2007 Summer Nationals - Miami - Useful Info

[JEC]

The SN 2007 would be in Miami and the venue appears to be Hall C of the Miami Beach convention center (MBCC -see the calendar of the venue) and not at the Miami Convention Center.

Convention center:
http://www.gmcvb.com/Planners2/ConventionWeb/MBCC.asp
Calendar of events:
http://www.gmcvb.com/planners/convcalendar_public.asp
Hotels:
http://www.gmcvb.com/Planners/meetin...ates_rates.asp
http://www.gmcvb.com/neighborhood/miami_beach.asp

This is a map:
http://www.gmcvb.com/visitors/MiamiBeachMap.pdf

Many of the hotels in Miami Beach are oceanfront. There is a large avenue that communicates all of them. According to the calendar of events, the SN headquarters would be the Miami Beach Resort & Spa, which looks to be on the Bay side of the island and is only 3 miles away from the Miami Beach Convention Center. Good luck, guys!

Out of the listed hotels in the MBCC, I have been at the Sheraton Bal Harbour Beach Resort a couple of times. It is a very pretty and nice hotel but even farther away. see:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sherat..._SI_balharbour

I plan to book early on one of the South Beach oceanfront hotels, afterall, I know where I will spend my non-fencing time .


According to Expedia, the Four hotels in the oceanfront side that are the closest to the MBCC are:

The Richmond Hotel - 3 stars - 3 blocks away - rating 3.9/5 - 83% recommended (Expedia) The beach is past the pool and the spa tub through the yard, and over a white-wooden bridge.
The Townhouse Hotel Miami -3 stars - 7 blocks away - rating 4.0/5 - 71% recommended (Expedia - near beach easy access)
Continental Hotel South Beach (formerly Riande) - 2.5 stars - 3 blocks away - rating 2.2/5 - 44% recommended - beach access
The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach - the usual 4.5 stars - 4 blocks away - rating 4.7/5 - 94% recommended - EXPENSIVE

However, the Richmond has had bad reviews:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...h_Florida.html

[eac]

Why do they always have summer nationals in places where summer is the most painful?

[sleepyweasle]

At least it's by the beach so there might be a breeze...and the ocean is a good place to cool off. Better than "Hotlanta!"

[JMcC]

Why do they always have summer nationals in places where summer is the most painful?

It's clear that price is the overriding factor in location selection. With a few exceptions, they're booking in the off-season - hot cities in the summer, cold cities in the winter.

[swordsen]

Somehow I have a hard time picturing Miami beeing "offseason" in the summer. Beach central. It should be a scenic venture if nothing else......

[passata_sotto]

Somehow I have a hard time picturing Miami beeing "offseason" in the summer. Beach central. It should be a scenic venture if nothing else......

Years ago I moved to Miami for a year. I arrived at the beginning of July (time of SN) and for the first forty days it rained every morning and felt like a steam bath the rest of the day. It is also in the middle of hurricane season.

The only time any one should go to Miami is January.

[4qtrs]

I arrived at the beginning of July (time of SN) and for the first forty days it rained every morning and felt like a steam bath the rest of the day. It is also in the middle of hurricane season.

A co-worker was vacationing in Orlando and came back earlier this week. It took her 16 hours to get back to California due to thunderstorms. She also had lots of stories of driving rain and high humidity.

I am already dreading the trip.

[KD5MDK]

If the weather starts being a problem, I'll tell certain coaches the storm is about to make their fencer lose, and have them go shout it down.

[HDG]

Quit being such babies.

As long as you maintain a steady stream of mojitos flowing into you, you'll stay nice and cool. And for you armorers, there's an outstanding Irish pub w/in a reasonable walk of the venue.

It will be off-season, so hotels will be reasonable; there's about 1 taxi per person, and an outstanding restaurant or cafe (and bar) every few feet.

Hot? Yeah, but where isn't it hot on the East Coast in July?

[oiuyt]

Hot? Yeah, but where isn't it hot on the East Coast in July?

http://www.city-data.com/city/Allagash-Maine.html

-B

[passata_sotto]

http://www.city-data.com/city/Allagash-Maine.html

-B

Let's petition for Allagash in 2008

[KD5MDK]

I can't speak for Allagash, but Naples (near Bridgeton, North Wyndham, and Portland, if you don't know it) can get fairly warm. Of course, that's what the lake is for.

[smurfette]

I can't believe it. We are already on to next year's summer nationals?

[oiuyt]

I can't believe it. We are already on to next year's summer nationals?

No, we're talking about Allagash in 2008. :)

Let's see, population 276. Add 3500 fencers, figure another 1500 family/friends, yeah, I'm sure they could handle it... Venue might be outdoors under a series of tents, but the AFLA used to have outdoor championships, think of it as a throw-back thing.

-B

[Craig]

Venue might be outdoors under a series of tents

You mean like the preliminary rounds of the Cadet/Junior World Championships or the PR Gran Prix?

Seems like that would be good training for our aspiring international athletes.

Craig

[telkanuru]

At least it's florida so it will be perfectly sunny unless some omnipotent being smites it as does tend to happen.

[Goldgar]

Seems like that would be good training for our aspiring international athletes.

I believe the topic was our perspiring athletes. Or possibly, if the heat is too much, our expiring athletes.

[seak]

same temp. profile better option

http://www.city-data.com/city/Lake-Placid-New-York.html

[KD5MDK]

I'm afraid all of Lake Placid's athletic juju was used up in 1980.

[JMcC]

Hot? Yeah, but where isn't it hot on the East Coast in July?

There's the rub. Why are the Summer Nationals on the East Coast again; two years in a row?