know?
Speaker 1:how do we?
Speaker 2:get into that company, that sort of thing. And we haven't been. I will say we haven't been cold calling people because we just don't think that that's that's going to be the answer. It's as much relationships as we can get, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it sounds like things are looking good for 2024.
Speaker 2:Then in the current season Just cross, cross, yeah, yeah All right.
Speaker 1:Well, what could we expect from next year? Do you have any ideas on what could change for the event? You mentioned that six boats minimum for each one, and possibly other classes might join us.
Speaker 2:Correct. Yeah, we haven't. You know, we're still sitting down on that one, and that's been one of those things that we are looking kind of, island by island, you know, and we're looking what brings in revenue sponsorship, what doesn't, and so there's no guarantees that each one will be back next year, but I think that they will because they serve a great purpose and they've had a long history there. But we also have to look at how do we monetize them. Like I said before, that 250, 300,000, that holds a really big hole for us to start out with, and so we're hopefully that some of those sponsors come in are very supportive of H1's mission.
Speaker 2:I know that the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, where they paid a part of their appearance fee, has been very supportive of it. So you know, what we're looking at is one of the biggest things that we're trying to do is get us young, make our event a little bit younger, and so we're possibly working with a group that would come over to Crown Point that has they do kidney contests, they do concerts, they do cornhole. They had a mechanical bull at one time. I'm not sure we can get that by insurance, but if that being said, you know we're hopefully maybe get that group. That again is not necessarily boats aren't their primary thing, but they're interested in music or bikini concerts or cornhole. To get them down there to buy a ticket and come support the event.
Speaker 2:And then when they see the boats, they become instant pants too. We're also kind of you know. As you know, we have a lot of real estate, so we'd like to. We had an Airstream convention there a couple years ago. Hopefully we will get that Airstream convention back. We need a little bit. On the RV industry, we're hoping that groups like Good Sam might put on their own you know many events there, because rather than selling, say, a $40 ticket, these are spots that are five to $700,. You know that people are running for the weekend and so for us, those are important things that will help us generate revenue that we need to keep the event going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, smart, smart yeah. It just seems like with everything else that's evolved over the time, it's like you're thinking have kind of a younger approach to things, so hopefully some of those will line up for you next year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we feel really good about those, you know, especially because, like you know, I don't know if you had been down there when we did a. We had a barbecue competition that looked for a couple years and it just didn't, while while it seemed fun, it just didn't pan out and get the numbers. I think, like we said, this group that does this, they, you know they have a great following, but, more importantly, they bring in music. They bring in some country music. They bring in I think you're seeing a little bit of Madison, so to speak, right where they're doing the boats and the concerts. But this would be all part of just, you know, this would happen during the daytime and that event would happen.
Speaker 2:We also have something called the Hydro Games that was over on Crown. Quite not keep forgetting to bring them up, but you know that tends to bring a little bit of a younger audience too, and so so our whole goal is make us as young, you know, get us younger, but also make sure that we still stay true to the history, which is is unlimited hydro points.
Speaker 1:Awesome, awesome. Well, I think it's a great approach to keep pagepins with Beaver then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and it just we just have to make it work. You know, and it's not like I said, we're not trying to throw. You know, it's not a threat and everything like that. It's just the realism or wrath, and I think that you know if we can, you know if we can get them to, you know, get a good balance of mix of between the boats, concerts and, you know, rv conventions and other things. I think that that's a perfect synergy for us.
Speaker 1:I just want to. I always like to kind of walk down memory lane with things and be nostalgic. Do you have any fun memories or what's been your favorite memory actually for working for Beaver?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I think you know I'll go reason. I think probably just a couple of years ago, 2001, we were the first major event to come back in San Altor major event in San Diego to come back and to me that was probably the greatest blast but also probably the spookiest, knowing that, you know, we were we're an outdoor event. They were letting us to move forward with it. We didn't want to become a major super spreader event. We got incredible media coverage because of it. But also it was just great to see everybody out having fun. You know, after having been in lockdown for, you know, 18 months or so, it was just was really neat to see everybody out and have a great time. And you know, put it not that we have differences as boat racing fans.
Speaker 2:You know we can all argue whether the red boat is the blue boat or which one's better, but with that being said, it was just really it was neat that we were able to accomplish this and you know it took a lot of zoom meetings and took a lot of convincing but city officials to let us move forward with it. You know who thought we would be sourcing. You know hand hand soap and you know all that stuff that was part of it was required and having to add in hand washing stations and and make public address announcements and things like that. So it was to me that was a lot of fun, you know, to be, be a part of that and just to see it make a comeback like that. But each event has its own, like I said, has its own unique, unique flavor and I think probably during the first couple you know, which would have been for me 2011, 2012 was was a lot of fun just to see and experience how an event works. You know, as I got a little bit older, I knew the rhythm, how these things happen and things.
Speaker 2:But, like I said, I just go back to two of them one and us being able to pull off the event when I think, you know, I think a lot of people in the other states like, yeah, it's California, there's no way they're going to be able to do it. And you know we pulled it off and we're we're incredibly grateful that San Diego let us do it. As far as we know, we didn't create a super spreader event. So I, you know, I'm sure we would have probably heard it from San Diego Health, but it was just we were really proud. You know, again, you look back on it now we know obviously we're much smarter about COVID than we were back then, but but the fact that we were able to kind of pull it off during while, while this was still going on, was to me like I think it's one of my favorite memories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, fantastic. Well, greg, it's great talking with you today, Appreciate you taking the time and I'm looking forward to going down to San Diego next year for Bayfair.
Speaker 2:We hope so Well, have to have a taco at least, or breakfast burrito, as we're doing for it. So so if I do say, if you have any sponsors, anybody wants to come our way, please send them our way. We, we can take all the we need, all the sponsors we can get.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, please reach out. All right, listeners, hope you enjoyed the episode today. It was great talking with Greg and talking more about racing on Mission Bay for the Bayfair Regatta, looking forward to that race coming back on the tour next year and I hope you're looking forward to the next episode. We're actually going to take a week break from our episodes and content and we're going to be back November 7th, tuesday, at 5 am with our next episode. Episode 113 is actually going to be some content from the archives of the unlimited Hydropen and Race Belt Museum.
Speaker 1:Thanks to Don Mock and David Williams and some others down at museum, I've been able to go down to the museum and look through some of the archives and I'm hoping to preserve a lot of the audio that they have down there in their storage and the archives. It's a massive archives. They have a lot going on there, but I've been able to find a couple of nice pieces that I want to showcase here and preserve for you, the listeners. So look for that. November 7th, tuesday, at 5 am, we'll be releasing episode 113. The content you'll have to wait for that to see what it is. So then please look for us online at rucheteltalkcom. Also on social media Instagram, facebook and don't forget that we're on all your major podcast players, so you can find us on your favorite podcast platform. We're on Spotify, apple Podcast, cast Box. Until next time, hope to see you at the races.