Safety Corner
By Lohring Miller
NAMBA Safety Chairman
There has been a lot of discussion
about a form that racers have been asked
to sign stating they will follow all the
NAMBA rule book rules. Many feel this
is unnecessary since all members sign a
statement that they will abide by the
NAMBA SAFETY rules when they
apply for membership. When I was first
appointed Safety Director, I emailed a
group of experienced racers about
whether we needed to change the safety
rules. Some of the comments I got back:
Jim Wilson
Perhaps the first step in visiting
our Future Safety Needs is to consider
implementing a Safety Awareness
Program now.
The objective would be to get the
boating population more focused on
today's safety and become more
receptive to the safety needs of bigger/
faster boats. Safety is really an attitude
and not a program. Perhaps we can
influence the perception by changing
the Awareness. We can make all the
rules we want and can even enforce
some of them. However, if we do not
make it possible for the group to
embrace them, our efforts may not
be fruitful and an accident may not be
avoided.
Joerg Mrkwitschka
A Safety Awareness Program for
drivers, spectators and officials is
probably a very good idea.
Electrics changed from toy boats to a
technology superior to anything else. It
may take a year or 2 until most figured it
out, but that's the way it is.
Al Hobbs
As far as qualified drivers, it is a fact
that people with little driving experience
or ability can buy big fast model boats.
If they can't control their boat, the CD
must call them off the water. Good CDs
have been doing this for years.
Spectator safety is always a
concern. If you have a race site that is
used time after time, it would be a good
idea to have a specified spectator area.
Select the area to provide a good view
(Continued on page 12)
PROPWASH
11
For awards at each race, we handed out gift cards that ranged from $25 to $10 to
Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, Applebee’s, Regal Theaters, On the Border
Restaurants, Panda Express, Subway and Starbucks. Winners received anywhere from
first place only in a three boat class to four places in a six boat or more class (which
gave me a chance).
We had a lot of good help from a lot of good people or we would never have been
able to pull this off. This was not a case of a club hosting this series as much as it was
most all of the entrants who did a little bit of the work so that no one did a majority of
the work, so we do want to thanks the entrants.
Before I move on to the winners of the classes that qualified for trophies, I would
like to thank Ken Olson from District 8 who I put to the test to design appropriate
class trophies and cut them complete with NAMBA numbers for the winners.
Considering that we wanted to hand out the year end trophies at the last race with a
lot of classes coming down to the last heat, he really came through for us.
The following are the winners and the trophies.
A Tunnel - Mark Grim
A Hydro - Joe Monohan
B Tunnel - Joe Monohan
B Mono - Kim Grim
B Hydro - Mark Grim
Sport 40-2 - Kim Grim
C Hydro - Mark Grim
Sportsman's Mono - Ron Buck
P Ltd Tunnel - Paul Renna
1/8 Scale Hydroplane - Kim Grim
Gas Crackerbox - John Michaud
P Ltd Hydro - Dave Hilton
Jersey Skiff - Mark Grim
P Ltd Catamaran - Russ Stark
Gas OB Tunnel - Richard Sekigawa
1/10 Vintage Hydroplane - Don Ast
Classic Thunderboat - Ron Buck
Trophies awarded were cut to resemble the classes won. Everything from outboard
tunnels, vintage and modern hydroplanes, Crackerbox, Jersey Skiff, mono hulls and
even outrigger hulls complete with the winners NAMBA numbers
Somehow someway we did manage to get the Saturday group together with their
trophies and gift cards
October 2016
