What ever happened to SCOPE?

[FROGMAN524]

Here's an old school vid from 1995. Wish they would bring it back.

SCOPE POKER RUN 1995 - YouTube

 

[Beerme]

Classic!

 

[H20 Toie]

yep Scope was a lot of fun. They put on some great events. but i think a big problem was that people wanted to go to the events without joining . just ride on the coattails of the event. ended up being more hassle than it was worth for the people putting it on.

 

[Rampage42]

Most everyone sold their offshore boats, no real area to hold a Poker Run anymore so we made the decision to shut down the club.
We made a lot of new friends and we all get together fairly often.
it was a great fun run for sure!

 

[Tank]

Funny, I just saw Lu Lyall (and Chris Prouty and Dave Anderson) this weekend who are all original members. I think you had the perfect storm that kind've killed off SCOPE -

1) I think the main reason was the economy crashed in 07, 08, 09 and the west coast boating scene basically came to a stand still.
2) The city contacts the powers at be like Lyall and Songrath and Cheng had connections with to make things like the poker run a reality, retired. New city contacts came in and weren't as easy to deal with to get a bunch of loud, stinky powerboaters dock space, permits, etc to throw the poker run.
3) Most all original members that were the driving force behind SCOPE and really had the passion for it sold off their boats and moved on to other hobbies. New people came in but the founding fathers were gone and with that the passion to keep SCOPE together was gone.

Never fails when I run into guys that were there in the late 90s / early 2000's and we start talking about the good ol days of scope the sentiment will be said, "it was the best boating time of our lives". It really was. Magical time to boat offshore in So. Cal that I don't think will ever happen again. I was a member from 97 to 2011 or so, in what was definitely the hey day of that club. So many good times and a really close nit group of people. We'd do Christmas parties, season kick off parties, lunch runs to and from Newport or over to Catalina nearly every other weekend. Crazy good times. You'd get 15-20 boats showing up for a last minute lunch run to the Yardhouse on a random Saturday no problem. Such great times. Miss those days.

Some old school SCOPE pics:

They still have a facebook page that Nort uploaded a TON of old pics from back in the day.

S.C.O.P.E.

S.C.O.P.E. 1,035 likes · 16 talking about this. The Southern California Offshore Powerboat Elite (SCOPE) club is the premier offshore performance boa

www.facebook.com

 

[steamin rice]

I think it's already been covered, but yes basically I think it came down to most of the original guys getting out of performance boating, combined with a downturn in the economy and a challenge to find boating destinations with dock space for informal runs. I remember going to some lunch runs at the Yardhouse in Long Beach in the early 2000s when 15+ boats would meet up at the breakwater in Newport for an impromptu run up the coast. The docks in front of the Yardhouse would be filled with offshore boats and we met a lot of good friends through SCOPE.

 

[PlanB]

^^^ Definitely a great time for offshore performance boating. The last time I think I saw a bunch of SCOPE members in one place was in 2005 at Scott Conrad’s grand opening in Huntington Beach. We had just sold our Gun and were buying our Skater from him. Seems like the SCOPE guys that were there were selling their boats and getting more into cars.

ETA: Speaking of Nort, he has a wakeboard boat now. Times have changed. LOL...

 

[Paradox]

I was a member very sporadically sometime from roughly 1997 on. I participated in several poker runs and some weekend events. Really was a blast. First poker run was in the 90s. I had an old Wellcraft Elite (with a partner) with a stock 454 and bravo rated at (I think) 330 HP. I believe we tied for the smallest HP award but still made the small run. Did runs in both San Diego and Long Beach. Also met up in Havasu.

That said, the coolest thing I thought they did was to have everyone kick in a couple of hundred dollars and rent a helicopter and film person. Everyone got about three minutes of filming off of the Palos Verdes Peninsula around 2006 or so. I still get a kick out of the video today.

 

[LAPII]

The fun Catalina runs!

 

[Bowtiepower00]

Offshore is dead. The days of the upper middle class guy running a cig or other badass boat are Gone. 200k+ entry price of ownership plus maintenance have pushed most owners out. Hell even a decent cafe is damn near 100k now. It’s not “cool” to own a big ass boat anymore.

