News and Rumors

The members of EUN have decided it is time to combine forces with the PSFEMBC. This move should make the Puget Sound Fast Electric boating community stronger then ever! The race sites will be the same as in the past. The only issue that might come up is time. With so many boats it will take an effort by the racers to keep things rolling so we can get finished in a timely manner. This should be the best year to date!!! See you at the races!

I will continue to keep this site up and even update it from time to time! However, the most up to date information will be found at the Puget Sound Fast Electric Model Boat Club!

It's that time of the year again. It's time for the Annual Club Meeting. We will be discussing any potential changes to our rules, race sites and anything else you can think of. The meeting will be held at Doug Filers office in Seattle again. If you need directions you can call Doug at 206 545 4800.

While I don't have all of the results for all of the places this year can be summed up as the Larry Kirby Juggernaut. Larry nearly swept every class for this season. Only Duncan Blanchard could keep it from being a clean sweep with his O Mono club championship!

A special thanks to all of our members and Duncan and Gretchen for hosting the lions share of our races at their home!!!!

Well guys, I know it is short notice but a dock work party is on for Sat and Sun. We were waiting to find out when the material was going to be ready. It will be delivered to Duncan's on Thurs. 3-14. Larry, Scott and myself will pick up the tubes and welded plates on Sat. 3-16 and be at Duncan's around 10 or 10:30. Directions to Duncan's are on the "Site Maps" page for Mirror Lake.

We will use Duncan's garage to cut and drill deck pieces then take sub frames and deck pieces down to the lake for assembly.
Hope to see you all there, be sure to dress for the weather.
Jim :-\

This years NAMBA Fast Electric Nationals will be held at Wapato Lake - Tacoma, Washington. The host club is EUN. A website for the event can be found at www.drcwebservices.com/wanats . Registrations are being accepted right now. Register early to reserve your frequency.

Once again the club will be manning a booth at the Puyallup Model Expo. We'll really need the help of all our members to work the booth at the show. This is a great place to recruit some new racers. Bring your boat and show it off!
For more information feel free to contact me:dcrowe@drcwebservices.com. The Official website for the event is at: http://www.nwmodelexpo.com/

Here's the quick rundown on a few of the things we talked about at the 2001 Club meeting.

Dick Crowe and Ray Fuller headed down to the 2001 NAMBA Straightlines at Legg Lake California, November 9, 10 and 11. Never have I seen records fall so hard as they did this weekend. Nearly every class had a record go down, The only ones that didn't were because nobody tried to get them! Below are the records that were set. Check out the video page for a bunch of screaming clips!!!!! For more details of the event day by day visit the LA Straightlines webpage.

Name	Class	Hull	Record Speed
Dick Crowe	S Hydro	Rum Runner	87.108 (1way 89.28)
Dick Crowe	Q Hydro	Rum Runner	82.41
Ray Fuller	O Mono	El Lobo 2	43.27
Larry Larson	T Hydro	Rum Runner	87.51
Larry Larson	O Sport Scale	Crowe Sport Scale	61.37
Larry Larson	OPC Tunnel	Graupner OPC	42.93
Donnie Wollard	N2 Hydro	Rum Runner	54.77 (1 way 55.69)
Brian Vega	P-Hydro	Rum Runner	73.64
Greg Schweers	P Mono	El Lobo 3	50.33
Greg Schweers	Q Mono	El Lobo 3	57.25
Chris Fine	S Mono	3D	57.43
Chris Fine	T-Mono	3D	61.74
Pat McDonald	M2 Hydro	Own Hull	45.45
Jay Turner	M2 Mono	Turner	33.7
Gunner Hold	O-Hydro	?	63.99
Dennis Whitt	P Offshore	?	42.19
Dennis Whitt	Q Offshore	?	53.4
Dennis Whitt	N2 Offshore	?	unknown

Better late then never right? Well, I thought I'd better take a moment and recap the 2001 NAMBA Nats from a EUN perspective.

