By LEN BOSE
So where do offshore sailors go when they retire from heading out to sea? I still fill most of my sailing calendar with Harbor 20 sailing, but I still wanted to fill the void from not heading out to sea any longer. Enter remote control (RC) sailboat racing which is perfect for me by finding a fleet that I feel I can be competitive in.
Now that I am head deep into the Volvo 70 RC boat, I am noticing the past and the long history of our harbor with RC sailboat racing. The first name that comes to mind is Lloyd “Swede” Johnson. I first recognized Swede’s name while I was a member of the Balboa Yacht Club on the Hall of Fame Wall. Swede was known for his sail making skills with Baxter & Cicero along with all the time he spent on the water as a volunteer with the race committee setting the marks on the race course. Swede also was known as a model boat maker and RC boat designer with more than five well-known RC boat designs.
Another person I had watched for many years sail RC boats was Rod Swift best known for the time he worked for Willard Marine in Costa Mesa. If I recall Swift and about five or six of his friends would sail off the docks at Viking Port on Friday mornings in the Mini RC boat class.
Swift also sailed Harbor 20s for a long period of time. I would ask him about the RC boats, and he would always smile and tell me to come on down.
While doing some research, I learned that there used to be a very active class of RC boats that raced off the docks of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club on Tuesday nights. The class was called the Newport 12 Meter and became very popular. I checked in with Skip Elliott, from Elliott Patterson sails. He told me the main person promoting the fleet was Jeff Farwell. “It was back in the 1960s Farwell got me to finish my boat. We used to have six boats show up every Tuesday night. The thing I remember about the 12s is that they sailed well in light and heavy breeze. One had to practice their depth perception and avoid missing the marks or running into someone. The RC sailing is a unique thing, it’s fun!,” Elliott said.
There is a long history of RC sailboat classes sailing at the William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine. For more information, go to www.ocmsc.org for the different types of boats and when they are sailing. I have joined up with the Volvo 70 class, a Volvo 70 RC sailboat is a scaled-down model of the Volvo Open 70 designed for the Volvo Ocean Race. In 2012, Steve Ford found this class and started making the boats in Huntington Beach. The fleet has jumped around from Long Beach and Newport Dunes to Mason Regional Park.
I jumped into the fleet without even testing the waters when I heard people like Steve Beck, Chuck Simmons, Brad Wheeler, Kerry Deaver, Jim Sears plus many other sailors from Newport Beach are active racers. When I purchased my boat, Chris Killian and Gene Elliot had also recently joined.
The learning curve has been most challenging, but like my father always told me “you don’t get something for nothing.” My first two times on the water I felt like taking a Louisville slugger to the boat after a day of racing. I sent this note to the fleet captain to be posted on the fleet’s Facebook page. “Hull #71 is Sponsored by Bose, after an excruciating update, the new owner has goals of finishing all 10 races this Sunday?” After the update, I have continued the learning curve with an understanding of why we secure the battery pack, and how to bind the transmitter and receiver together. I spent a lot of time walking around the lake, along with doing the two-step boogie getting my feet out of the water to avoid the snapping turtles and telling the participants that Boat #71 is out of control. “Confidence is high that we will achieve our goals this weekend,” I said. With two Wednesday night practices between high point regattas, I am now concerned that the booms topping lift will wrap around a spreader this Sunday. After this last month’s sailing, I have slowly been able to work my way up the ladder by finishing all 10 races last Sunday. Now I need to focus on my driving skills, along with judging distance from a ways away. I had four good races going in the top part of the race, then undershot the mark or hit the mark sending me to the back of the fleet.
The fleet sails at Mason Park on the second Sunday of every month. Anyone is welcome to watch, but don’t be surprised if participants hand you the controls. I am enjoying the competition and even more so the people I am sailing against. I will be at the lake practicing every chance I can get. Please contact me if you are interested in the RC Volvo 70 RC boats at boseyachts@mac.com.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.
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