only five people were present.
An idea is being discussed that would
be the possibility of an activity sometime
in July. By NAMBA rules, we can not
host any sanctioned events during the
NAMBA Nationals or the week after.
However, we could get together and
have a combined awards “Cookout”,
annual meeting and a fun run. It could
rotate among our race sites to keep it
fresh. The fun run could be impromptu
racing among boats that would not
normally run together. Maybe the “old
timers” might want to bring that big .90
that hasn’t been running in 20 years.
Throw in the annual meeting and it
covers all the bases. Feel free to respond
with your opinions on this. Just hit
“reply all” to this e-mail newsletter so
that we can all share it. We can discuss it
further at next first race, or on-line if
warranted.
District 11 Finances
Current Balance: $3055.65.
Income from race #5:
$160.00 - race entry fees
$36.00 - 50/50 raffle
$30.00 - NAMBA Nats t-shirt sales
$194.04 - returned lumber from Nats
drivers stand
$500.00 - NAMBA reimbursement for
district promotions
Expenses:
$8.32 - USPS costs to ship Nats packets
to racers who could not attend
$225.00 - Nationals porta potty rental
$112.50 - website hosting/maintenance
$50.00 - checkbook error correction
from July26, 2012.
New Current Balance: $3579.87
2013 Elections
As this is an odd numbered year in an
odd numbered district, the District 11
Director’s position is up for election. If
anyone is interested, the procedure is
covered under Section 3-B in the
NAMBA rulebook. Nominations have to
be submitted to the Executive Secretary
by September 1st with a petition signed
by 10 members in good standing.
Voting takes place through October. If
no one chooses to run, it kind of falls
back to me.
Continued on page 6
PROPWASH
October 2013
5
Contest directors? We don’t have
enough of them. Four individuals,
Watson Coburn, Butch Thibodeau, John
Palica and myself have been doing all
the CD’ing for a long time now. While
no one has said they want to step down,
it wouldn’t hurt to have newer racers in
the wings to step up when necessary and
gain some experience as CD’s in the
meantime.
The resurgence of nitro will continue
from what I have heard. At least one, if
not more OPC’s may be added to the
fleet. I also understand that some are
looking to restarting B Hydro after
seeing the blistering speeds attained at
the Nats.
As tough as they are to find, I would
still like to see a new venue or two. I’ve
badgered poor Rene and Archie, but that
area isn’t looking good. Mike has
directed me to a spot in Stow, Maine
which is geographically centered in the
district, but I have not been able to
pursue it. Time will tell.
Just another reminder about renewing
your NAMBA membership. Al Waters is
doing a great job in getting membership
cards out quickly and supplying updated
member info to the district directors.
Your dues helps support NAMBA which
in turn supports us. It is very helpful to
the CD at the first race when you have
your card to display at registration.
We still need to update the district
rulebook. I believe we never formed a
committee to discuss that. I plan on
scanning the documents we have and
forwarding them to all the members.
Once the members get to look at it, I
suspect that it will generate ideas and
interest and three or four members will
step forward to make changes.
Awards Cookout, Fun Run, and
Annual Meeting
I believe it was at the October race,
an interesting discussion came up about
revisiting something we did in the past,
as well as complying with the NAMBA
rulebook. We are supposed to have an
annual district meeting. Something we
have done informally for several years.
Some of you may remember a
number of years ago, we had off season
awards banquets for trophy
presentations. While they started off
well, the last year we did this, I believe
The September 2012 Sanford race
allowed us to showcase our boats and
our racing talents in front of the many
spectators that took the time to visit the
Sanford RC Jet Fly-In. We spoke to
anyone interested and handed out many
NAMBA pamphlets. It brought us new
model boater in Mike Powers of Wells,
Maine who was at the fly-in. He had not
heard of us until attending the event. He
is now a member of SMWM, NAMBA,
and plans on running at least two boats
in 2013.
Boat numbers were down in 2012.
25-30 below the last few years’ averages
with the exception of the fall Mansfield
race. While that doesn’t sound good, it’s
not quite as bad as it seems. More than
ever before, a majority of our members
are entering three or four classes each
race day. It doesn’t take many absent
racers to bring the boat count down. I do
try to pay attention and many do tell me
ahead of time that they will not be able
to attend. The reasons are pretty basic.
Work, weddings, and vacations, etc.
This is pretty spread out among the
membership and as much as we would
all like to be at every race, other
activities may take precedence. This is
why we drop your worst score, which
allows you to miss a race and still be in
contention for a championship. We are
lucky to have so many dedicated
members of which several have been
actively racing for 20 years or more.
Thanks to all of you for contributing and
making District 11 what it is.
2013
Race dates have been posted on the
website for a couple of months. We
have gone back to our traditional
schedule of which last year was an
anomaly because of the switch to
accommodate the Fly-In demo. Also,
the October date is a little earlier in the
month. Several racers came to me last
October with concerns about the
weather at that late date. Two weeks can
make a difference in the fall and we
have made the changes accordingly for
2013 as you can see.
Mansfield Hollow, CT - May 18th
Rollinsford, NH - June 15th
Sanford ME - August 10th
Mansfield Hollow, CT - September 14th
Sanford, ME - September 28