 

[pixrthis]

Funny, I just saw Lu Lyall (and Chris Prouty and Dave Anderson) this weekend who are all original members. I think you had the perfect storm that kind've killed off SCOPE -

1) I think the main reason was the economy crashed in 07, 08, 09 and the west coast boating scene basically came to a stand still.
2) The city contacts the powers at be like Lyall and Songrath and Cheng had connections with to make things like the poker run a reality, retired. New city contacts came in and weren't as easy to deal with to get a bunch of loud, stinky powerboaters dock space, permits, etc to throw the poker run.
3) Most all original members that were the driving force behind SCOPE and really had the passion for it sold off their boats and moved on to other hobbies. New people came in but the founding fathers were gone and with that the passion to keep SCOPE together was gone.

Never fails when I run into guys that were there in the late 90s / early 2000's and we start talking about the good ol days of scope the sentiment will be said, "it was the best boating time of our lives". It really was. Magical time to boat offshore in So. Cal that I don't think will ever happen again. I was a member from 97 to 2011 or so, in what was definitely the hey day of that club. So many good times and a really close nit group of people. We'd do Christmas parties, season kick off parties, lunch runs to and from Newport or over to Catalina nearly every other weekend. Crazy good times. You'd get 15-20 boats showing up for a last minute lunch run to the Yardhouse on a random Saturday no problem. Such great times. Miss those days.

Some old school SCOPE pics:

View attachment 997390 View attachment 997392 View attachment 997393 View attachment 997396 View attachment 997397 View attachment 997398 View attachment 997399 View attachment 997400 View attachment 997401 View attachment 997402 View attachment 997403 View attachment 997404 View attachment 997405 View attachment 997406 View attachment 997407 View attachment 997408 View attachment 997409 View attachment 997410 View attachment 997412 View attachment 997417



They still have a facebook page that Nort uploaded a TON of old pics from back in the day.

S.C.O.P.E.

S.C.O.P.E. 1,035 likes · 16 talking about this. The Southern California Offshore Powerboat Elite (SCOPE) club is the premier offshore performance boa

www.facebook.com

All good points but I remember when racing POPRA and saying SCOPE killed West Coast Offshore racing, which it did because it splintered an already small group of ocean boaters. Doubt we will ever see times like those again, the Catalina Ski race is the only thing that even remotely resembles the good old days. Man I sound like an old fuck.

 

[CanyonLakeDave]

Yes as @Tank states it all pretty accurately as the best time of our lives for performance boating. Nothing compares to running an offshore boat actually offshore with a large group of the greatest people. These members are now lifelong friends in fact and most of us can be found at the Islander, on our toons

 

[Tank]

All good points but I remember when racing POPRA and saying SCOPE killed West Coast Offshore racing, which it did because it splintered an already small group of ocean boaters. Doubt we will ever see times like those again, the Catalina Ski race is the only thing that even remotely resembles the good old days. Man I sound like an old fuck.

It wasn't just SCOPE though, all race groups complained (rightfully so) that poker run and boating groups killed offshore. It did. Racers started hitting poker runs with out the drama of the offshore race circuit.

Offshore is dead. The days of the upper middle class guy running a cig or other badass boat are Gone. 200k+ entry price of ownership plus maintenance have pushed most owners out. Hell even a decent cafe is damn near 100k now. It’s not “cool” to own a big ass boat anymore.

True. Prices are crazy and the used market is dry. Most can't go down and plunk down 600k for a new Top Gun.

 

[Tank]

I was a member very sporadically sometime from roughly 1997 on. I participated in several poker runs and some weekend events. Really was a blast. First poker run was in the 90s. I had an old Wellcraft Elite (with a partner) with a stock 454 and bravo rated at (I think) 330 HP. I believe we tied for the smallest HP award but still made the small run. Did runs in both San Diego and Long Beach. Also met up in Havasu.

That said, the coolest thing I thought they did was to have everyone kick in a couple of hundred dollars and rent a helicopter and film person. Everyone got about three minutes of filming off of the Palos Verdes Peninsula around 2006 or so. I still get a kick out of the video today.