This race was probably the best I have ever attended and that statement wasn't meant to take anything away from other events. The Alaskans just went way above and beyond!!!!! On top of that the weather and water couldn't have been better. Just look at the times of a few records that fell! O Hydro (Dick Crowe) 58.12, Q Hydro (Dick Crowe) 54.31 and S Hydro (Larry Larson) 49.60.

So who made the trip? Dick Crowe, Colten Crowe, Scott Bickford, Ray Fuller and Duncan Blanchard. And nobody came home empty handed! Duncan even got a special award cause he's such a good guy!

So just how did the EUN crew do? How about 16 trophies including 7 National Championships an Overall Highpoints and a Team Championship (Fuller's Fast Electrics). Even the youngest EUN Member contributed (Colten Crowe, 4 1/2) with a tie for the national championship in N1 Mono. Colten ended up with second place to Greg Schweers on time.

Dick Crowe and Larry Kirby set new records at time trials in Marysville Washington. Details are below and Videos Clips of the record passes are on the "Videos" Page.

It's official. Last Saturday was the first test race of the year at Monroe. While the water conditions were perfect the weather was not. Although the rain held off for the most part, it did shut us down about 2:30. The good news is we had all done what we had come to do! Test new boats or make sure our old ones still behaved. Being a techy kind of guy I've got to mention Larry Kirbys Miss Budweiser 1/16th scale. Although this boat started out as a DPI American Dream you'd never know it. I'd put Larry's boat up against any 1/18th scale for detail any day. And that's only the beginning! The sponsons have been redesigned with steps at the rear and air is actually pumped out the back of the steps to reduce friction. It was a beautiful site to watch! The boat just hovered, perfectly balanced. Larry is powering it with a 1406 1.5 Y Aveox. I will post pictures of his boat at our next meeting (which is March 25th at Shadow Lake).

One real highlight for me was my new 6 cell n2 Bandit El Lobo 2. It's not often that you can drop a boat in the water for the first time and be so encouraged! All I can say is that Lightning Man NEO motor and that hull get along very good!

There were also several new faces as well as Jeff Cambell, a visitor from the Edina Model Boat club in Minnesota. Jeff even brought a few boats out to run with us that were very strong. One in particular was a DPI Hummer with a Fuller s Steerable strut. That's a trick little unit all by itself!

Thanks again to everyone that showed up. It was by far the largest turnout to a test race that I can remember. I think we're in for a great year!

Just a reminder to all you northwest boaters that the kickoff to our season is right around the corner! We will be manning a booth again and will need the help of our members to make it a success!

The specifics are: Saturday, 9 AM - 5 PM Sunday, 10 AM - 4 PM NEW PAVILION & EXPO HALL WESTERN WASHINGTON FAIRGROUNDS PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON Sponsored by the Mt. Rainier R/C Society. ADMISSION $5.00, Although admission is free to any members wishing to work at our booth providing they contact us ahead of time so that we can arrange to get them their badge.
Children 6 and under with an adult - free

To those who are interested (Larry Kirby) there will again be a free Model display for awards!

After some lazy procrastination on my part I finally sent in the paperwork for our NAMBA membership! I want to thank all of our members who voted to affiliate ourselves with a great organization!

It was nice to see some faces that I haven't seen in a couple of months. As usual the meeting was very productive. One of the biggest items discussed and agreed on was to become NAMBA affiliated. We also decided to adopt 7 or 8 cells in classes that used 7 cells last year. This is something that NAMBA allows and it made sense to accept this rule into our club as well.

We also decided to split up the 12 cell class into Mono and Hydro as there are more then enough boats to make up the 2 classes.

Other issues discussed had to do with scheduling and the model expo. For our 2001 Race Schedule Click Here. We will also be hosting a booth at the Puyallup Model Expo. Volunteers will be most appreciated!

It's that time of the year again. It's time for the Annual Club Meeting. We will be discussing any potential changes to our rules, race sites, NAMBA membership and anything else you can think of. The meeting will be held at Doug Filers office in Seattle again. If you need directions you can call Doug at 206 545 4800.

