How Many People Race Their Boats??

[sailr]

Wow! What a ride! Beautiful!

I definately don't mind using my boats... I have 2 that are reserved as "don't bring em out unless everything is just right"... but all my other boats I bought with the intention to use.... if they get hit or broke... then I guess I probably had fun doing it... I got this idea instilled in me from my father... he has 5 antique/hot rods including this all metal 1948 chevy coupe with Lamborghini Orange/Harley Davidson Royal Purple exterior with matching leather interior, engine bay with color matched 383 supercharged stroker motor, and painted undercarriage.... and get this he drives it to and from the car shows and out to eat on Friday night.... people always ask him at the Car Shows what he uses to trailer it... he tells them he drives it.... and my father lives a couple miles out on a DIRT road.... hes always said "whats the sense of owning it if you don't dare to use it?" guess I followed in his footsteps... l've trashed a few RC boats... oh well, life goes on.... and boats can be repaired/replaced but the memories I've made running them can't be..... and just the thought of running side by side with other boats gets my blood boiling....

[dana]

ive definitely ran with other guys in my area. never actually raced but had up to 4 boats in the water at once, and i can say its crazy!!! speed really means nothing when everyone is just having a blast and trying not to run eachother over. it really makes you rethink how you drive your boat when you got others out there making waves and just trying not to flip over. but i will say, i enjoy the challenge of really using driving "skills" in this context, rather than just going for speed.

[NOZ69R]

We get a bunch of guys usually about 10, going down to the local dam every Saturday at 2pm to "play with ourselves"

There's a mixture of FE and big 26cc bangers and usually take it in turns for time on the water.

Only last week three of us 2 x Apparitions & 1 x Genesis actually had a bit of a race if you could call it that, what a BUZZ and got the heart racing. Until my bout lost its steering and the other Apparition ran over the top doing a 180 turn about 5" off the water..

The only damage was a chunk out of my canopy and a broken sacrificial nylon bolt on the others rudder.

One of the guys is currently talking to the local council about using a sediment pond when I say pond it is about 400 x 200 metres so more of a lake. The only thing is we need to form an official club to cover insurances.

Cheers

[Jeff]

Oh and I forgot to add if my mane don't get caught in the prop.... and something about my rusty 1972 ford pick-up only getting 4 miles to the gallon so I can't go far without more allowance....

[properchopper]

I'm liking this thread a lot - possibly, among other things, because it touches on the underlying concept that serious raceboats differ in many ways from sport runners, and setting up a boat for racing demands a different plan. What I'm getting at is that having a boat ready to compete, in most cases, requires building a boat from hull up. Of course there are exceptions - the Production classes and Spec classes as an example. Learning to build from a bare hull for entry-level boaters has become less a requirement now that there are so many "Racy-Looking" RtR's available. As little as five years ago, you either (fun)ran a Villian EX, Twinstorm, or pretty much had to build your own and learn the ropes. This proliferation of RtR's is a double edged sword [climbing up on my soapbox] . It opens the door to entry-level boaters as never before, but may slow down the progression to the hull-up build. I'll say this; modding a weak RtR is a learning experience in itself ( a path I've been on myself ) to the tune of almost two years to get my Twinstorm from 21 mph to 31 mph at about $ 30 / mph in the days of brushed motors and NIMH's. I don't regret that experience, but I sometimes wish someone would have kicked me in the a** and told me to dump the Twinnie & build a hull-up rig. Now the movement seems to be going in the direction of over-modding RtR's well past the point of their design limits. It's all good. ZSP/WTS boats may be fun, fun, but when the green flag drops, ......

[Jeff]

I usually build real formula one/indycars and stock cars and 1/4 mile dragsters in my garage. I then run them in the street in front of my house and dodge the nieghborhood children and dogs. Getting them up to 180 miles an hour in the hood is really hard, that's why I crash all ta time. I ten gets un da furums and askky all the help ta go fasstest and nut crash. I typa dis way cause my fingers is so crushed fum ateh hard work........


I have been at this rc boating thing for seven years. I have built 17 boats, some from scratch with my dad. I only have bought 1 rtr, it was a super v. Every boat I have built has been built to race and has competed. Some are retired now. Racing against others that follow the same rules helps improve everything you like about this sport. Whether it is building,painting,driving,tunning, working on props or following technology like lipo batteries and charger, programable esc's. It is all made better by competition. I have made great friends and have spent more time with my father all because I share this sport with them.

Jeff

[detox]

I voted NO, but I plan on racing in the future after I get my two boats ready. I have attended races and once had someone else race my UL-1 and win.

I am not a IMPBA member yet.


...

