Just a quick follow-up to Wednesday’s blog about the bass tours’ increasingly-praised-but-beleaguered service crews. One additional factor that might play into this epidemic is the romanticizing of derring-do.
I recall that when I first really started following the sport in the early 90s, someone told me a story about the Ranger Boats plant in Flippin, Arkansas. It had two graveyards for destroyed boats, he said in all seriousness: one for Roland Martin and one for everyone else. Although I somehow doubt that was true, it resonated. At the time, Roland had the most Bassmaster AOY titles by a large margin, with the clear implication being that if your boat is anything other than “just a tool” you’re not doing it right.
Another friend told me about being Hank Parker’s media observer at a Classic and racing a fellow competitor (may have been Roland, to keep the mythology consistent) through nasty standing timber at top speed, rubbin’ and racin’ all the way. It was worth risking breaking your equipment and perhaps your neck to earn the hardware.
And of course one of the most mythical wins in B.A.S.S. history was Randy Blaukat’s 1989 win at Buggs Island, where he took off his cowling and filled the boat with water to get through a culvert and into a virgin backwater pond. He didn’t destroy the boat, but he put it where it “should not” have been.
Whether you scratch the crap out of your boat, knock off a lower unit, or come home with it still in pristine condition, the hundred grand spends the same, but a lot of the most memorable wins are the ones where a portion of that top check goes to boat repairs. Once again, I pity the service crews as well as the insurance adjusters.