Here are the results as I remembered them from the NAMBA Straight Lines at Legg Lake California

N2 Hydro - Dick Crowe - 52.20 MPH - Rum Runner Rigger, Kunz Speed Control, Reedy Sonic 2 8x3, Hitec Lynx3d Radio

O Hydro - Larry Larson - 53.5 MPH - Twaits Rigger, Reedy Sonic 2 9x2, Hitec Lynx3d Radio

O Hydro - Dick Crowe - 54.91 MPH - Rum Runner Rigger, Kunz Speed Control, Reedy Sonic 2 8x3, Hitec Lynx 3D Radio (I had a 1 way pass of 58+ mph)

P Mono - Greg Schweers - 47+ MPH - Maus Bullet - Aveox 1412 1 - (Greg had a 1 way pass of 49+ in Rough conditions. This boat has 50+ easy)

N2 OffShore - Dick Crowe - 34.75 MPH - Micro Bullet, Kunz Speed Control, Lightning Man 9x3 NEO motor, Hitec Lynx 3D Radio.

P Offshore - Ray Fuller - 40+ MPH - GS1 Electro (A fiberglass version of a cut down electro vee. E-mail Larry Larson for more info) - Aveox 1412 1.5 - Shultz Controller - Hitec Lynx 3d Radio.

Q Offshore - Jeff Vasquez - Maus Bullet - Aveox 1412 1.5 and Controller - Futaba Radio

Water conditions went back and forth. Sometimes perfect and sometimes choppy. The tough part was there was so many people that you only got about 3 passes per day. Jeff Vasques brought up the Idea of an Electric only Time Trials to let us really get to dial in our boats and set some records.

There were many good battles too! Dan Chase and I battled it out all day in N2 Offshore. I think he was less then 1 MPH off my speed. This guy is getting fast in a hurry.
Dan was running a Lightning Man powered BBY Scat Cat.

The Tough Luck award has to go to Mark Ferrera. I've never seen a guy who no matter what he did could not get the timing lights to pick up his boat! It's too bad too because he had a 4 cell rigger that would have given Jay a run for his money!

It was great to see some faces I hadn't seen in a while as well as a few new ones. Look out for Trent Hare in 4 cell classes. For a guy who's been out of fast Electrics since '92 he's caught up in a hurry. I'm just glad he wasn't trying for the 6 cell records!

I'm sure I'll go back and edit this page as there are a few gaps to fill in like Jeff's Q Offshore record!

Ray Fuller and I will travel to California this weekend for Time trial. We hope to take off were left off in March with the 32 cell hydro. I'll also be trying for n2 mono, n2 hydro, 1/16th scale, 1/12 scale hydro and who knows what else! We're flying down with Larry Larson and Jay Turner from Alaska. There should be a big turnout with at least a half dozen or so other electric racers! I'll be posting results here and on Rum Runners Q and A. I'll also be posting video clips when I get back.

The 2000 PSFEMBC Season has come to a successful end! Many of the seasons high point awards weren't decided until the final heats! The weather was with us too. By days end we were all looking at each other trying to figure out how to extend the season! For the results and pictures of the winners Click on PSFEMBC Standings. We also elected the 2001 club officers. Mark Yordy will head the club again after a well deserved year off. Scott Bickford will assist him as Vice President, Charlotte Yordy will continue on as the clubs treasurer and Debbie Payne will take on the task of secretary! Keep checking back for more information on the 2001 season!

After a Fast 3 days in New Jersey, host to the 2000 NAMBA Nats, local drivers Dick Crowe (me) and Scott Bickford are still smiling at their stack of trophies. Scott and I brought home 9 trophies and 4 fast time awards. I won Crackerbox (and had fastest time), O-Mono and Q-Hydro (and had fastest time). I took tied for first in 1/12th scale hydro but was bumped to second based on time. I took 3rds in N1-Mono, N2-Hydro and P-Mono (and set a new NAMBA record and fastest time). Scott also had a strong showing with a perfect score in 1/16th scale, a second in P-mono and wrapped it up with fast time in N-1 Mono.

