RC Sailing

[Squadron]

As the winter deepens along with the depression that comes from having a sailboat sitting in a slip being unused (at least until I get better cold-weather gear...), I was wandering through one of my favorite places to browse: A hobby shop.

I saw something I'd never considered before, a radio-controlled sailboat. I almost bought it then and there, but the better (or at least more fiscally responsible) half dragged me out.

Does anyone here have experience with them? I found a club that sails them locally and I'm planning on heading to one of their meetups, but I'm curious as to how fun this could be when I've got the real thing sitting in a slip.. Plus, the little boats are fairly expensive.

On the other hand, the nerdy side of me really loves the idea of getting to play with that while not being trapped on a freezing cold boat in the middle of a harbor.

 

[Ed Schenck]

No experience but the same thinking. I have watched the Thursday morning regattas on a large pond when visiting my stepson. I almost bought one but I have so little free time and would rather spend it on the big boat. Here at home in Ohio it would have to be an ice boat. It was 4 degrees this morning.

I was intrigued watching the captains prepare their rigs. Before launch they adjust cunninghams, outhauls, and relationship of jib to main. The RC boats that I watched do not have separate controls, the main to jib slot is constant.

 

[Squadron]

Very interesting! Thankfully down here even in the winter it's not so cold as to freeze water over, but I'm just not very prepared for a day out in the open with wind and spray and whatnot..

From what I've seen, there are some RC sailboats that use servos to adjust rigging during a race, and there are some where your control is basically limited to the rudder.

 

[Tom]

I've been building and racing them for years, how can I help??

Tom
s/v GAIA

 

[Rick D]

Lots of fun! I have two. Our club has many. We have regattas and many yacht clubs have RC regattas in addition to their big boat ones. A good start is the Megatech Nirvana which you can find on e-bay for under $200 with radio gear. A popular class is the Soling. Those are made from kits. There is a governing association. See the link. I am presently building a Footy which is a 12" box rule boat to keep on my boat since it's small but a decent sail.
http://www.theamya.org/

 

[Tom]

Yeah, the Megatech Nirvana really is a good boat. It's fast, and looks real good in the water. There are 3 of us in the harbor racing them and we have a blast. The one problem is that there are (the last Ichecked) only 3 radio freq's for those, take a look at the TOWER HOBBIES web site there are some other good boats there. The Victoria is another good boat, easy to build, fast, looks good, and a good boat to sail. Be careful about getting anything smaller though, they don't sail as well (IMHO).

Tom
s/v gaia

 

[Jonrod222]

A neat little high performance boat that is taking off in this country now, already big in europe is the micro magic. It is a small one design that is pretty cheap for a racing boat. RC sailing is like big boat sailing, you can spend as little or spend a lot.

 

[Squadron]

Lots of info here, I've seen the Nirvana online (Tower Hobbies has always been a great site/catalog to browse.. so many fun toys!), and I think that the club in our area uses the Sol 1 Meter for all of their competitions. I love the idea of the ready to sail boats, as I'm not sure I have the space to dedicate to putting together a kit.

For those of you that have done this sort of thing before, how hard would the S1C be to put together?

For reference, my model-building experience ends at a snap-tite model of the space shuttle model I put together incorrectly as a child. I mean really.. how was I to know the nozzles went on the OUTSIDE.

 

[capejt]

Not having any experience with these myself, I have three questions which may sound a little "dumb".
1. What do you do if your boat is out in the middle of a pond and the batteries die?
2. What's the radio range? Can the boat get away from you?
3. What do you do if the wind just dies and the boat is in the middle of the pond? (or conversely, what about a sudden major blow?)

 

[Jonrod222]

The boats normally have a two channel radio, a servo for the rudder and a servo/ sail winch for the sails. Mine uses 4 aa batteries in the boat and I have sailed for hours with no sign of them going dead. I do normally replace those before each sail as I don't use the boat that much. If the boat requires you to install the radio(not supplied in kit) , a good radio will have a range of about a mile. Some of the boats that have the radios installed don't have that range and may be limited on number of frequencies. If the wind dies you just sit there like in the real thing.

