Retired Chaps Take Control

Ruthless RC Sailors

Ruthless RC Sailors

Ruthless RC Sailors

Ruthless RC Sailors

Ruthless RC Sailors

Feature image is of Mr Tony Bennett.

Strategists, their fingers hovering at the ready over the switches and buttons. Switches and buttons which could wipe out the ‘enemy’ with just a couple of neatly synchronised flicks.

It’s ruthless. Behind the focussed eyes and pursed lips, the guile and cunning of the seasoned competitors quick dispatch any brash bravado from an upstart.

It’s a battle that’s been going nearly 20 years, although some of the key players have changed. But the gentlemanly language of the jousters wafts across the water in stark contrast to the invectives bleated out in staccato tirades by some real life sailors.

For these are the RC sailors where RC is an acronym for ‘radio controlled’ but (equally aptly, could be for “retired chaps”).

They campaign their sailing matches around local lakes, ponds, wading pools, creeks, harbours and rivers. Clive Brooks and Edouard Cowell, are club pioneers and sail vane powered yachts. The present-day commodore, John McLachlan explains: “You had a steering vane on the stern and you would set the rigging up so that it would sail away from you. Then you would walk around to the other side of the pond, pick it up, turn it around and set it up to sail back again.” They have 43 members and hold several competitions every year: The Club Championship; the J. L. Sullivan Memorial Trophy which is a handicap event; two Clive Brooks Trophy events and the Commodore’s Cup with seasonal series of scratch and handicap races.

Many of the members have real life sailing experience, others don’t. But the competitive passion is consistent across the two enclaves. Exactly the same rules of racing which apply to big yachts, apply to these International One Metre class speedsters.

There are strict class rules on mass, total sail area, keel depth and other calculations relating to their dimensions.

Jack Ford is the oldest member at 86 years. “I began sailing in 2001” he said. “I’ve built 24 boats – none of them much bloody good, but I’m still trying.” It takes Jack between three weeks and a month to build one of the yachts.

Commodore McLachlan provides another insight: “Jack was sitting here one day saying ‘I can’t see my boat’ and that’s a common cry because someone else might be in your way. And then Jack said it again. We looked over and his eyes had rolled back and he was flat on his back having a heart attack.”

Tough business this radio controlled sailing, but thanks to immediate attention from his mates and a fast ambulance, Jack pulled through.

The IOM class RC yachts are sailed internationally. There are state championships, national championships and world titles conducted every second year. Last year, Queensland hosted the national titles in an event that drew 85 competitors. And while offshore racing yachts might have a mishap from time to time with a whale or sunfish, the IOM RC yachts also have been known to wrestle with outside forces of nature.

It has been known for a bird to take perch on one of the yachts, perhaps a little discourteous given that a championship battle might be at stake or that the yachts can cost several thousand dollars …