Where's The Remote?

Dave has a new toy. He is building a radio controlled Dragon racing sailboat. It was a kit and Dave is taking his time putting it together, because he says he is really savoring the experience since everything is so quality. His 'boat shop' is quite tiny so he uses every available space at the moment. I hope I don't need to laundry in the near future though. 😉

This sport has become popular and our friend Bob also just built one. The guys plan on joining other sailors with this model, so we have been looking for groups and ponds that they race at. We read that there is an RC club that has gatherings at a local park about 5 miles from us, but it wasn't specific if it was for sail or power boats. Today was one of their dates so we rode over to check it out. Although there are race markers in the pond and a sign saying when the sailboat club meets (yay!), this group was actually for power boaters. However, what a fun morning we had watching these boats and owners. There were all sorts of different boats on the water (the triple cockpit with the Barbie driver was really fast).

These owners were so friendly and we learned a lot. We were even offered a large paddle wheeler replica to rebuild for free, but declined. Some of the boats are really big. This one weighed 30 lbs, and the superstructure top of it comes off to access the batteries and ballast.

The men even had a rescue tugboat in case one of the boats broke down. It had racks on the front so that it could push it back to shore.

It was complete with a video camera in the wheelhouse to assist the rescue.

We will return next time the Dragon sailors are at the park to see how the racing events are structured. Then it will be Bob and Dave's turn to practice and join in.