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Sea-nic Boat Racing

If you ever find yourself at Lake Crabtree County Park around lunchtime on a Saturday, be on the lookout for a mini regatta on the lake, complete with remote-controlled sailboats racing around a buoy-marked course and the unmistakable thrill of competition in the air. Although it’s fun to watch skippers skillfully navigate these beautiful boats on the water, the Triangle Model Yacht Club takes their racing season — which starts in March and ends in November — very seriously.

“Our club is structured like other yacht clubs, it’s just that our yachts are small,” said Sam Harris, the club’s current commodore. “We’re associated with the American Model Yacht Association, and from a rules perspective, we follow the governance of US Sailing.”

Cothran Harris, a US Sailing judge from Wilmington, removes his yacht from the lake during a race on Lake Crabtree.

The boats are pretty incredible to look at, but they aren’t toys — each one is simply a scaled-down version of an Olympic-caliber yacht (so don’t promise your 5-year-old that he can join in)! The club races a different class of boats every week to ensure that no boat has an edge during the competition.

One of the largest and best-organized classes.
59″ long and weighs about 25 pounds.
Attracts experienced skippers and offers plenty of top-shelf competition.
45″ long and weighs between 12 and 13 pounds.
Fast and responsive, with the ability to turn in a little more than a boat length.
Built from an inexpensive kit.
Has similar adjustments to the EC-12, but is smaller, simpler, and easier to manage.
32″ long and weighs 4.5 pounds.
Simplicity and durability make the Laser a good choice for beginners, or anyone who wants to race without complication.
Easy to sail, but challenging to race.
42″ long and weighs 9 pounds.

DragonFlite 95

Delivers a “race-ready” experience.
Designed to be a convenient size, on and off the water.
Has astonishing speed downwind.

“We have one combined fleet, the Star 45s and the EC-12s — or what we call the big boats — and they race one weekend,” said Tom Rummage, currently the Victoria Fleet captain and an officer of the club. “We have a fleet called the DragonFlite 95, which has its own week. Victoria has its own week, which I race. Then we have the RC Laser. So we have a total of five classes of boats, but we only race four weekends because of the overlap.”

The fifth week is what’s called an open weekend, and during that time anyone can race whatever they want, purely for enjoyment. Although racing takes place, no one keeps score, and club members often use this time to encourage spectators to give it a try.

“On an open day, it would be very easy for us to host a newcomer or a guest, put a transmitter in their hands, and to let them take a boat out on the water,” said Harris. “We actually encourage new people to come out, and we’re very supportive of someone who hasn’t sailed before. We want new people to try the sport — and it is a sport.”

Although there is no minimum age requirement to join the club, younger children tend to get frustrated with the skill and concentration required to race. Plus, the boats are never fast enough for their liking.

“The concentration and situational awareness required to race starts around 12,” said Rummage. “But for people who are interested in sailing, this is an excellent way to learn how the boat works, and you don’t have to go and spend thousands of dollars to do it.”

Model yachts may also capture the interest of anyone who is into electronics, robotics, or simply likes to build things. Quite a few members enjoy building, sailing, and selling boats in their free time.

Tom Rummage uses his remote control to test his RC Laser.

“There are plenty of people within the model yachting hobby whose enjoyment comes from building detailed, perfect models, but the focus at Triangle Model Yacht Club is racing, not model-building,” said Rick Ferguson, a previous commodore and fleet captain.

Club members are always happy to recommend a used boat or a kit with easy assembly and good starting capability. They also mentor newcomers, providing coaching and guidance as they learn. Both Harris and Rummage have a lifetime of experience, having raced full-sized sailboats since they were children.

“I’ve been involved with radio-controlled sailing for about 12 years, but I’ve been sailing in general since I was in sixth grade,” said Harris. “I grew up doing this, but we also cover the other end of the spectrum. Being a lifelong sailor is certainly helpful, but it’s not a requirement to come out and enjoy this and give it a try.”