The overall high-point championship was the closest ever. Only 44 points separated first place from fourth. Those four were (in order of finish) Doug Twaits Jr., Jeff Vasques, Dick Crowe and Greg Schweers. While it was hard to imagine I was just 22 points away from the title, it was almost more of an honor to stand in front with those 3 other drivers! And if that wasn't good enough just minutes later they raffled off the last item of the day, an Aveox motor and speed control and I won it! Needless to say, I feel I had a good weekend!

Finally, a special thanks to those in New Jersey who put on a real first class event! Next year the event will be held in Alaska the last weekend in June and I can't wait!

The 2000 EUN racing season is officially over. I want to thank everyone for the time and effort in making this one of the best years I can remember and certainly on of the fastest fields of boats! For several years I have worked my way into the top honors in many classes. Not this year. The rest of the gang really stepped it up! A quick glance at the EUN leader board (on the Seasons Standings page) will show and new group of go fast guys! Leading the way in 1/16th scale was Scott Bickford who piloted his Aveox powered Bandit shovel to more finishes then I can remember! Scott also found the short way around the course with his Pistolaro to grab top honors in 7 cell open mono. Another standout was Larry Kirby who missed the last race of the season yet still pulled down 12 cell open and was leading the way in some other classes until his untimely no show. I hope you had a good golf game Larry!

One big highlight for me was to take a step back from my racing program to help my 3 year old son join our ranks. Colten ended up with 4th place over all in 6 cell stock mono and Rookie of the year. Colten also pulled down a second place in the same class at the Spring Splash! Can you tell I'm a proud Papa!

One class that yielded no surprises was 6 cell stock mono. For the.........who knows how many years in a row Marv Sjolin grabbed top honors. Great job Marv!

The next big event in Nationals in New Jersey next week! Scott Bickford and myself (Dick Crowe) will do our best to show those from around the country the fast way around the course for Team Fuller/Bandit!

For more pictures and results of the 2000 EUN Awards banquet go to EUN Standings.

Saturday July 15 we enjoyed a beautiful day at Wicks Lake. Lots of good racing and fun was had by all. We did have some excitement during the day when a dog started chasing the boats in the water. Dick C. had Scott B. distract the dog so he could pick up his dead boat, cause it looked like the dog was going for it, and the distraction worked - but the dog was still after Scott's boat even after he got it out of the water, the dog still followed him to the pit. We all got a few laughs out of that.

We also had a few spectators that were interested in our boats. Would it be possible to have a boat there for kids to test drive and see if this is something they might like to get into? We had several families asking for our racing schedule.

At our drivers meeting we discussed to continue with the search for a trailer for the club. We have 1200.00 in our account right now so we need to find one for around that price, or less. We need to set aside money for club trophies.

We also talked about eliminating the two races in Oct. This is so we don't have to pay the extra money to have the porta potty at the lake. So be sure and try to come to the remaining races. The next race is Aug 20, which is a Sunday. Then we have two races in Sept - one is Sat the 9^th and the other is Sunday the 17^th. So this means we will have our club picnic on the last race which will be the Sept 17. Everyone is invited!! We would like to send a special invite to some of our past members to come and join us in our last few races of the season.

The biggest race of the season for our club has come and gone. This year had an exceptional field of boats! The Gold Cup is the only race of the year where we have early morning qualifying. The top qualifier is the guy with the fastest 2 laps. This year only seconds separated the top qualifier from the boat with the slowest time! This years Top Qualifier was my Maus 1/16th scale Turbine. I was also lucky enough to win the Gold Cup. It's been several years since I've won the top honors. I won't soon forget it. I also had time to take a few videos of some of the other club members boats. See Videos for the clips. I'll try to get the rest of the results and will post them ASAP.

The 2000 Spring Splash has come and gone. This year we saw the fastest fleet of boats ever 2000ssdickcolten.JPG (35814 bytes)

and totaled over 170 boats. Racers from Washington, California, Alaska, Florida, Michigan and Canada. Saturdays event was held under scattered clouds and a slight breeze, perfect for fast boats! 2 records were set. Dick Crowe (Me) in 1/16th scale (1:06.90) and Larry Larson in OPC Tunnel (1:22.40). The trophies seemed to get really spread out this year. Even my 3 year old son Colten got into the act as we shared the transmitter in n-1 mono. Unfortunately my right knee became a casualty for the cause and gave out while I was crouching with Colten in front of me. The pain was lessened slightly when we took second behind Greg Schweers in a field of 19 boats.

