Bonjour from Quebec

First of all, I want to thank all the contributors on the RCsalling forum. It’s been an enlightening journey reading lots of your threads and posts. Very inspiring stuff.

I bit of background. I am the fortunate owner of a catamaran. I use to sail a lot 15 years ago but, for different reasons, it saw less and less water in the past few year up to the point that I am now considering selling it. I am pondering your hobby fill my love for the water, in a format that better suits my actual constraints.

I first considered buying a cheap chinese “almost ready to sail” boat. Some have the racing look I am looking for and there is plenty of info on the web to make them seaworthy. But… I see myself getting bored fast if I am the only one on the water. Friendly racing seems to be the way to keep an endless fun factor in the hobby. This would mean the purchase of two, three or even better four boats to loan them to sailor’s friends and relatives, trying to entice them to the hobby. Glup!

This is when I then consider building them myself, renewing with a way past modeling hobby. It may cost the same thing at the end, but it would be spread out over the year, easing the wife factor :). This endeavor seemed too much for me for a while, until I found your great source of build-logs from K1W120 and the others. And thanks to Claudio, getting some good racing drawings is not a problem (any VOR by the way?).

I may end up buying a chinese boat if I find a shipmate willing to hit the water before the winter. But I am now firmly commited to build my own RC sailing boat(s). So I will have some questions for you guys (any women?), starting by choosing my first design and hull building technique. Also, since the build-logs are generally very generous while building the hull, there is less info for the rest of the boat. I may have some more questions on mast and riggings building. We’ll see along the way.

Thank you for your time and happy sailing!

Symont - just a quick question … what type of catamaran ?

I raced a variety of cats (some private, some sponsored) from about 1978 through 2004. Sold my 18 Square Meter in 2005 and still miss it. Am kind of watching for something - more for fun sailing as I tired of racing. Have looked at the A Class and also the NACRA 17 as both are single-handed (as was the “Square”). The small R/C boats filled need for racing a little and “building” a lot. Now have a couple of grandchildren to teach them sailing.

Warm regards to the forum

Dick Lemke - Minnesota

Hello Dick,

It’s a Mystere S, a Tornado trainer design by Neil Coster, a world cat champion, and it’s built in Quebec. We have a club here with maybe 40 of them (mostly newer 5.5 meter and 6 meter version though).

Lots of fun back then. But now that I sail only once or twice a year, I realise that it would be much cheaper to rent one there instead of paying the annual storage fees.

I don’t think R/C sailing will ever come close to replace the feeling of being on the water, on the edge. But it would at least keep me near the water, still “fighting” the wind in some way. I am still not sure if I have what it need to build my own boat, but it certainly look appealing.

Thank you for your welcome.