“Bob Says” for January 2020
Gents:
2019 was another good year as we added several new members and activity in general was on par with previous years. Our Monday flying sessions generally had 5 to 10+ members and we are averaging 2 to 3 flying dates a month. Two sessions a month seems to be the sweet spot for decent attendance. So we will continue to schedule 2 sessions a month and add dates here and there base upon member interest. Let’s keep it going.
Once again Ferdinand and Arthur have been handling site setup/break down with myself as backup when required. Please continue to assist them with setup & break down of the site perimeter as required. This is greatly appreciated by the field safety and setup crew.
Special thanks to our web editor-in-chief Steve B. for all the work he does maintaining the Skimmers’ web site. If you have any suggestion for the site or wish to help out with a monthly or quarter Skimmers newsletter please contact Steve or myself.
A few other points:
1. I would like to ask all members to please take a moment to visit the club web site at www.powayskimmers.org and review club and Lake Poway rules/guidelines that we all must follow when at the lake .
2. Please note that anything we operate on water or in the air must be buoyant even if swamped with water. While this is generally not a problem for our foam/wood models some of the fiberglass planes and/or boat may/will need some help with the addition of foam or internal floatation tanks. Again, all models should be buoyant enough to be retrieved from the lake even if swamped with water (it should not sink).
3. A few members have asked about buoys for boat racing course and trying to organize some unofficially races. This is all doable but we would need someone (or several people) to step up and organize the boaters. We can add events to calendar, email-blast members and even setup a section on the web site for this activity. But we would need some organizers to oversee this activity.
I would like to pick a couple Mondays again this year where we can encourage our members (and guests) to bring out their boats for a grand review of the Skimmers’ fleet.
4. Steve is always looking for content for our web site. So if you have something of interest please pass it along. Also I was thinking of starting a newsletter (Monthly/Quarterly?) and was wondering if anyone was interested in doing this. Note, content or topics are not restricted to Lake Poway activities.
5. We are still looking into some improvements to the pit area at the lake (shade, flat area) and will be discussing/working with the city as to what might be possible. The city has just finished up a repaving project on the path from the parking lot to the pit/pier area.
I’m hoping to complete a Klarich short kit of the 1954 Berkeley 114” wingspan Don McGovern Custom Privateer this year (with some modifications – electric power, ailerons & removable landing gear). I had hoped to start this project last year but other things happened to delay this project (perhaps I can talk my brother in to helping out).
Lastly, by club policy, free advise (usually good, on any topic) is still available in the pit area without an appointment on a walk by or sit down basis.
See you at the lake in 2020
Bob