Hi. My name is Bruce and I live in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was visiting Emmarentia Dam on Sunday and saw the RC yachts having a good sail. I went down to chat to the guys and found an old mate of mine Doug who also sails a keel boat on Vaal Dam. Seems like as we get older we need something less strenuous and closer to home, so I went the next day and bought a SeaWind kit boat which I am now building and enjoying, but I am itching to get out on the water ASAP!
Hey Bruce, glad you found us! With most new SeaWind skippers getting the new readyset version kit builders are few and far between. There is a wealth of experience out there though in kit building and modification so feel free to ask any question that occurs.
Mike
Hi Bruce,
I’ve been meaning to try get to Emmerentia for ages. My brother and I built 2 RG65’s and we are keen to come join everyone.
Do they have a site I can check which dates the guys are sailing?
Hi Naptalene,
From what I can see and hear, the club is enjoying a rejuvenation. There’s a keen bunch of guys with some great ideas and enthusiasm. It would be great to have two RG65s join the fleet. The accent at GMBC is on sailing for pleasure not on hard core racing, which suits me for now. The next meeting is this Sunday and I will be launching the SeaWind I have just finished building. Bring your boats and come and join in the fun. The club’s web site is here http://www.gmbc.wozaonline.co.za/. Regards, Bruce.
22KV
Welcome! Wow, you’re a long sail for my neck of the woods! Good choice on the Seawind kit. I have two Seawinds and a few more over the years. The new RTR versions are the same as the kits as far as I can tell from all the comments here and on the other RC forums. I do enjoy putting kits together. I’d get a RTR if I didn’t have my kits already - not that proud. My sense is that building a kit is a learning experience and has a tendancy to yield a stronger “bond” with the boats I’ve build. Hope that doesn’t sound to weird:rolleyes:.
Be sure you address the water intrusion issues Seawind’s hatch cover is famous for. There are tips here on this forum that can help you address this issue. Not sure if you are sailing in fresh or saltwater but either way, a dry boat is a good thing to have.
Anyway, welcome and enjoy!
Boomer
Thanks for the welcome Boomer, and thanks too for all the input you have given on the various forums regarding SeaWinds. I have followed your tips and advice wherever I can. It seems weird that Kyoto continues to supply these boats with a hatch that is clearly faulty. The sponge (wick?) material supplied with the boat looks very likely to assist the ingress of water rather than exclude it. I didn’t fit that sponge and instead fitted a closed cell type door draught exclusion foam material that looks like it will do the job for now. I will be sailing in fresh water (we are 600km from the sea) and won’t do any heavy weather sailing until I am more confident in my abilities with the boat. I have sailed 1:1 scale for 50 years, but I will still have lots to learn from the little boat. Meanwhile I will start working on a different hatch cover. I rather like the sliding design that was in the SeaWind Express article a while back. I think a CD cover might work well.