Sierra Model Yacht Club

Great day to sail.  Wind about 5mph and not much in the way of clouds.  Joe and I got out to the pond around 10am and sailed our IOM's until 2:30.  The water reeds were kind of a pest all day attacking our keel's and rudder's, but we managed to navigate into them  most of the time.  The wind shift were particularly tricky earlier in the day.  At times we could sail up and back on the course down wind in both directions.

Chris Pratt came out and tried out my Victoria.  He had been thinking of getting a boat and had first seen a small boat on the Internet.  I advised against the smaller boats.  Thinking we could get several Victoria's in the club and make that our small boat.

My Victoria did okay for the second time on the water.  I have some issues I need to look into.  I think I have a leak at the keel entry post.  I didn't get a lot of water in the boat but I like it to stay dry.  The boat got into the reeds for a bit but ended up sailing our without much trouble.

Joe and I had a chance to play IOM soccer when some kids dropped a ball in the water.  Were ready for the pro's now.  If you get a chance drop out and join us.  We love company if you have a boat bring it.

We had a great day at the pond.  The water condition was good and the temperatures were in the mid 50's.  The wind at the start of the day was calm but picked up to moments of bow dunking.  We had many races that showed that a mistake with the thumbs or a twig hooked to the keel would make the difference.  The only adjustment I made when the wind picked up was to tighten the vang and adjust the backstay..  

Both Joe and I had planned to bring out our Victoria's but neither of us had done any work on them.  Maybe next month.  If you get a chance come on out and join us.  

Let's just say it was a quiet day at the pond.  The ole wind meter didn't bounce the styrafom ball too much at the pond.  My friends must have had a busy schedule.  Lets hope for a better turn out in Ocotber.   I have started to track pond conditions as to water quality, wind speed, and pond depth.   All three were much better than last month.

My new wind meter showed the wind being steady at 3 mph at the house.  Fortunate for us the wind is lighter at the pond.  Dan, Joe, Bob and I chased each other around the marks.  The wind picked up a bit after 1.  So we had 3 IOM's and an ODOM  starting to lean and if felt good.

Bob and I had a good discussion about who had the right away on a down wind leg.  Bob's boat over took mine on the starboard side.  Both boats were on Port tack and just as he came even my boom and his jib pole touched.  He was thinking he was running out of room next to shore.  He didn't call for room, and from where I stood it did'nt look like he needed more sea room.  He felt like he did.  Dig up the rule book to see who was right.  Leave a comment in on the bulletin board and let us know your reason.

Kelly sailed his lobster boat.  I took out my trusty Fairwind 900 only to find the servo plate was not glued down.  I didn't have to swim after it so I counted myself lucky.   By the end of the day the temperature felt like it reached the predicted 103 for the day.  We were all sailing from underneath trees.  

I had expected to see a couple of Victoria's at the pond.  Mine is still in the planning stages.  I have the boat and I am planning on how I want to build it.  Larry had purchased one and I figured we would have seen him.  I brought out a new Futaba sail winch, the one that replaced the S125 to show him.  Next time.  

Joint us if you get the chance.

This month we had some wind. It started off looking foggy but cleared off to a good day. We had some good races during the day and we took an intermission to discuss sailing rules.

Notes from February 13, 2000

The Sierra Model Yacht Club is now Club number 55.   Joe Hendrick, Bob Kizziar, and Rick Moynahan submitted their AMYA numbers and requested that we be recognized as the Sierra Model Yacht Club.   I'm proud of our group.   We done good!  

The February meeting was met with some rain.   It rained all day Sunday.   Joe and his son Dan were the first ones out at the park.   They were trying out plastic bags for coats, and for protective covers for the transmitters.   The small bags worked well keeping the rain off the transmitters.   Joe was offering everyone a large plastic bag to use for a coat.  

Dan was getting his Victoria wet while I pulled out my ever ready Fairwind.   Joe had his IOM.   Bob pulled up and brought his IOM.   And we commenced to race.  We had a heck of a time trying to handicap the races.   The IOM's were top dogs, the Fairwind was okay and the Victoria struggled when it had to come back to windward.  

Bob let Dan drive his ODOM and then I was the one struggling.  We had three races then we packed it in early.   We went over to McDonalds to debrief and dry out.  

After drying out and drinking some coffee the topic turned to a regatta.   It would help if we could get Bill Mullica to help put it on.   Maybe hold it at Huntington Lake.   Maybe we would hold an ODOM regatta.   We would need to get more ODOM's in our club.   Hmmm.   We figured we would need to think about this some more. 

Next time a little less rain would be nice.   If you get a chance stop out and join us.   We like company!

Notes from January 9, 2000

Our meeting started on time.  I wasn't expecting too much of a turn out as the weather was cold and the winds were almost enough to be called light.  A car pulled up and a guy by the name of Jerry hopped out and started to chat with me as I setup my IOM.  He had heard about us from a buddy at his work and wanted to know more.  Joe showed up with his IOM.  Bob pulled up and started setting up his IOM.  Another guy by the name of Lucky came in with a Sea Wind.  Later on Rose showed up with a wooden model that was totally new to me.  Other folks showed up on and off and many of them were very interested in what we  were doing.  All the guys shared their controllers with the new comers and we tried to hook them.  I think we did a great job.

I was happy we had enough to make sailing interesting.   Our pond was very tricky.  Little wind and an obstacles course laid in our way between the marks.  The obstacles were reeds, and branches and twigs.  We each took turns clearing our keels and rudders.  You could really see a performance difference when a boat was running without a forest being pulled by it's keel and rudder.  With the winds so light we ran a shorter course than usual.   Several of the races had us side by side at the marks, and debating the rules.

Joe said he would be signing up with AMYA and we will have our three regulars as AMYA members.  That is enough to allow us to register our club with AMYA as a recognized R/C sailing club.   I'm thinking by next month we could have a club number from AMYA, if not well on our way.

If your reading this and thinking you would like to join us, you are more than welcome to come out.  See that map on the home page for directions.  If you don't have a boat don't worry about it we will probably let you try ours.

Next month we meet at 11am Plaza Park Pond, here in Visalia. 

 

 

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