it directly in the water like a sack of
potatoes to see how big a splash you can
make, or very gently set it in the water,
as is the case most of the time with
electric boats. You can heave it for all
you are worth to get it up on plane right
away or you can chuck it a little, and hit
the throttle, and water everyone down on
the beach. You can even throw it in nose
first, and turn it into a submarine and
hope it comes to the surface quickly, and
doesn’t peter out. Or you can throw it in
so it hits tail first and dies on the spot.
The object is to make the perfect throw,
hit the throttle and there we go!
Now that the boat is in the water and
running, to the right or left of the course,
you get ready for the run-up to the
timing lights. You circle your boat to
position it so that it is in the middle of
the course, in a straight line. At least it
looks like the middle of the course from
where you are standing! At this time the
CD, who is in charge of the timing light,
computer and record keeping, quietly
and anxiously is waiting for the boat to
make a blazing run through both sets of
clocks. Is waiting, is waiting, ooopppps!
Another setup circle, almost, now here
we go! As the boat hits the first set of
timing lights and breaks the infra-red
beams you yell at the top of your lungs
“Timing!”
Now, many things can and do happen
at this moment in time. You can run in
the middle of the course and break the
exit set of infra-red timing beams, which
will now give you a reading of the
seconds and mph on the timing box and
computer. The CD yells “Back it up” if
Continued on page 16
PROPWASH
April 2012
15
sharpened, and balanced, and then
tweaked some more! One you might
have just set a record on.
And then you let your competitor
borrow that same prop to see if he can up
the record you just set! You might take a
motor out of your own boat and give it to
someone else to help them achieve their
goal. Or give some pointers to someone
who is having difficulties. It’s called
“
Team Work
”
of which there is a lot of,
at this Straight Line Event!
Everyone that comes to this event is
of this very mind set. From the very first
time model boater who has been
practicing on the weekends on the heat
racing course and wants to see how fast
he can make his new boat go to the
seasoned model boater who has set many
records and is back, to up his own
record, or to break someone else’s
record.
You see you have to be very
confident in your ability to make remote
controlled boats go extremely fast in a
straight line! That’s why everyone is
here, to test their ability, to make the
perfect one way pass, and then back it up
with another perfect one way pass, going
in the opposite direction!
You can only as they say “Be all you
can be!” if you get your record beat and,
you strive to work harder, learn by
mistakes, go out and test, and beat your
own record the next time!
Now to the record. The object is to
launch, your straight line boat to either
the right, or left of the course. Everyone
has a preferred direction they like to start
with!
You have many ways in which to
launch a straight line boat, you can drop
trouble at home! From the time the
kitchen is set up until the lunch bell is
ringing,
it never amazes me how many
times a different model boater will
casually stroll by and ask,
“
Is it lunch
yet?
”
The Straight line course consists of a
stretch of water 330 feet in length and
450 feet wide from island to bank, set
between four permanent infra-red lights,
two lights cemented into the water next
to the island, with the other two
counterparts directly opposite them on
the beach, making two invisible beams
across the course. The course has been
surveyed to make sure it is a legal
NAMBA course as only a surveyed
course can be a legal NAMBA SAW
course.
The timing part of the course has a
run-up on either side of it of 750 feet, a
total of 1,830 feet in length. The course
was moved and surveyed again in 2006.
This provided an equal 750 feet of run-
up space on either side of the timing
section of the course.
Now starts the fun! It’s around 6:30
a.m. to 7:00 a.m. It looks like tent city
at Legg Lake, and the set-up is finally
all done. All you can see when you look
around you is bent heads, as 15 to 20 or
more model boaters are completely
concentrating on the day’s event ahead
and the record accomplishments they
are sure they will achieve.
It doesn’t matter if you are running
nitro, gas or electric boats we are all a
family, even though there is fierce
competition at this event there is also
camaraderie and a willingness to help
one another even if it means pulling a
really “go fast” prop off of your boat.
One that you have tweaked and
The satellite map above illustrates the
direction of the course set up
Darin Jordon from District Eight is
ready to “set” a FE rigger on the water
Don Maher has raced SAW’s for many
years. A closer look and you will see the
record shields he proudly displays