 

[ConchyJoe]

I have two MegaTech Nirvana II's, and they are a load of fun. We have a Regatta most every Saturday we are at the lake, and drink the beverage of the season, beer, hot cider, etc.

It is great social interaction, almost as great as hanging with BoatBabe..

 

[Rick D]

To add to that, the radio range is a lot farther than you can see what the boat is doing. When you get out a couple of hundred yards, it isn't uncommon to not be able to figure out who's boat is whose. Battery life is at least a couple of hours on fresh ones. If it stalls, you wait. We have a chase boat, but also a couple of RC tugs we use to retrieve. Radio gear and servos should be put in balloons (or I suppose you could use condoms ) to keep them dry. The biggest problem we have is grass fouling the rudder and keel.

 

[DannyS]

I have ...I mean, my kids have a Megatech Nirvana II and it's a great sailing boat. My dad also has a boat of a different make and a bit smaller size. I don't have a lot of experience with other styles but what I've found is that the larger boat sails quite a bit better than the smaller boat. I guess 3 foot-itis applies to RC boats as well...3 inch-itis? The photos show the Megatech in front and the other pulling up the rear. That's me in the hat and I swear, my kids are somewhere nearby!
We set up a triangular shape race course and have a blast.
We're up in cold country and I've heard of some RC clubs that rent pool time and set up big shop fans on one end of the pool for their indoor regattas.

 

[CaptainJB]

May Give It A Try

As I age and my back ages faster, I may have to give up my 356 :cry:, and this may be a potential replacement for my sailing addiction.

 

[Squadron]

That definitely looks like a lot of fun. I just found out that the local club does their regattas on Sundays and practices on Wednesdays. And thankfully, I've got this Wednesday off (much-needed vacation). So I'll go take a look at what they've got and will let you guys know how it turns out!

 

[cephius (Dave)]

I build a model of the Emma C Berry. It looked so good that I ballasted the hull, added servos, and took it sailing. The schooner rig required three servos for the sails.

The San Diego Model Yacht Pond had stated days for speed boats and sail/scale boats. There were always model tug boats or war ships (even a submarine) that were more then happy to fetch a becalmed boat.

Unfortunately, around here the model boats have the same sailing season as the 1 to 1 scale boats. Only the ice boats go sailing this time of year. :cussing:

 

[Steve C.]

I started with rc boats a Nirvana pro so i could put better than the stock servos. My friend near me built a 100'x150' pond with marks, starting line, he even taped the 2 minute starts, we have spent many a afternoon racing. I am either racing my 32" or sailing my 30'.

 

[Phil V25]

I have a Victoria One Design

I don't sail it as much as I thought I would, but it was a simple kit build and is well supported with class clubs. The Victoria site has lots of information. Seems it was around $200 with controller.

As the winter deepens along with the depression that comes from having a sailboat sitting in a slip being unused (at least until I get better cold-weather gear...), I was wandering through one of my favorite places to browse: A hobby shop.

I saw something I'd never considered before, a radio-controlled sailboat. I almost bought it then and there, but the better (or at least more fiscally responsible) half dragged me out.

Does anyone here have experience with them? I found a club that sails them locally and I'm planning on heading to one of their meetups, but I'm curious as to how fun this could be when I've got the real thing sitting in a slip.. Plus, the little boats are fairly expensive.

On the other hand, the nerdy side of me really loves the idea of getting to play with that while not being trapped on a freezing cold boat in the middle of a harbor.

 

[kenn]

Oh great. Raise a topic as cool as this AFTER Christmas.
I was a really good boy this year, too...:cry:

(Actually, I have a secret addiction to HO trains, I've been collecting them for 40 years and this winter I might actually get around to laying track...)

 

[Salty]

I tried it once, sailing my friend RC sail boat on a lake and it was a blast. I even had some wing on wing going. I tried to add it as a hobby put I couldn't convince the wife, since I already fly RC planes as a hobby. I'll say go ahead Squadron, take the plunge,