In Crackerbox Scott Bickford (DPI Cracker) showed the field the first 3 perfect heats of the day for a commanding win. Second place went to Kent Kornegay(DPI Cracker). This was Kents first big race but he drove like a seasoned veteran. Third place went to DPI's Brian "Pink Stink" Vega of Florida (DPI Cracker).

With 19 boats, N1 mono proved to be one of the largest classes of the event. Any mistake in this class and you were out of the running. First place with a perfect day was Greg Schweers (Micro Bullet). Even though Colten and I (Micro Bullet) took second to Greg, it didn't bother me a bit. His boat was awesome. no other mono deserved the win like Greg's. In third place was Rick Ramus with a screaming Bandit Pistolero.

N1 hydro also had it's share of screamers. Dennis Whitt from Michigan let everyone know who the man to beat was with a perfect day (BBY Rigger). In second place was Chris Harris with his Hammerhead Marine rigger. Third went the Larry Larson of Alaska with his Twaits Rigger.

We had 17 boats entered in 1/16th scale. This was the fastest group of 1/16th scales I had ever seen. Everyone has a boat or a class that that they are really fond of, 1/16th scale is mine. I ended up winning the class with a perfect day and setting a new record of 1:06.22 with my Aveox powered Maus 1/16th scale, Miss Bardahl. I probably wouldn't have set the record if it weren't for Jeff Vasques about a foot off of my transom all the way around. I think he was drafting me. Hey it works for NASCAR! So we probably both set the record! I just get my name on it this time. One other note, I've been running 1/16th scale hydros for about 12 years and have never had as much power or speed since I put in the Aveox 1406 1.5. That motor is a real rocket! Second place for the day in 1/16th scale was Donnie Wollard of Florida running a very fast boat from Andy Kunz, better take a close look at this one Andy, Donnie has it running very good! Taking third place was Scott Bickford running his Bandit Shovel. Scott took home a rack of trophies Saturday and is going to new Jersey with me for the Nats.

OPC Tunnel was run for the first time as an official NAMBA class and Larry Larson from Alaska jumped all over it setting a record on his way to victory with his Plettenburg powered Starks Tunnel. Second place went to Chris Harris running a Bandit Tunnel and third went to Dennis Whitt who had one of the coolest outboards I had ever seen. It had a full waterproof Mercury outboard cowling with an Aveox motor AND controller inside. I wish I had a picture. (If I hadn't blown my knee out I'm sure I would have!)

In 1/12th Scale Sport Hydro Larry Larson again had 3 perfect heats for the win. His Dave Frank design hydro ran flawless! Second went to Randy Naylor with his BBY "Big Splash" his boat was beautiful and ran like a real winner! In 3rd place was Mark Ferreira. Marks Aveox 1412 1.5 powered Bandit Shovel with m447 prop was really awesome. He may have had the fastest Sport Hydro at the event!

In "Anything Goes" it was as the name suggests! There were 12, 14, 16 and 18 cell boats. There was only 1 flight of heats and a different winner every time. Larry Larson (TJ's Rigger) won the first heat, I (Fine Design Twister) won the second heat and Jeff Vasques (Fine Design Twister) won the third, but when the points were added up Jeff was the winner followed be myself then Larry Larson.

Sundays water conditions were even better, although we did have to suffer through a slight drizzle of rain all day. The weather didn't seem to slow down any of the speed demons though. Larry Larson started off the day with a record in O Mono running 1:11.21. Larry actually came a week early to enjoy the area and get ready for the race. All of his prep work paid off! before he was done he'd have a rack of trophies! So many he had to give them to Ray Fuller to ship back for him!

