NAMBA Propwash 04-2023 Web.pub

PROPWASH April 2023 15 News From 19 By Richard Romero District 19 Director As we say goodbye to 2022, we welcome 2023 and all it has to offer our members in District 19. I would like to start by congratulating all our 2022 District Champions. G-1 Mono - Roger Pane G-1 Catamaran - Roger Pane G-1 Sport Hydro - Al Waters G-1 Outrigger - Jeff Polan (1st time Champion) G-1 Crackerbox - Shane Forrest Sportsman Mono - Rylee Hilton (1st time Champion) G-Ltd Catamaran - David Siembor Jersey Skiff - Shane Forrest Classic Thunderboat- Dave Hilton GX-2 Mono - Roger Pane GX-2 Catamaran - Ron Fassl Jr. GX-2 Sport Hydro - Rylee Hilton GX-2 Outrigger - Jeff Polan GX-2 Crackerbox - Lonnie Straughan G-Ltd Mono- David Siembor G-Ltd Sport Hydro- Dave Hilton Great job and I hope to see you all in the winner’s circle in 2023! Our 2023 Award of Excellence was presented to Richard Sekigawa for his commitment to sportsmanship which best exemplifies the spirit of District 19 and NAMBA. Great job Richard! Happy Hour in 5 minutes. They are waiting at the door As many of you know Lenny & LeAnn Blake along with David Siembor tested their transponder system in 2022 using it in the G-1 Mono class. After many hours of testing and some newfound grey hair, they began to make progress and one small win became many and quickly. With these improvements, Lenny entered a year-end racing proposal to be voted on at our district meeting. Lenny proposed we try his transponder system at every race, in every class for the 2023 racing season. Lenny sweetened the pot by committing his team to be at every race and even volunteered his hardware to run every race. Lenny’s proposal passed, and so far the transponder system is working well. The next step was acquiring the transponders. We knew we would need transponder units for sale, but we also needed to come up with a program for those that wanted to race but really didn’t need to purchase one. We decided a rental program would meet the needs of those members, since some may only race at their local pond, so there’s no real need to purchase a transponder. Our first order was for 60 units, and they were gone within days. We now have over 125 transponders in use with no issues. Our 2023 District 19 racing season consists of seven races starting in January and ending in July. In seasons past we normally would have an eight-race series. However, this year we started earlier and will be missing our Tempe race. Since our district covers four states, we must schedule our warm weather races earlier in the year. We usually hold three races in Arizona and one or two races in Nevada finishing our season with a three-race swing in California. Lenny Blake on the microphone, Dave Siembor on the computer, LeAnn Blake supervising and Beth Foster in the background as the backup to the supervisor www.facebook.com/RocketCityNats The embroidered hats, shirts and tote bag awards