October 2018 web.pub

led the way in the hobby. Like many others, life gets in the way and I have stepped away from the hobby at times. Sometimes it is just a necessary no matter what you are involved with. This is the one hobby that I have always returned to. After visiting the District 7 guys and assisting the Rio Grande Racers club in El Paso for the West Texas Shootout, I started getting the bug again. I would end up traveling the District 19 racing circuit and enjoying myself with old friends. However, I continually thought back to the good ol’ days of San Diego. Rick Cotton and I spoke several times and decided it was imperative that we start focusing on our area and building it back up to greatness again. During that time, District 19 implemented a three round rule for Sunday racing which was a major disappointment to me. I was trying to get new racers to attend with me and be apart of the hobby. However, they were paying the same price as Saturday to race less. It became a harder sale and truly pushed me to focus on our local area. After a few years of acquiring various loaner boats and establishing classes that were appealing and cost effective for new boaters, we began trying to push the hobby locally. The San Diego Argonauts were still active, but mostly on the scale and sail side of things. After attending a few meetings and speaking to club members, it was decided that it would just be more beneficial to our efforts to start fresh with a new club. With a new name, the SD GASSERS and a new set of logos it was time to get our brand image out there. Model boater Peter Piraino has done a great job of creating advertising and making sure our brand image is visible in the boating world. (Continued on page 12) The SD Gassers Are Born…. By Mark Williamson District 19 Member and Club President San Diego area model boating has always been important to me. Over the years I have met some truly wonderful people that made model boating in San Diego a hobby that would become etched in my heart forever. At any given time you could visit the pond and find some of the best racers, innovators, designers and influences in the hobby. There were so many club members that various play days at the pond had different groups of people in attendance. I learned so much from many of these great racers. I learned to respect the hobby and the time and effort these individuals spent honing their craft. The 1/8 Scale side of racing was always important to me and the attention to detail, the format of racing and the camaraderie were always a step above. As I would later start traveling to district races in NAMBA District 19, I started to meet many other great racers and names that were important to our hobby. It was a blast to learn from so many great racers and know that we truly race in an area that PROPWASH October 2018 11