I am sorry to have learned and to have to relate to you today the passing of one of our members. Dan Rygasewicz, known here as @Union Scum and @FirePowerDan. While I never met him in person, I know that he was a person who had a great deal of passion for whatever he engaged in, and that he loved wargaming and playing with toy boats. Sometimes that passion and his strong belief in himself may have caused some rifts and misunderstandings, but we are all here bound together by a common love of playing with toy boats. Dan has been around in the hobby in one form or another for far longer than many of us, from Big Gun combat, to Civil War ships and most recently as a member of Pacific Model Warship Combat Club in CA and he has without a doubt impacted the courses of many battlers over the years. Dan's memorial service will be held on August 29,2015(2:30pm-4pm) at 4248 Solar Way, Fremont CA 94538. Below this line is a good place for you to say nice things if you knew Dan. Fair winds and following seas Dan.
I never got a chance to meet Dan. But we spent many hours chatting up the hobby on the phone years ago. He had a lot of knowledge of the early days of the hobby out his way. Mikey
The memorial started out by saying you had never met Dan. I did have the pleasure of knowing him for over 30 years. I can say that whatever he did was to make the hobby better. He always had the club and it's members best interests at heart. He was one of the most helpful and giving members the club ever had. The quote above implies that the problems were always with Dan; not true. Usually if you disagreed with Dan, it was because you were trying to do something wrong, attempting to manipulate the club in some way or were cheating/lying about something. To make that kind of a statement, when you didn't know the person tells me that you've been listening to someone that you really shouldn't be trusting. This was supposed to be a memorial and should have covered all the good Dan Rygasewicz did for the clubs in California and Washington. Which includes WWCC, So. Coast Battle Group, Queen's Own, PMWC and most recently the resurrected Cal-Neva Fast Gun Club. He was really excited to be working on an HMS Queen Mary and giving Fast Gun a try after being in the hobby since 1983. Let's remember Dan for bringing R/C Combat to California, he was a founding member of WWCC, all the recruiting he did for the clubs, he found us ponds, gave away ships and I could say more....
I was fortunate enough to know Dan for over ten years. He had many hobbies and interests that went far beyond warship combat. Even so, his interests were always related to history and often naval engagements. Dan was a wealth of knowledge and always ready to help when asked. He always had a good story to tell. I think his own words speak volumes so check out the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABcMd5neY7k
Dan passed away August 10. He had just returned from a month long (once in a life time) trip to China with his wife. They met family and friends and he even taught English at one of their schools, which was covered by a local newspaper. After their return, they went to Canada for a week before stopping in Oregon to participate in a Queen's Own event in Portland. Then it was back to work and they headed to Greensborough N. Carolina for a conference. It was on his return through Detroit that he passed away. His next plans were to camp at the Lincoln, Ca site for our two day event Labor Day weekend. His ships were there, as his wife was very generous giving all his ships, books, etc. to members of the club. He was missed!
His current warships were 1/72 scale and were given to other club members that will likely put them to use. He also had some Civil War ships that were also given away to former members of the club he once had.
Thanks Gary. One of these days I'll get out there. That what he would have wented for me. It's sad he'll never see me battle :'( and that just hurts, he pushed me so hard to finish a ship :'(
He was a motivator, that got people into the game. SO all contact with Dan was via email/forum? I didn't realize that you had never played. Are battling opportunities limited in Pennsylvania or you just haven't finished a sip? Big Gun or Fast Gun?
This seams to be as good a place as any to mention that No. California had lost another member recently, but none of us knew it had happened. Steve Reese passed away in December 2014 and we only accidently found out because someone came to our last event and wanted to sell this fleet of combat ships he had bought at an estate sale. He was a member of both Western Warship and Cal-Neva, and had also bought a 1/72 destroyer so he could participate with PMWC. In all he had close to a dozen 1/144 Big Gun and Fast Gun ships, with many of them still armed for combat. I first met Steve at a Cal Neva event in Auburn California about 8 or 9 years ago. Saw him fight his USS Washington a couple time, but I never really got to know him. Hopefully others can chime in with experiences they had with Steve during WWCC or Cal Neva events. I understand that he played in both cubs for several years.
I miss him like crazy, he and I would talk about my Savannah, I'm just sorry he will never see her in the water :'(
Just found out through Gary about Dan's passing. I actually knew Dan, I was his neighbor in Kelseyville Ca for over a year. He is the one who got me started in the boat hobby back in the 90s. He spent a lot of time helping me to set up my first ship, a 1/72 Liberty ship for Queens own. I was a poor kid and money for an armed ship was just too far out of my grasp so he suggested the Lib ship so I could at least participate. He donated almost everything for that project. He had a lot of patients as I was a know it all kid back then, lol. I was very sad to hear of his passing as it would have been great to reconnect with him after over 15 yrs.
I was just thinking about how cheaply we set that ship up, to get it down to scale speed we ended up using two D alkaline batteries in series for propulsion, Never would have thought it would be enough, but it was perfect, dead on scale speed over a 100 foot timed run. Dan pulled the batts and the holder out of his box at the event and installed it after it ran way to fast. He really did know his stuff.
It went back to Dan if I remember correctly. Not sure to be honest, lol. Plan to build another one sometime after I get an armed ship on the water. Working on a trade deal as we speak. Will let you know if/when a deal is struck, but I'm hoping to be battle ready before spring. That way I can get some gunnery practice in.That was something Dan told me I should do to build skills. Figure a Liberty ship full of foam so it wont sink, will make a nice practice target.
