Your heart pounds as much as the
model boater that is standing at the bank,
with shaking hands, knocking knees and
chattering teeth, with the transmitter
antenna waving in the wind
.
And I am
asking myself “what wind?” But if you
were to ask about the waving antenna,
and knocking knees, and chattering teeth
all you would get is “Who Me!”
“I was not nervous!”
The bank is suddenly lined with
model boaters dropping what they were
previously concentrated on yelling
straighten up that line, watch out for the
island! Like George of the Jungle “Don’t
go in that tree!” Everyone watching
intently, and secretly wishing either
“come on make it go faster, or please
dump your boat, and don’t break my
record!”
When a two way pass has been made
with a record set, it is with a lot of
smiling, yelling, pats on the back, and
comments of “that’s awesome and
congratulations buddy!”
These are all comments that I am sure
you will here much of, at this straight
line event throughout the day.
I have even seen grown men hug each
other, jump up and down and then chest
bump each other! What a sight that is!
Then everything calms down and it is
back to normal, with bent heads, allot of
concentration and waiting for perfect
water to end a perfect day. Eventually it
gets too dark to run, though there are still
model boaters lined up on the bank
waiting for their turn to put their boats
on that perfect glassy water, end of the
day run! This is when I sit at the clock
and pray to myself
,
and
I say self
because these guys are nuts! The Island
monster is going to reach out and touch
some one!
I know if I’m having a hard time
seeing the boat, which is just a black
shadow on a black pond,
then I know the
person trying to run the boat is “Running
by Brail!”
Well all the records are set for the
day, and it’s time to pack up, put
everything away, except the easy-ups
and chairs, because you know you are
going to show up the next morning to do
it all again.
Another day of more hopes
and dreams, and maybe some
disappointments too.
PROPWASH
16
April 2012
Straight Line Events And Their Record Holders
(Continued from page 15)
you have just broken a record, or the CD will let you know if you are close to breaking
a record. You can turn your boat into an airplane, and coast just over the top of the exit
timing light, and not get or have a good time. You can peter out, in between the lights,
or watch your boat go end over end, like a gymnast and come to a stop in one or more
pieces. Or if you are real inventive you can see how hard you can bury your boat at the
tip of the island that has just, “reached out to touch somebody!” You can even try to
mow down the reeds in front of you and bury your boat into the beach! And you could
have sworn that you were driving in a straight line this whole time!
It is at this time that you realize that everyone on the beach has been yelling at the top
of their lungs
“
straighten it up!” And we all know what happens when you make a
straight line remote controlled boat go left: It isn’t happening!
What you are very much hoping to do is to make a one way perfect pass, and
immediately back it up, with another perfect one way pass. Both passes are recorded
in the computer and then written down. You then use the Straight Line formula to
average both back to back passes, and there you have it, a new Straight Line record.
The SAW formula:
Seconds + Seconds = Total Seconds
Total Seconds divided by 2 = Total Time
225 divided by Total Time = MPH
Example:
1
st
Pass: 2.273 seconds +
Back-up Pass: 2.210 seconds =
4.483 Total Seconds
4.483 Total Seconds divided by 2 = 2.242 Total Time
225 divided by 2.242 Total Time = 100.357 MPH
It’s a wonderful thing to sit at the clock and time a one way pass, and yell “Back it
up!” This little sentence when it is yelled, because you have to yell it to be heard over
the scream of the boat engine that has just flown by you at ump-teen gazillion miles
per hour. It is the sentence that all straight line participants are waiting to hear!
Some of the fastest of the Fast Electrics boaters. Tyler Garrard, Brian Buaas,
Jay Turner, and Boyd Marshall