Ponds and creches

It may not be appropriate to a lot of people but it must apply to some.

A lot of problems appear to arise (particularly in the US) from a lack of ponds - or ponds with any wind. So, why not bigger lakes or the sea?

The answer of course is your poor little Footy sailing off iinto the distance, totally out of control, next stop Ireland/Japan/Wherever.

Many moons ago my father ran an Optimist fleet at Holyhead Sailing Club. It was convenient to run classes for very young kids without a rescue boat - but he (obvously) did not want them to behave like errant Footies.

Solution. Two concrete sinkers with eyebolts and hauking off lines (see Course Construction thread) dropped 50 metres off the beach. A piece of (floating) scrap car ferry mooring hawser attached to the hauling off lines in the middle and tied off on the beach at the ends.

Result: a play-pen for Optimists. If anything got out of hand - fights, disaters …-, all you had to do was pull in on one end and the whole shebang ended up on the beach.

Applicable to anyone?

It may be an idea which will work on some of the smaller large lakes Angus… if you can get putting anything in the water here past the DNR.

But on my big one… Michigan… erm no probably not. It often goes un-noticed that Sheboygan is the home of the "Dairyland Surf Classic’, the largest freshwater surfing competition in the world. (OK when you all stop laughing!) Which is pretty cool I think :rolleyes: The inference being that surfing needs surf… I love Lake Windermere, I was there last year again. But where dear old Windermere will just kinda sit and look at you, Michigan will eat you for breakfast!

Happily I think the lack of ponds may have been overstressed somewhere. While the younger parts of the USA do lack victorian parks and town ponds as we are used to in GB, there are many other types of pond here. Many midsize businesses have clean decent size ponds in the grounds. My nearby Plymouth tourist office has a nice pair of ponds. I understand that Florida housing developments typically have their own usually decorative run-off ponds. Apart from the very dry states I would imagine that there is a decent pond or small lake within a sensible drive of most places. It’s then all about finding one and making it happen.

There was no model boat group in Sheboygan until last September when an old Yorkshire mate listenned to me moaning about it and said… “well start one”… so I did http://www.mcallisterdesigns.com/sabm.htm Not a formal club with all those shinnanigans… just a group of skippers with a beautiful small lake, yes that is part of it in the background, Wood Lake, Kohler, WI. Go get it :slight_smile: !

Graham
USA10 Kittiwake #1

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