View attachment 997655
View attachment 997656

That was a fun day Rick. The Cigs were dominating the fleet. LOL

 

[RaceTec]

I wish I could afford a boat capable enough, I would love to just do some runs with you guys!

 

[Paradox]

That was a fun day Rick. The Cigs were dominating the fleet. LOL

Truly a good day Tank.

While the Cigs were certainly dominating, I thought we weren’t doing half bad ourselves..

 

[Tank]

Truly a good day Tank.

While the Cigs were certainly dominating, I thought we weren’t doing half bad ourselves.. View attachment 997780

For sure!! Everyone was catching big air that day. It's funny people look at the photos and always ponder why such big air. But if you recall there was a BIG swell that day and no wind. We ran with the helicopter directly into the swell to air it out for the copter and a lot of us flew 'em a bit loose. LOL

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Great air pics guys.... I'll never forget sitting outside drinking at the restaurant at the end of Newport Pier when a mess of you guys came flying by buzzing the pier headed up to LB.... I knew I'd have to have a go fast after seeing that. Many thanks!

 

[n2otoofast4u]

If a guy owned a 32' Cat with OB power and it was on an aluminum trailer and they wanted to spend a few days in SoCal doing some big blue stuff (Going to Catalina one day) who would he want to snuggle up with to get a tour guide?

 

[Tank]

If a guy owned a 32' Cat with OB power and it was on an aluminum trailer and they wanted to spend a few days in SoCal doing some big blue stuff (Going to Catalina one day) who would he want to snuggle up with to get a tour guide?

If our boat was done and out here in Cal. I'd volunteer to come down and run around with you and over to Catalina. Unfortunately boats not back in Ca yet.

I'm pretty sure you could always get Bill (@[email protected] ) to be your co-pilot. He knows his way around them parts very well.

 

[steamin rice]

The 2006 video shoot was a fun event. I was "voluntold" that I was the organizer for the event and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. I remember having the "drivers meeting" with all of the boats rafted up at the docks in front of Parker's Lighthouse in Longbeach, I think we pushed the limit for capacity on those docks.

I looked through my history and found the list of boats for the video run. From a 22' Scarab to a 40' Skater. Rick Darling we had you down in a Top Gun but it looks like there was an error


1 Lu Lyall Formula 382 Turbosonic
2 Dave Anderson 28' Eliminator Daytona
3 Mike Bobbitt 40' Skater Risky Business
4 Aaron Breza 30' Baja
5 Bob Manning 22' Scarab
6 Matt Brayton 29' Warlock
7 Steve Glover Cigarette Top Gun
8 Mike Emch Formula
9 Nick Freck 29' Shockwave
10 Greg Rice 34' Shockwave
11 Barry Diehl 34' Shockwave Bad Voodoo
12 Greg Timmons 38 Hustler Beetle Juice
13 Greg Bell Formula 382 Fringe Benefits
14 Dave Davis Formula 382 Fossil Fuel
15 Chris Prouty Cigarette Top Gun
16 Phil Nielsen Cigarette Top Gun Seahawk (Big Bird)
17 Rick Darling Cigarette Top Gun
18 Tank Sears Cigarette Top Gun Lit
19 Tim McCray Cigarette Top Gun
20 Carlos Vargas Cigarette Café Racer Wicked
21 Sean Moore 42' Fountain Extreme Insanity
22 Terry Broadbent Cigarette Top Gun
23 Sean Clancy 38' NuEra See Spot Run
24 Kevin Schulte Cigarette Top Gun
25 Tom Whitham Cigarette Top Gun Hot for Teacher

 

[Paradox]

The 2006 video shoot was a fun event. I was "voluntold" that I was the organizer for the event and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. I remember having the "drivers meeting" with all of the boats rafted up at the docks in front of Parker's Lighthouse in Longbeach, I think we pushed the limit for capacity on those docks.