[Fluid]

We have 15-20 club race days a year, plus a minimum of two out-of-town regional races in mixed-format events. It is a huge amount of fun and a great learning experience for everyone, experienced racers or newbies.

I started racing at the local level years ago in Alaska - talk about a long trip to find other events! We thought we were pretty hot stuff - until a handful of us traveled to the APBA FE Nats in Seattle one year. What an eye opener, we were 'way behind the performance of the other guys. But we learned, and next year came back and won a dozen trophies plus the Team trophy. Since then I've traveled to a bunch of oval and SAW events all across the country. Go to an out-of-town event, it will improve your boating enjoyment.



.

[Jeepers]

I race 12 club events a year, plus race my FE boats against the nitro guys once or twice a year. For me though I like meeting people especially when they are from OSE or RRR thats what makes the racing fun.

[JMSCARD]

I only run solo. I have seen 3 other FE boats ever and they ran on "my" pond once each.
I am not really a competitive type and do not race as I would hate to have a collision and damage a boat, mine or the other guys.
I enjoy the design/build and tune as much or more than actually running them.
I find it relaxing in a weird way to run by myself and in fact am not even that keen on spectators.

Selfish ? maybe.
Eccentric ? Deffo !!

I definately don't mind using my boats... I have 2 that are reserved as "don't bring em out unless everything is just right"... but all my other boats I bought with the intention to use.... if they get hit or broke... then I guess I probably had fun doing it... I got this idea instilled in me from my father... he has 5 antique/hot rods including this all metal 1948 chevy coupe with Lamborghini Orange/Harley Davidson Royal Purple exterior with matching leather interior, engine bay with color matched 383 supercharged stroker motor, and painted undercarriage.... and get this he drives it to and from the car shows and out to eat on Friday night.... people always ask him at the Car Shows what he uses to trailer it... he tells them he drives it.... and my father lives a couple miles out on a DIRT road.... hes always said "whats the sense of owning it if you don't dare to use it?" guess I followed in his footsteps... l've trashed a few RC boats... oh well, life goes on.... and boats can be repaired/replaced but the memories I've made running them can't be..... and just the thought of running side by side with other boats gets my blood boiling....

[geodehunter]

I had to go with just playing with myself for now. As far as I know I am the only FE in the tri state area. That is West Central Ill, South East Ia, and North East Mo. Got an excellent place to run the boats just no people.

[Simon.O.]

I only run solo. I have seen 3 other FE boats ever and they ran on "my" pond once each.
I am not really a competitive type and do not race as I would hate to have a collision and damage a boat, mine or the other guys.
I enjoy the design/build and tune as much or more than actually running them.
I find it relaxing in a weird way to run by myself and in fact am not even that keen on spectators.

Selfish ? maybe.
Eccentric ? Deffo !!

[JMSCARD]

I live in Vermont.... so there are no clubs, racing, etc., really stinks too as I would love to get a chance to race my boats and gain the knowledge that you only do by racing.... even worse part is I have a bunch of boats I believe the following in my fleet would be eligible race boats.... I have 4 delta forces... the 29, 33, 41, Sniper, and a PT Stealth, and my new Woodstuff Tunnel, a titan 29, Mean Machine..... boy would I LOVE to race that tunnel!! I like to use my boats too.... not just look at them... so it really is terrible that we don't have more folks into the hobby here in VT... one of these days I am gonna take a trip and try and catch a race... one of these days.... of course I've been saying that for too long.....

So in the end I am one of the:

"No, just playing with myself most of the time :)"

It was worded that way on purpose

While bashing boats is always fun...only when racing with other similar setups do you get a feel for what "speed" really is and how to use it.

I guess I've been put off by one too many threads on the usual "gimme...gimmee..giimmeee more speed" topics.

Anyone who has not raced (even bashing boats with a friend would do) is missing out on something (I know there are lots of valid reasons people can't get to events).

We had an event this past weekend ....and side by side running at low40ish Mph on some 4S boats is really a blast..... where you start to forget about top speed and concentrate more on keeping lanes, water conditions, crossing rooster tails , not colliding , etc....its a whole different tangent of the hobby that a lot of pepole have no idea about.

Anyone can overprop/ over-voltage a set up and hit the throttle to go fast in a straight line. (No disrespect to the SAW guys intended, ).

If you can get to some event, even as a spectator, do it......you will soon see that the quest for "speed" is often overrated.

Then, get up enough guts to join in with your boats....see if you actually use all of that so called "speed".

Just my opinion........

[6S HYDRO]

Cats are where its at OHH YOU MEANT CATAMARANS

[Eodman]

We do both !!!!!

As far as the second choice --- Its mine and I can do whatever I want with it!!!!