Anyone interested in getting a group of midwest softwater sailors together to form an upper midwest R/C ice boat/land yacht class?
Several of us are kicking around a winter building effort of the Class III size boats. It’s a box rule with length, width and mast height limited. Everything else is open.
Interestingly, I got a positive response from several at work who declined softwater boats, so thought I would mention it here. Will also “DUMP” a load on Bill Korsgard, as he “seems” to be the co-ordinator (or is that instigator?) up here in an effort to sell his idea. He is running a “sort-of” list server with emails for interested persons, and we are looking for “Do-ers” willing to put in the time and effort to build.
Now, these are a long way from monohull (or multihull) sailboat hull complexity being basically a “T” shape with roller blade wheels, a mast and main sail, and two channels - steering and sail control.
Right now, Bill is in Madison Wisconsin, Tony Johnson is promoting up here in Minneapolis, and John Kuhn is in Bay City Michigan. Any takers from Illinois (Chicago) area - or lower left corner/bottom of Michigan or upper part of Ohio or Indiana? How about Iowa, or the Dakotas? Obviously anyone is welcome, but it seems we have a group of interested people up this way to make it a fun group.
I am right on the edge at the moment, and a few committed others would really get this idea off the ground. Any “snow-birds” could sharpen their land sailing skills this winter in their “warmer” locations.
Dick is right, the landyachts/iceboats are much less complex than the normal rc sailboats and much faster also. There are some built as simply as a rear crossbar with a wood backbone for the main body and of course servo’s, batteries, and a sail to carbon fiber bodies [:-bigeyes]. Plenty of speed and lots of thrills! If you enjoy a good race, we are working on gathering those from the midwest (or wherever) to do some wheel to wheel racing. Who knows, maybe local races in your area and for sure a midwest regatta in the fall. Fall since many of us are Great Lakes sailors or lake sailors, we need time for spring and fall prep, not to mention summer sailing. Bill, Tony, and myself all have web sites, they are: Bill’s - http://www.iceboat.org/RCBoats/rc%20boats.htm Tony’s - http://iceboats.tripod.com/ and mine - http://www.baycityrclandsailors.com/index.html. These will give you an idea what we are all about. Give us a look, I think you’ll like what you see! John
[:-banghead]<font color=“purple”><font size=“2”>John</font id=“size2”></font id=“purple”>, you may need to check your link. The first two worked fine but your baycity link comes up for me as an error 404?
What a good post, lots of inspiring stuff.
I shall go and photograph my land yacht and post it here just to keep the interest up.
<font color=“blue”><font size=“3”>Good Work.</font id=“size3”></font id=“blue”>
[:-captain][:-jump][:-pirate]
Dick,
Thanks for the “promo”. When people see the speed of these things, it’s hard not to get addicted.
I’d like to congratulate Tony Johnson for setting a new speed record of 33.9 mph on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. Good going Tony! Watch out, though, John Kuhn & I are busy getting our own programs ready to claim even higher speeds. I see no reason why these things can’t break the 40 mph barrier. One limiting factor may be ability to resist sideslip on the ice, but we’re working on hardened tool steel for ice runners.
Ian,
I’m glad to hear of another sailor from NZ into rc landyachting, as I know you guys do alot of beach sailing & hosted the PACRIM this past year on the North Island. Also, a full contingent of blokes made their way to Ivanpah last March & made a big impression with the Blokarts. A couple of your countrymen are active on the IRCSSA (www.ircssa.org) Yahoo forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IRCSSA/ )
I’d love to see some pictures of what you’re doing.
Regards,
Bill K
AMYA 11052
ODOM 217
IRCSSA US 66
[:-captain]No sooner said than done, <font color=“navy”><font size=“2”>SIR.</font id=“size2”></font id=“navy”>
I was fortunate a couple of weeks ago to be taken out land yachting by my friend Paul Dodge who owns a <font color=“purple”><font size=“2”>BLOKART</font id=“size2”></font id=“purple”>. Man what a thrill![:-jump2] The wind was around 15-18 knots which gave me a top speed around 40 KPH. [:-party]That feels really fast when your backside is only a couple of inches above the sand. I had one huge run of about five kilometres after getting the hang of things.[:-pirate] I had tipped up within the first 20 metres which was a bit embarrassing, but it was good to get that out of the way early.[:-dunce]
The whole experience turned me back on to my R/C land yacht which had been put aside after some early disappointments. My first version had the rig to far forward and simply blew over at the least excuse. Mark II was going to be reversed with one wheel at the back and the wide axle at the front.[:-bulb] That didnt happen because after looking at pictures on the net I moved the rig back and whilst I have not yet been out for a real test it does seem to be more stable.[:-scared][img]../forum1/images/speech/icon_speech_ok.gif[/img][img]../forum1/images/speech/icon_speech_wow.gif[/img] Time will tell, I may have over done it we will see. I am also building a smaller rig to cope with our high winds. The link will take you to my photo site to view the model and a full size Federation 5 class and a BLOKART hurtling along the beach where I sailed. Remember it is only a prototype so its a bit mickey mouse. Don`t be to hard on me.[:-tophat]
[:-banghead]<font color=“purple”><font size=“2”>John</font id=“size2”></font id=“purple”>, you may need to check your link. The first two worked fine but your baycity link comes up for me as an error 404?
<hr height=“1” noshade id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”></font id=“quote”>
Ian,
He just got an extra “.” in the link. This one works fine:
[:-captain][ Remember it is only a prototype so its a bit mickey mouse. Dont be to hard on me.[:-tophat]
Ian,
I think you’re off to a very good start. After all, that’s what prototypes are all about. Innovation is hindered by trying to arrive at a finished design too soon. My only suggestion would be to move the battery pack aft, as that will greatly increase your righting moment. In fact, as Will G has mentioned, most of us use some sort of ballast when the wind pipes up. Your righting moment arm will be a line drawn between the Cg & a perpendicular line drawn from the imaginary line connecting the front & rear wheel, hence the best mass is aft (no pun intended).[:-bonc01]
December 31, 2004 - White Bear Lake (Minnepolis/St. Paul) USA - two NITE Class iceboats… Check out the videos… and if they don’t work - go to the TV web page and click on the links under the photo.
THEN - you warmer climate guys will understand why some of us refer to ice boats as the “crack of the sailing world”! [:D][:D][:D]
Dick,
Thanks for the great video, it starts to give a hint of what the experience is like[:-jump] [:-jump2] [:-jump] [:-jump2]
Congratulations to Tony Johnson, Lake Minnetonka Minnesota, for setting a new rc iceboat speed record of 36 mph yesterday [:-party] [:-party]. My own attempt came in at 35.3 mph.
A couple of us are building new “supersized” platforms with the intention of breaking the 40 mph “barrier”. These things literally make a howling sound when powered up, and the thrill is addictive, so be careful lest you find yourself needing a 12 step program [:-bigeyes] [:-bigeyes] [:-bigeyes]