I looked through my history and found the list of boats for the video run. From a 22' Scarab to a 40' Skater. Rick Darling we had you down in a Top Gun but it looks like there was an error


1 Lu Lyall Formula 382 Turbosonic
2 Dave Anderson 28' Eliminator Daytona
3 Mike Bobbitt 40' Skater Risky Business
4 Aaron Breza 30' Baja
5 Bob Manning 22' Scarab
6 Matt Brayton 29' Warlock
7 Steve Glover Cigarette Top Gun
8 Mike Emch Formula
9 Nick Freck 29' Shockwave
10 Greg Rice 34' Shockwave
11 Barry Diehl 34' Shockwave Bad Voodoo
12 Greg Timmons 38 Hustler Beetle Juice
13 Greg Bell Formula 382 Fringe Benefits
14 Dave Davis Formula 382 Fossil Fuel
15 Chris Prouty Cigarette Top Gun
16 Phil Nielsen Cigarette Top Gun Seahawk (Big Bird)
17 Rick Darling Cigarette Top Gun
18 Tank Sears Cigarette Top Gun Lit
19 Tim McCray Cigarette Top Gun
20 Carlos Vargas Cigarette Café Racer Wicked
21 Sean Moore 42' Fountain Extreme Insanity
22 Terry Broadbent Cigarette Top Gun
23 Sean Clancy 38' NuEra See Spot Run
24 Kevin Schulte Cigarette Top Gun
25 Tom Whitham Cigarette Top Gun Hot for Teacher

You did an awesome job putting it together. Really well organized.

While a Top Gun sure has a nice ring to it, it’s a bit out of my league.

Stepped 35 Fountain with bone stock 496 Mag HOs. On the plus side, it was good to 75 and ran like a top..

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

The 2006 video shoot was a fun event. I was "voluntold" that I was the organizer for the event and I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into. I remember having the "drivers meeting" with all of the boats rafted up at the docks in front of Parker's Lighthouse in Longbeach, I think we pushed the limit for capacity on those docks.

I looked through my history and found the list of boats for the video run. From a 22' Scarab to a 40' Skater. Rick Darling we had you down in a Top Gun but it looks like there was an error


1 Lu Lyall Formula 382 Turbosonic
2 Dave Anderson 28' Eliminator Daytona
3 Mike Bobbitt 40' Skater Risky Business
4 Aaron Breza 30' Baja
5 Bob Manning 22' Scarab
6 Matt Brayton 29' Warlock
7 Steve Glover Cigarette Top Gun
8 Mike Emch Formula
9 Nick Freck 29' Shockwave
10 Greg Rice 34' Shockwave
11 Barry Diehl 34' Shockwave Bad Voodoo
12 Greg Timmons 38 Hustler Beetle Juice
13 Greg Bell Formula 382 Fringe Benefits
14 Dave Davis Formula 382 Fossil Fuel
15 Chris Prouty Cigarette Top Gun
16 Phil Nielsen Cigarette Top Gun Seahawk (Big Bird)
17 Rick Darling Cigarette Top Gun
18 Tank Sears Cigarette Top Gun Lit
19 Tim McCray Cigarette Top Gun
20 Carlos Vargas Cigarette Café Racer Wicked
21 Sean Moore 42' Fountain Extreme Insanity
22 Terry Broadbent Cigarette Top Gun
23 Sean Clancy 38' NuEra See Spot Run
24 Kevin Schulte Cigarette Top Gun
25 Tom Whitham Cigarette Top Gun Hot for Teacher

Gotta call my chiro & masseuse

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

If a guy owned a 32' Cat with OB power and it was on an aluminum trailer and they wanted to spend a few days in SoCal doing some big blue stuff (Going to Catalina one day) who would he want to snuggle up with to get a tour guide?

Be happy to lend a hand.... Tank you think a 32' pickle fork is safe out here? I've done only vee bottoms of all sizes. I could see getting him out near shore easily but what do ya think about the channel? I'd of course have us depart early so minimal chop etc.... Thoughts? I've got no desire to stuff

 

[Tank]

Be happy to lend a hand.... Tank you think a 32' pickle fork is safe out here? I've done only vee bottoms of all sizes. I could see getting him out near shore easily but what do ya think about the channel? I'd of course have us depart early so minimal chop etc.... Thoughts? I've got no desire to stuff

perfectly fine as long as the water cooperates.

 

[Tank]

Some more old
School scope pics.

 

[FROGMAN524]

Man that Jump video makes me want a 40’ Skater bad! Love those boats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[H20 Toie]

The boating was great back then and some of the parties were epic