Page 14 - March/April 2019 Kwasind

RC BOAT RACING AT THE BOAT SHOW
Andreas and Mattias Koechli
How we got into RC boat racing
As thirteen year old optimist sailors on the RCYC race team, we love sailing. Sailing is the best thing that has ever happened to us in our lives. We both have an urge to try new things and when we found radio controlled (RC) sailboat racing, we knew it was for us. The RCYC
has short mini regattas on Thursday nights in the pool at the city location. All the sailors put up fans around the pool, set up marks and start racing. The boats we use are Dragon Force 65’s which are 65cm long. This program is a lot of fun and it helps you learn some of the techniques that you can apply on real boats.
At the boat show
This past week, we as a radio controlled sailing fleet, attended the Toronto Boat Show. We got an opportunity to sail our Dragon Force 65’s in their indoor lake. The indoor lake was built over the Marlies hockey ice surface. The ice was melted and a very thick plastic sheet was laid down and filled with water.
Most of the sailors at this boat show event were RCYC members, but there were a couple of pros from different yacht clubs who attended all five nights of racing. The competitors stylized their boats really well and it was wicked. In total there were probably 15-20 boats who attended. There was also a rescue boat which was our dad in a pedal-powered kayak. In each of those five nights there were about five to seven races. There was a small audience in the bleachers. Many of them
probably had no idea what was happening except for the relatives of our fleet.
On Thursday night, the three participating optimist sailors got the three top positions in the same race. They were:
Andreas Koechli / “2 Cool 4 Pool” (1)
Mattias Koechli / “Pool Again” (2) and Angus McTavish (3).
The RC boating community is very friendly and accepting of us younger sailors and we both suggest that you join it for it is a place where the young and the experienced can race together. Also congratulations and thanks to all of the sailors who attended, it made a huge difference.
A big shout out to Jennifer Farrand for the excellent commentating for all five nights and to Erik Tulk who helped by providing colour commentary on the last night.
Top & Bottom Right: RC boat racing at the Toronto Boat Show. Middle Left: Andreas and Mattias Koechli. Photos: Courtesy of Andreas and Mattias Koechli.
14
MARCH/APRIL 2019 • KWASIND
SAILING