Model yachts during the Frensham Pond 10 hour endurance race
by Paul Brooks 11 Jul 2011 11:12 BST
9 July 2011
There are no other examples where radio controlled model yachts compete is a 10 hour marathon sail (starting at 09.00 and ending at 19.00) at the same time as their bigger cousins/dinghies - but this was the second time the Frensham Pond Model Yacht Group had joined the Sailing Club dinghies in this event. This time it was to raise funds for the charity 'TOE IN THE WATER' (competitive sailing for injured soldiers).
This year we had three models on the water - an A class Sweet 9, a 10 Rater Bentley and a 1920 vintage gaff-rigged yacht 'Black Swan'.
We all sailed with Spectrum radio kit, the two larger models had the excellent RMG winches and only the 10 Rater needed a battery change during the entire 10 hours. We chose to sail the larger models, as the size and depth of the Frensham water is ideally suited to these and having the large vintage yacht sailing alongside a modern A class really shows how things have changed in the 90 years between their build dates. The vintage boat more than held her own on certain points of sailing!
Each model had 3 skippers and the change over was run to coincide with the main club dinghy timetable, whereby we handed the transmitter to the next skipper as the dinghy skippers changed over. On this occasion we had good winds of around 12mph in the morning that sadly turned to driving rain in the early afternoon, which then cleared for the last couple of hours. You cannot run any event without a comprehensive support team and ours provided us with our gazebos and other creature comforts - not forgetting the refreshments that were available throughout the day .
The next planned extraordinary venture is a sail around the perimeter of our lake with the use of binoculars and a rescue boat in the middle. The pond is over 1,000 yds x 600 yds and we have yet to carry out a trial sail to check the range of radio signal!
The Frensham Pond SC Model Yacht Group was formed just over 3 years ago and now has 26 members with around 70% regularly attending our Tuesday meetings. We offer training in all the relevant techniques to sail and race a model yacht effectively as well as practical help with all aspects of radio control. A simple handicapping system ensures that we are not restricted to sailing one size or class of model at a time and we all enjoy the sailing and racing together. Visitors and those interested in joining are welcome.
Loads more photos can be found here.