When Larry got in town he swung by my place for dinner. While he was there we threw his n2 mono into my pond. I knew I was in deep trouble when I saw his Lehner powered Micro Bullet go faster then my I thought my O mono went! I was right. Larry had a perfect day in the class. Second went to Jeff Vasquez who's Aveox powered Micro Bullet is always on top and third went to Randy Naylor and his new Oval Master. It really says something when you can make the top 3 out of 18 boats!

In N2 Hydro, Dennis Whitt took of right where he left off with his N1 hydro with another perfect day. Dennis really knows how to make these 6 cell boats go! Second went to Donnie Wollard dickanddonnie.jpg (173165 bytes)

with his Rum Runner Rigger. Donnie just finished his boat before he came and had it dialed right in. This was no fluke. His boat earned it's trophy! 3rd place went to Larry Larson running a Reedy Sonic 9x2 powered Twaits Cyclone.

As I mentioned earlier, Larry Larson set a record in O Mono but he didn't stop there. He went on to 3 perfect heats with another first place! Second went to Greg Schweers and his Aveox 1409 1.5 powered Micro Bullet and third to Mark Ferreira and his Aveox 1409 1.5 powered Bandit El Lobo II. It was a nice showing for the new boat! Look out for this one in New Jersey

Brian Vega took top honors in O Hydro His Rum Runner Rigger was really dialed in! Second went to Donnie Wollard with his Rum Runner Rigger, those boats were everywhere! And Third went to 14 year old Chris Yoder Running a DPI American Dream. Chris had 2 wins and was the only driver going into the last heat with 800 points. however, his boat hit a big hole in the right corner during the third heat while in the lead and flipped. Look out for this kid, he's no fluke! We'll be hearing a lot more from him I'm sure in the future!

In P mono It was Brian Vega for the win running his Maus Bullet. Second was Mark Ferreira running a Bandit Pistolero and Third was Greg Schweers with his Bullet. All of the boats in this class really hang it out. Almost anyone could win if they could finish all of there heats. As it was, Brian was the only driver to finish all 3 heats! Good job Brian!

Q mono had the fastest monos I had ever seen. Leading the way was Mark Ferreira. Mark really earned this win, his Aveox powered 1412 1.5 Pistolaro on 16 cells with an x442 was totally dialed in. Second went to Randy Naylor and third to Jeff Vasquez. 2000sscoltenmarv.JPG (35778 bytes)

P Hydro was loaded with screamers! About a week before the Spring Splash Doug Twaits Jr. called me up and told me he couldn't make it but that he like to send me his 12 cell Twister to run for him. 3 perfect heats later I got the win! Thanks Douggie! Awesome boat! What's it gonna cost me to keep it!!!! Second place went to Larry Larson. Both Larry and I had 800 points going into the last heat and were going to let it all hang out. In the first corner Larry's TJ's Rigger hit someone's wake and flipped. Unfortunately Don Wollard was right on his tail and ran right over Larry's flipped boat. Seconds later Larry's boat went down. We're sending Divers after it tomorrow. Larry was still able to hang onto second place for the class but it was a bitter sweet win. Don's boat was hurt pretty bad too which was too bad since it was running really strong. Third went to Randy Naylor and his BBY rigger.

The last class was Q Hydro. What a blast. I ran the same Fine Design Twister on 14 cells and really ripped. In the first heat I spun the boat out but was able to continue on for the win. In the second heat I threw in a really hot set of batteries hoping for a record. On the third lap I cut the right corner entrance buoy and had to go 6 laps. I went on to win with a time of 1:01.10 for 6 laps. I finished with a perfect three heats for the class win. Rick Ramus took second with his 18 cell Plettenburg powered BBY War eagle. What a beautiful boat. He must have spent the whole winter painting it! Third went to Jeff Vasquez who was also running a Fine Design Twister but had to pull out when He got in an accident.

The Team Championship went to Team Fuller consisting of Scott Bickford, Greg Schweers, Larry Larson and Dick Crowe. The team scored 4300 points.

The overall Highpoint went to Larry Larson with a perfect 4800 points. I thought I had a shot at it but came in 200 points shy. How can you beat perfection!

Thanks to our Sponsors, the racers and everyone who helped put this event on and make it a success.