RC Sailboat & Model Sailing Guide

Sean’s radio control Sailboat in Poulsbo, Washington 4th of July 2007

Duration : 0:0:14

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This article is written by George Steele and a kind contribution to this website. George has a strong passion for free sailing boats and I told him I could never write such a good article as he can on this topic – and so he did. You will find him in most RC Sailboat forum’s if you have any questions on this topic or contact me and I will forward your email.

Free sailing is a pleasant pastime to do with your grandchildren if you have the right pond.

Picture from U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group

It used to be pretty easy to buy a small wooden sailboat, sloop rigged was best (one hull, one mast, one large sail and one small triangular sail “up front.”) (Of course you could build one, but you would have to use your imagination and some luck to find a proper weight to fasten to the bottom of the wooden keel that you attached to the bottom of the boat. A good sized bolt would be good.)

The “right pond” was a medium sized one that you could walk around in 15 minutes or less and has solid banks without lots of reeds or cattails. A public park pond with stone or concrete edges would be good.
These boats could sail close hauled (heading about 45 degrees from the wind) or even directly across the wind- 90 degrees from the direction the wind came from), Usually the big sail behind the mast had a thin wooden “stick” attached to the bottom of the sail (and it was called a “boom.”) The string that was attached to the after (back) end of the boom was called the “main sheet” and you would adjust the boom so it stuck out maybe 30 degrees from the fore and aft centerline of the boat.

Now the “trick” about sailing well was to adjust the jib’s sheet so that the jib would not “luff” (shake) while the big (”main”) sail might just luff a little. With the sails adjusted properly the little boat would sail a pretty straight course across the pond.
Thus if the wind was blowing directly from North to South you could sail northeast or northwest. You could also adjust the sheets of the two sails so you could sail directly east or west. However, problems arose when you tried to sail further south, and you could not sail directly down wind.

Now this is NOT just something we did long ago. You can search on the web and find these boats for sale today. The only thing that has changed is the price! (Just as the price of a candy bar has jumped from five cents to a dollar.)

     Try it, you will enjoy it.

PS: If you want to know more the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group has a very detailed description on free sailing

PS PS: George gave me the book tip for people interested in building model sailboats, which provides as he explained a “more accessible and clear description of the ideas and methods of modern naval architects”
The book  is called “Yacht Design Explained …” by S. Killing & D. Hunter

I started out some time ago to find a magazine which brings me some good news and information on RC sailing and model building, product reviews etc.  99% of all RC Boat magazines I found are purely focused on electric and nitro powered boats. You can see it already on the cover of the magazine which never has a picture of any model sailboat. If by chance there is an article on a RC Sailboat it is more a side note than anything else.

Yes, some RC Sailboat clubs have their own magazines, but I like a magazine that has another view than just what I hear in my club. And having some professional writers who get paid to research and write for me certainly helps to find more interesting product reviews and tips to help me in my hobby.

After some frustrating search and subscriptions to magazines which didn’t deliver as suggested I stumbled over the Marine Modelling International. Imagine – a magazine that really looks after RC Sailboat fans! They even have a permanent monthly section called “Sail Free”. Just looking at their covers made it clear – 7 Model Sailboat pictures on the covers of the last 11 issues that is truly exceptional and shows what kind of readers they want to attract.

Some examples:

April 2009	February 2009	November 2008

Features for us:

• Monthly section just dedicated on RC Sailboat news
• Lots of Tips and Tricks to save you time and frustration
  (E.g. I loved the last edition article on racing with a scale sail model or the tips on the main workhorse – the servo)
• Lots of product reviews to save money before you purchase (I think I easily saved the subscription costs already here and in the tips which basically made it a free monthly magazine for me )
• FREE boat plans (got to love that )
• A lot of other stuff like upcoming events, reports from readers around the world etc.

Here you can even view the content of their RC Sailboat magazine:
(Example pages of December edition, flick to the 6th page to find their monthly “Sail Free” Section by click on the top or bottom left corner of the magazine)

One thing to mention: I found that it being an international magazine isn’t bad at all. Honestly the RC Sailboat market is small (especially compared to powered RC Boats) and a magazine needs to write on ideas and innovations from anywhere if I want to learn something new.

Before this sounds too much like a sales pitch, just check it out yourself. I just love it.

HEre you can get a subscription for North America Modeling Magazine

Here you can get a subscription for the UK Modeling Magazine

PS: Did I mention it also has a section for scale model builders (Yeah, I really like this magazine )

PS PS: Can’t wait to hold the next months magazine in my hands. Do you love the wonderful surprise in the mailbox every month, ripping open the package and disappearing just to emerge in your favorite hobby for a little bit as well? Or am I the only RC Sailboat weirdo like that

RC Sailboat stands for Remote Controlled Sailboat and is often also called a Model Sailboat.

RC Sailboats use the power of wind acting on their sails to propel the boat forward and are typically controlled by a radio transmitter. By manipulating the joysticks on the radio transmitter, radio signals are sent out and then received by the radio receiver on the boat. The receiver interprets the signals and controls accordingly the so called servos on the RC Sailboat. Those servos are battery powered electric motors which change the position of the rudder (steering the direction of the boat) and the position of the sails (allowing trimming the sails to the best location for the given direction the wind is blowing unto the RC Sailboat). In a very broad sense the operator can control through the radio transmitter the direction (via the rudder) and the speed (via the sails and strongly depending on the strength of wind) of the RC sailboat.

Types of RC Sailboats:

RC Sailboat Toys
These model sailboats are mainly made for kids. They are very easy to operate and usually control the sailboat only via a little propeller and not actually via the sail and rudder position. Their advantage is their simplicity and that they don’t rely on the wind (which means you don’t need to get your feet wet to get it back to shore or the edge of the pool. These RC Sailboats are good fun for the pool or a small pond. Example:

Dickie Spelzeug RC Sailboat

RC Model Sailboat
A Model sailboat or so called scaled model boat is a RC Sailboat made to the image of a particular sailboat type. Examples range from the great multi mast Schooners, Historic sailboats (see the Santa Maria) to models of the latest America cup race yachts or even a complete fantasy boat. The effort and pride of a model ship builder is to create a sailboat with the finest details matching the original boat or boat type they had in mind and make it look like a smaller version of the original. When saying “small” – these boats can be anything from a few inches to multiple feet long and include a whole range of features such as lights, sounds and even mini canon’s. There is a limitation to size vs. original measurements as RC Sailboats often have to deal with stronger winds and waves in ratio to their size compared to a full sized vessel, which can require changes to the hull, keel or the rigging of the sails.

AMYA RC Sailboat Schooners

Racing RC Sailboat
Racing RC Sailboats are made for one thing – speed. These sailboats are made from wood to high-tech material such as carbon fiber for masts. They range from just for fun RC Sailboats to specified classes defined by ISAF or individual RC Sailboat clubs. Well known classes are the International One Meter, RC Laser, Seawind or the Nirvana II. Example:

Megatech Nirvana II

RC Bottle Boat
Bottle Boats are the low cost and not so serious alternative in RC sailing. These RC Sailboats are mostly constructed from all kind of waste items such as plastic bottles for the hull and bin bags for sails.

British Model Yachting Association RC Bottleboat Race

I hope I could give you a broad understanding of what a RC Sailboat / RC Yacht is.

Go, get yourself a RC Sailboat and fly with the wind!