Triangle Model Yacht Club members Gerry Cobley (pointing) and Scott Allred race their model yachts remotely from the shore.

For those interested, information about classes of boats, a racing calendar, and scores for the season can all be found on the club’s website. Outside of the regularly scheduled Saturday races, from 10 a.m. to noon at Lake Crabtree, special events are scheduled elsewhere throughout the season. They present a great opportunity to compete with and meet sailors from other clubs — and ultimately, get better.

When asked what they enjoy most about racing model boats, both Harris and Rummage had similar answers — the love of being outdoors and in the sun, the thrill of the competition, and freedom from an entire (exhausting) day of racing full-size yachts.

“With my model sailboat, I can get up at 8 a.m., be at the lake by 8:30, race until noon, and still mow the grass that afternoon,” said Rummage with a laugh.

Whether you’re a parent of a small child who would enjoy watching an 8-foot-tall sailboat on the water, a left-brained teenager with an interest in engineering, or a seasoned sailboat racer, Saturday mornings at Crabtree have a little something for everyone. Hey, whatever floats your boat!

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Meet the group that races scaled-down yachts on Lake Crabtree

by Ayn-Monique Klahre | photography by Travis Long

At the blare of the horn, eight-foot-tall remote-controlled sailboats speed past each other around Lake Crabtree, tacking left and right to finish a course marked by buoys. These boats are not toys, and their pilots aren’t kids: these are to-scale models of Olympic-caliber yachts, steered with all the finesse you’d find in a full-size race. “It’s the same kind of racing you see at the regattas around the country, except scaled down—and of course, the sailor is not on the boat!” laughs Rick Ferguson, a former commodore of the club, who’s been a member for about 12 years.

On Sunday mornings from March through November, you’ll find Ferguson among about a dozen others setting sail on area lakes as part of the Triangle Model Yacht Club. It’s actually one of the older clubs in the country—the most famous one meets in New York City’s Central Park—and it attracts mostly middle-aged-to-older men, tinkerers and ex-athletes. “We welcome new members of any age or gender—since most of us are of retirement age, recruitment is important!” says Ferguson. “And we are more than willing to help a total novice learn the ropes if they want to race.”

The spirit is one of friendly competition and camaraderie, the kind that builds over years of spending Saturday mornings shoulder to shoulder with like-minded folks. “It’s a test of skill and strategy,” says current commodore Michael Roberson. “Everybody has a similar boat, the same lake and the same wind, so the winner is whoever does the best job of getting to the starting line first and racing around the course the fastest. It’s mentally challenging.”

There are two ways to win: by sailing faster, and by using the wind to sail a shorter course. Most participants have raced full-size boats in the past—Roberson grew up sailing on Kerr Lake—and say that model yacht racing is surprisingly similar to being on the boat itself. “If it’s going really right and everything’s good, you feel it, if it hits a wave or slows down, you feel it,” says Roberson. The club is not about modeling or boat building—though some members do that, too—it’s about competition. “If there wasn’t racing involved, I wouldn’t enjoy it as much—it would be just sailing around in circles,” says member Chase Thomas. “Racing gives you a reason to be there, it accelerates learning, and it scratches a competitive itch,” Ferguson says. The club races four classes of boats: EC12, Star 45, Victoria and RC Laser. In a two-hour session, they’ll usually have eight races, each about ten to 15 minutes long. “That’s one of the coolest things—that you can have a ton of races,” says Roberson. Beyond the weekly races, the group hosts regional and national regattas, and travels to other clubs for regattas.

The club races three seasons a year, with the best sailing in the fall (“Summer is sort of a drifting contest,” says Ferguson). “If you’re interested in sailing, it’s an easy and inexpensive way to experience all the intricacies of racing without spending thousands on a boat,” says member Gerry Cobley. Beyond that: “It’s a fun way to spend a morning,” he says. “Even if you don’t understand it, it’s a beautiful sight to see these boats moving across the water.”

View video footage of the race here .