PROPWASH
October 2011
9
The next day Sue Hill and LeAnne Blake came by to visit. They had gathered some
clean clothes in my motel room, put them into a suitcase and brought them to my
hospital room. Later, they packed up all of my filthy boating clothes, and everything
else left in my motel room so that all of my stuff was ready to head back to Montana.
Other friends visited, Natalie and Bubba Holland, the Aussies; Steve Winks and
Bill Annabel, Roger Hooks; Junior and Senior, and Al Waters. Everyone asked the
same questions. “How are you doing?” and “What can I do to help?” On Thursday, I
went into surgery and they put my hip back together with a titanium plate and some
screws. I really was not in bad shape, but there was no way that I could even get out of
bed for a few days.
Sunday morning, Lenny Blake hopped into my pickup and headed to Montana,
towing my boat trailer. Lenny arrived at my house Monday afternoon, parked the boat
trailer next to my shop, and then had to defend himself from my dog Jack. Lenny flew
back to Arizona and was home late Monday night. All of my boats, tools, equipment
and clothes were safe at home, thanks to Lenny.
Sunday morning something else special happened. Al Waters came by to see how I
was doing and left a wooden box for me. Inside that box was a 30 year old bottle of
single malt scotch whiskey. Not bad at all. It is almost good enough to make it worth
taking the fall in the first place. Apparently, someone passed the hat and NAMBA
boaters chipped in to buy me that bottle of Scotch. Thank you to everyone.
The Nats was over. Everyone was heading home. I was spending my time in a
hospital room wondering what would come next. The doctor that oversaw everyone on
my floor came by to see me. Doctor Chen asked me if these people that had been
visiting were my family. No, I did not have any family in Los Angeles. He wanted to
know where I lived if it wasn’t around Los Angeles. I told him I lived in Montana.
Then he wanted to know who these people were that had been visiting me. I told him
that some were from California, some were from Arizona, some were from Colorado,
and some were from Australia. “Who are you?”, he asked me. “I’m a model boat
racer,” I told him. “And I have some of the best friends from all over the world.”
And that is the truth. I am a very lucky person. I have some of the best friends you
could ever ask for. I’ll never forget these memories from the 2011 NAMBA Nats.
Thank you all.
Upgrading the Budget Minded Trailer
By Al Waters
NAMBA President
You may remember two years ago when I wrote an article on my new boat trailer
and how a person like me, who is a card table boater, found a way to carry a
combination of five gas/nitro boats, ice chests, tables, chairs, awning, support
equipment, and sound system. If not, go back to the October 2009 issue of the
Propwash
and look for the article titled
Budget Minded Trailer
.
Since that time, I have pulled the trailer to the local district races and to the 2010
NAMBA Nats in Louisiana from San Diego, California. This year was an easy haul as
the NAMBA Nationals were at Legg Lake in Los Angeles, California. The trailer has
been very good to me. I decided this year that I needed to upgrade a few items or
improve in the amenities department. Especially with the trailer parked at Legg Lake
for over a week during the Nationals.
I decided that operating off of the 12 volt quick start charger batteries for music,
battery charging, and lights would be a little too much and I would have to charge
them on 110 volts back at the hotel sometime during the week. What could I do to
avoid that? What everyone else does: go get a generator. There are some real nice ones
out there including the Yamaha’s and those real quiet Honda generators. I know that
there are other excellent ones out there but I hear those two names mentioned the most.
My problem was that it wouldn’t be a budget minded trailer unless I had a budget
minded generator. And I am cheap.
Continued on page 10
would have ever though of Alan and
Brenda as grandparents? Welcome to
the club.
NAMBA has always been an
organization centered around friends
and families. That is what makes
NAMBA such a special part of my life.
And because they are my friends, I will
always do what I can to help out. Most
NAMBA boaters feel the same way.
Nothing made this more clear than the
2011 NAMBA Nats. Wednesday
evening, I was loading my trailer,
getting ready to enjoy the barbeque. In
just an instant, I lost my footing on the
trailer ramp and fell onto my right side.
Something hurt. It was my right hip and
femur. The pain was more than just a
strong pain.
As I lay there, I was soon surrounded
by other boaters, asking me if I was
okay. I really didn’t know. But, I did
know that I was not going to be getting
up for a while. As I lay there in the dirt;
wondering what I was going to do, 1200
miles from home without my wife or
other family members, somebody took
my hand. It was Renee Piazza. “I’m
going to ask you some questions,” she
said. “They may sound stupid, but this is
what I do. Just answer my questions. I
may ask the same questions over again.
Just answer me the best you can.”
Some other boaters, that I did not know
very well, were experienced EMT and
health workers. Renee took charge of
the situation. Everyone stayed back so
that the people who knew what they
were doing could help me. After a few
minutes, I thought that I would try to
stand up. That didn’t work at all. Soon,
we could hear the siren. An ambulance
was on the way to Legg Lake.
As they moved me onto a stretcher of
some kind and loaded me into the
ambulance, Sue Hill jumped in with me.
“I’m going to the hospital with you,”
she said. And off we went to Beverly
Hospital. Sue stayed with me while we
waited to get into the emergency room.
It took four and a half hours before I
was in the emergency room. Sue waited
there with me to make certain that I got
taken care of and that all the paperwork
was done properly. Around midnight, I
was told that I had a broken hip and a
few other scrapes and bruises. I was
admitted to the hospital.