PROPWASH
April 2016
11
NAMBA Combat Riding High in California
By Rob Wood
NAMBA Combat Chairman
What do you do when your club
loses its pond after 25 years of
continued operations? That happened
to Western Warship Combat Club
(WWCC) at the end of 2013, due to
the double whammy of bureaucratic
red tape and a drought. Prospects for
the future looked grim for the decades
old club, but for the creative drive and
camaraderie of an amazing group of
friends that saw opportunity in
adversity, and reached out to their
District 9 NAMBA leadership for
support.
NAMBA Combat has, for many
years, existed as a "distant cousin" to
racing. A class literally operating off on its own in the backwaters of America. The
connection to NAMBA? Insurance, and not much more. At least, that's how it was
(Continued on page 13)
But how were we going to offer so
many classes and make it through the
day? At the year end scale association
meeting, many of the boaters who
attended both the Nitro FE and Scale
races were in attendance. And here is
what we came up with.
We would host four two day races.
And before I forget, I would like to
again thank District 19 Director Richard
Romero who helped us in our attempt to
revive nitro, FE and the scale classes.
Not that they were dead. They just
needed a timely boost.
Saturday will be all nitro classes.
Sunday will be the scale/scale appearing
classes for gas and FE. Those being in
gas, Classic Thunderboat, Jersey Skiff,
Crackerbox, and Gas OB Tunnel. In FE
there will be P Ltd Cat, 1/10 Modern,
1/10th Vintage, and P Ltd Tunnel. To
add a little extra to the mix, Sportsman
Mono which is a mono with a Classic
Thunderboat rules motor. And the most
interesting class will be nitro 1/8th Scale
Unlimited Hydroplane running in the
same heats as FE 1/8th Scale Unlimited
Hydroplane.
The boaters wanted to make this a
points series so we decided to save a
few dollars from each race and give out
a first place trophy at the end of the
year. All that needs to happen is that the
class must qualify by running at three of
the four races.
A lot of thought and a lot of help
went in to putting this together. Kim
with her lunches, Mark being the King
of Course setters and having a great
relationship with the parks department,
and me? As long as Uncle Henry
Velasco has his maple bars and Bart and
Vince DeMatteo continue to show up at
the races, I am a happy guy. I hope that
we do right by the rest of the
contestants.
I will fill you in on how things go
when the October
Propwash
comes out.
10 cruisers are stored in a van awaiting their
trip for combat.
“Propeller’s by Chris Hoffmann”
Complete Propeller Service
Sharpening, Balancing, and Modifying
All Props in Stock!
ABC — PropShop — Octura
ABC and PropShop Dealer
Nine Time NAMBA SAW Record Holder
Contact Chris at
