News Posts

Intellicast shows a slug of rain coming through in the next couple of hours (noonish) but beyond that looks relatively clear. I plan to head for Tualatin this afternoon.

On our schedule tomorrow is Micro Magic Race Day, 2 PM at Tualatin Commons. The weather forecast might give us a chance as most of the rain is predicted for the evening. I’ll watch the skies and forecast and update tomorrow.

I’ve redesigned the catcher on my rescue tug. While the original design worked GREAT for moving course markers, I had problems steering with a captured boat. I suspect that part of the problem was the convex shape of the lateral bumper allowing the captured boat to get a bit sideways and thereby act as a large rudder in the front. I’ve rebuilt to have a concave lateral bumper that I hope will keep captured boats more centered. To add arm stiffness I used 1/8″ SS rod in place of the original 1/8″ brass. If Mother Nature allows, I’ll test this on the water tomorrow.

I received some very good news on the Yahoo Footy Group today. Dick McCoy (K6SamHam@yahoo.com) has taken over production of the Chris Staiger designed Pool Shark 3D. This is a fast, easy to sail, easy to build, nice looking boat – by far my favorite of all the Footys I’ve sailed. I have no reservations recommending this boat to anyone into Footy sailing.

 

The bad news part refers to the apparent lack of enthusiasm on the part of Footy skippers in the Portland OR area. Rose City Model Sailing Club started in large part to support the innovative Footy Class and at first we had quite a bit of participation. A bit over a year ago, one of our members built a Micro Magic. Then more and more caught the Micro Magic bug. We added Micro Magics to our supported classes and they have taken off. As evidence, yesterday we held a Footy Race Day event and exactly one Footy (my Pool Shark 3D) showed up. We sailed Micro Magics and had a great time. It’s weird that I’m feeling almost nostalgic about the Footy Class. We have a few more designated Footy events on our sailing schedule this season. I’d love to see some Footy enthusiasm. If you are interested in Footys, please let us know through participation or communication.

We have Footy Race Day tomorrow, 10/7, 1:30 PM at Tualatin Commons. Footy skippers have not been showing up so we may end up sailing Micro Magics instead. Bring whatever boat you want.

Please join us tomorrow, 9/23, 1:30 PM for Micro Magic Race Day at Westmoreland Casting Pond. I plan to get there a little early to run more tests on my motorized rescue tugboat to see if modifications I made to the rudder linkage will improve ability to steer against the wind pressure on a captured sailboat.

I added a few photos of my motorized rescue tugboat to my website:

Tug

Please join us at Tualatin Commons tomorrow (9/9), 1:30 PM, for Footy Race Day. Weather should cooperate with a significant cooling trend. Of late, Micro Magic skippers have made up the majority of our participants – we’ll see if a sufficient number of Footys show to allow the race as scheduled. Micro Magic skippers take heart – we’ll be sure to have several on the water.

I launched my motorized R/C tugboat (Rose City Rescue) last outing and its performance in placing course markers and in retrieving disabled boats exceeded my expectations. Rosie will be on the water tomorrow (by 1 PM) for some further testing of both functions. I’m bringing a real camera to get some shots for our webpage as well as sharing with Vac-U-Boat.com.

I plan to launch my tug for her maiden voyage at Tualatin Commons today – probably about 12:30 so as not to interfere with racing.

Join us at Tualatin Commons tomorrow (8/26), 1:30 PM, for Micro Magic Race Day.

 

Some of you know that I’ve been building a R/C motorized tug boat for use in rescue operations when control of one of our sailboats is lost mid-pond for whatever reason. I’m close to completion – I’ll be working on it today – and may have it ready for the water tomorrow. I’ll let you all know tomorrow AM whether it’s a go or not.

Join us for Footy Race Day at Westmoreland tomorrow (8/12) at 1:30 PM. In our recent outings, Micro Magics have far outnumbered Footys on the water. Come on, Footy skippers, show your interest. I’m sure there will be some Micro Magics on the water too, so feel free to bring yours (or any other boat you wish to sail).