President's Report
07 February 2010
There has been much happening on the snowmobiling scene lately, some good and some not so good.
I would first like to talk about the two incidents involving the animals which has the media in a frenzy looking for negative stories about snowmobiling and snowmobilers in general. We all know that there are people in ALL walks of life that are capable of doing STUPID and SENSELESS acts, but just because of a few idiots we are all getting portrayed as a group of murderous thugs. The vast majority of snowmobilers are dedicated hard working people who happen to have a passion for an activity that is limited to a very short period of time each year. Judging from the calls from snowmobilers and the conversations I have had with them in the past few days, they are as upset as the general public about these incidents.
The incident with the dog in Kensington was very unfortunate for the family that lost him, and I am sorry for their loss, but I feel there is not enough information to make a fair judgment. We do not have answers to questions like "did the snowmobile swerve to avoid the dog ?" Information in the story indicates the tracks veered off the trail towards a tree. Was the dog killed immediately? One report said that the snowmobiler was going 130km/h. Who had a radar? The most unfortunate part of this story is that the snowmobiler did not go and report to the owner immediately, and I guess if this had been done, we would not be talking about this now. To the snowmobiler: if it was an accident (which I hope it was), please give the owners a call and apologize.
The second negative incident is the one involving the fox in the Charlottetown area, which has attracted all kinds of local and national attention. If we believe all of the press about the incident, I am sure we are all horrified and feel outrage towards the cowards who did this. I urge all snowmobilers to keep their eyes and ears open and if you hear anything about this (and you will hear names some time because these people will not be able to keep it to themselves), I suggest you report to the author ties. This would help our public image because people getting stirred up over this kind of story can do nothing but harm to our sport.
After all the negatives about snowmobiling I would like to report on something that was extremely positive lately, that is our 3rd Annual Go Snowmobiling Ride. A brief history of this event would be the best way to start off. The idea of a "Go Snowmobiling Ride" came from the manufactures of the four brands of snowmobiles. They were looking for a way to promote and involve new people in the sport. A ride was organized to bring politicians and media people out to experience first hand what snowmobiling is really all about. We here in the Maritimes have a group that meets several times a year to coordinate the three events with the dealer reps and the provincial boards of the three provinces.
It was decided this year that New Brunswick's ride would be February 1st, Nova Scotia's February 2nd, and PEI's February 4th. This all had to take place when it suited the reps, as they supply most of the sleds for the guests on the rides. The PEISA had sent about 20 written invitations to people who are involved with the media and politicians, in the hope we would be able get some of them out with us. The response was terrific and we had 12 guests for our ride who are not currently involved in snowmobiling on PEI. Also, we were pleased to have had Brian Dennis of Dennis Motors (Yamaha), John Reddin of Reddin Powersports (Ski-Doo) and Gary Dunning of Toymaster (Arctic-Cat) and Red Rock (Polaris) join us for the ride. Several members of our Trail Warden Program also joined us, as well as members of Springside and KASA clubs. Ten members of the PEISA Board attended the event.
The day started with a meet and greet at the Brackley Community Centre, and the ride left from there heading west on the Central Trail System, which was in excellent shape. We then turned into Fredericton and followed the KASA System which had been freshly groomed, and found ourselves at Louie's Place, were there was much conversation and discussion from the rookies involved. We continued on to have a meal at the Kensington Club, were there was a great lunch served, and then returned to Charlottetown. The participants could not stop talking about their day. The smiles on their faces told us it was all a worth wile venture.
I would like to thank our guests Kirk MacKinnon of Ocean 100 radio and Colin MacKay of K-Rock -- these guys were like kids at Christmas, they gave live reports from the trail and were huge supporters of the ride. Mary McKay of the Guardian was also with us for the ride and she was busy doing interviews whenever there was a break. We were also pleased to have our new Minister of Tourism Rob Vessey with us for the day, as well as Shane Arbing from the Tourism Department, who works quite closely with the trail system on PEI. Local MLA Alan MacIsaac joined us for the second year and remarked that this ride gets better every year. Leo Gill is the main man for all trails on PEI and he is a huge friend of snowmobiling on PEI. Tom and Barbi Sears of Charlottetown were also invited guests who enjoyed themselves so much they went for a extended ride with members of the PEISA. Ross Anthworth and Leon Bourque of the New Brunswick Snowmobile Federation also joined us (four of us from PEI joined them on Monday and we had a very enjoyable ride with Premier Shawn Graham). Pat Hicks of Yamaha enjoyed his first ride on a trail on PEI and we thank him for his support.
All of the members of the PEISA who work hard to put events like this together, I am sure will agree with me that it was a very successful event and we look forward to an even bigger and better ride next year.
On another note - did everyone see that Reddins and Ski-Doo are putting on a 3 day riding event at three different locations on PEI? They will have 6 different models at each location which will be available to go for a 15 or 40 minute ride (depending on how many people show up) after signing a waiver. The Atlantic Rep Rick Lingley will be there, as well as several members of Team Reddin Powersports. A technician will be on site to answer any questions about the new models. I know that the event in Kensington and Greenfield will have food available, and the rides all take place from 10am to 3pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. Everyone who can should go and take a ride on the new models.
I guess I have probably been rambling on to long and I should end this post with the hope we still have 6 or 7 more good weeks of snow and we all get to enjoy our sport with only positive stories.
Dale Hickox, President, PEISA
OHHHH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE!!!!!!!!!!