Hello to all. My name is Lonnie Hyde.

[Lonnie Hyde]

I just joined your group yesterday. I wanted to do it for a while and yesterday, I decided to do it. I am a retired USAF 1ST, Sgt. I got into boating in 1975. I enjoyed it very much. My military commitments prevented me from continuing. I was a flight engineer for the Air Force for 21 years and a Command first SGT for my last four years of active duty. I am fully retired now, from the telecommunications engineering field. I am looking forward to getting back into boating. I am getting past some medical issues and now want to have some fun again. All of my experience has bee very old school, looking forward to the new boating. Best regards, Lonnie.

 

[Grimracer]

No wrong way Lonnie!

WELCOME BACK and

THANK YOU for your service!

Grim

 

[Lonnie Hyde]

Thank you for your kind reply to my introduction. There have been a lot of changes to the hobby since 1975. Back in those days, the only boats that were available were wood kits that you had to build yourself and the only engines were the notorious nitro engines. All in all, today it could be considered self abuse for those of us who were not very skilled in building boats. Some ot the boats were real frog dancers. With some of the boats today, beautiful fiberglass boats and laser cut wood kits, they all would have been a dream to have back then. I must look toward a fiberglass boat today, because of some physical limitations connected with my military service, but it is all more that good now and am looking forward to learning what is new and making new friends along the way. I am partial to cat tunnel hulls and F1 inboard class. New to the United States, but well known in Australia and Europe while I was there. There doesn't appear to be any builders of the F1 inboard class here that I can find. There are a few in South Africa and the Netherlands, but the shipping cost are so outrages, making it a no go for me. There are still a lot of good boats here that would make the hobby fun again for me. Thank you and best regards, Lonnie Hyde.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

Welcome Lonnie from the great state of Michigan

 

[Mike Hughes]

Where you located? Best is to get with a local club in your area to see what they run. Plus the clubs will have help/chase boat during fun runs and other racing.

 

[Lonnie Hyde]

Thank you Jeff and Mike for your message. I live in Victorville California. I retired from George A.F. Base at Victorville California. The closest organized club is in Whittier California, about 65 miles from me. That is where the boating world started for me back in 1975. I have a couple of my boats resting very nicely, all of these years at the bottom of Leg Lake, nothing new to old boaters. I am currently working with a community that has a private lake here about 12 miles from me. I am working with the home owners association to get permission to be able to use the lake for the boats, and to try to get some of the residents interested in RC boating. They only meet a couple of times of the year about the lake business. Hopefully in June or July of this year. At least the first thing they did not say to me, was no. As of right now, if I get back into the hobby, I must travel back down to Leg Lake, about a 130 mile round trip. This is a little discouraging but not a show stopper. It just means that I can't run my boat as often as I would like. I am hoping for a good verdict from the Silver Lake association to give me their permission. A lot of the boaters at Leg Lake use some of the Insane boats. It stands to reason, because Steve Lopez is a local builder there and provides a lot of equipment and local support for them. A good thing for them. In the mean time I am still looking for the right boat for me. I can no longer build a kit boat, so I am looking for the right fiberglass boat. Thank you again Jeff and Mike for your interest. Best regards, Lonnie Hyde.

 

[Jeff Barnes]

Don't feel bad I drive 180 miles round trip to my closest club lot of good hulls out there these days I have seaducer monos and Phil Thomas sport 40 lots of guys run Insane thunder boats around here I lived in Rancho cuckamonga back in the 80s beautiful area

 

[BobSmith1]

Welcome and thank you for your service. The information, help and support here is great, a ton of good people. I started in the late 80's, nitro, boy oh boy what a change to electrics, but there fast and work well, a lot to learn. Best of luck getting back into a fun hobby.

P.S. " frog dancers "

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Welcome aboard Lonnie, and welcome back to the hobby from one veteran to another.
Sounds like you started the same way I did, a wood kit. Mine was a Dumas hydroplane with a very underpowered (by today's standards at least) HB engine. As you have observed, things are very different than they were 50 or so years ago. With that being said, feel free to ask questions as there are many on this site that are very knowledgeable. The biggest thing is don't let the new tech overwhelm you as it can and has with many new modelers.
To repeat what Bob said, "Best of Luck" and Happy Boating

 

[Michael Lewis]

Welcome Lonnie to an awesome site. Thank you for your many year's of service. The Whittier club sounds like a great way to get your feet wet and see what's out there. Hope you find what your looking for. Best wishes ,
Michael

 

[Lonnie Hyde]

Thank you Bob, Hydro Junkie and Michael, for your messages of welcome. I do hope to learn a lot from all of you. Hopefully no more sunk boats. I haven't quite learned how to navigate the web site yet, but I am sure that sooner or later I will figure it out. I am happy to be among enthusiastic and motivated warriors of the hobby. I have been lucky enough at this point, to have become acquainted by telephone to a few folks that supply the hobby with quality boats and hardware. Mike from ML Boat works, Wayne from AC boats, Richie from Rico Racing, David from D M C boats. All great in what they do. Making a decision about the boats is the hardest thing to do at this time. Again thank all of you for making me feel welcome to this web site. Very best regards, Lonnie Hyde.

 

[Ken Hildreth]

I just joined your group yesterday. I wanted to do it for a while and yesterday, I decided to do it. I am a retired USAF 1ST, Sgt. I got into boating in 1975. I enjoyed it very much. My military commitments prevented me from continuing. I was a flight engineer for the Air Force for 21 years and a Command first SGT for my last four years of active duty. I am fully retired now, from the telecommunications engineering field. I am looking forward to getting back into boating. I am getting past some medical issues and now want to have some fun again. All of my experience has bee very old school, looking forward to the new boating. Best regards, Lonnie.

Welcome, some things stay the same and some things show significant change. You can go online and buy the props you used to make, if you learn how to use a flow meter you may never miss your needle buy much. If you do miss speed master makes a great third channel needle to get it back on track. welcome to hear any questions or recommendations. We are here to make you go fast

 

[Lonnie Hyde]

Welcome, some things stay the same and some things show significant change. You can go online and buy the props you used to make, if you learn how to use a flow meter you may never miss your needle buy much. If you do miss speed master makes a great third channel needle to get it back on track. welcome to hear any questions or recommendations. We are here to make you go fast

Hi Ken. Thank you for your reply. I have already learned a few things in just the short time that I have been a member. Yes, the basics are still the same, but how you go about it has changed a little. I think I can learn to adapt to the changes. If I have any questions about anything, this forum has already let me know that they are more than willing to assist in any way possible. I am happy to be a member. Best regards, Lonnie Hyde.