Tournaments seldom are called off or postponed, but when they are, it’s for a good reason. The most famous FLW Outdoors tournament cancellation involved the 2001 Forrest Wood Cup. It was scheduled for Sept. 12-15 on Lake Champlain in New York, but the 9/11 tragedy intervened.
The weather or acts of nature often force delays in starting times ¬¬¬– or worse. In 2010, for instance, the first event of the FLW Tour on the Red River was a washout, literally and figuratively. High water inundated channel markers and posed hazardous boating conditions. Conversely, low water forced the postponement of an EverStart Western Series tournament on Lake Oroville in California in the spring of 2009. Because of drought conditions the previous winter, the lake was so low that most anglers had trouble launching their boats. There’s an interesting story behind that one, which involves some special people who came to the tournament’s rescue.
Luckily for FLW Outdoors, an organization called the Sacramento Valley Angling and Camping Club of the Deaf (SVACCD) helped salvage the event. The organization had its own tournament scheduled at the lake later in the spring, but graciously gave up its date to FLW Outdoors. Such neighborliness isn’t out of character for SVACCD, which serves the deaf and hearing-impaired boys and girls of northern California by providing them with various outdoor recreational opportunities, including fishing. The non-profit organization regularly hosts tournaments for adults and children and it was one such event that the SVACCD moved to accommodate FLW Outdoors.
“We gave FLW Outdoors our date and skipped our tournament that year, but we were glad to do it,” says Troy Davenport, Jr. of Paradise, who has served as SVACCD’s bass tournament director for more than a decade. “We really appreciated the fact that FLW Outdoors was helping our community with its event. In fact, several of us have fished in their tournaments as co-anglers and attended a bunch of their tournaments all over the country. It’s an amazing organization that sets off a really positive ripple effect in the communities wherever it goes.”
The same could be said for the SVACCD (www.svaccd.org)which was founded in the 1970s. Although it has staged a variety of freshwater and saltwater tournaments in the past, the popularity of its bass events have prompted it to spin off a bass-fishing division named S-BASS. The goal of the new chapter is to promote sportsmanship and the education of youths/adults in “Bass Fishing 101” and, perhaps most importantly, to bridge any gaps or correct any misperceptions between the deaf or hearing impaired and the community at large.
Davenport and his volunteers have done such a good job that their chapter was chosen to host the National Bass Association of the Deaf (www.nbad.org) Tournament in June 2014. Between 200 and 300 anglers from throughout the country will descend on Clear Lake for the event.
“We want the Clear Lake tournament to be remembered for its quality. We want to be good hosts and puts on a great show for everybody coming in,” says Davenport, who can be reached at fortroyjr@yahoo.com. “Right now we’re struggling with a limited amount of sponsors signed up, but we’re confident the bass fishing community will rally and help us out.”
Count on FLW Outdoors, for one. Davenport and his organization did the EverStart crew and anglers a favor at Lake Oroville. It’s payback time.
