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2024 NEWS
July
Club 500 - two rounds this month, round 4 at the start of July and round 5 on our Charity day. Only six competitors raced. Exciting stuff with Colin leading by just 3 points at the moment... one more round to go in September.
June
SMBC Open day, on June 23rd, was a popular all day event.
Luckily we had some decent weather for the day. We were joined for the day by Luton & District Model Boat Club bringing along a variety of boats. As usual, we had some IC boats running in the morning, a Club 500 race (not part of the championship though) and the regular mix of craft on the water. There was a lot of public interest in the boats, with people watching the racing and some of the youngsters having a go with our come and try tugboats.
Club 500 round 3 was the first event of the month with some great racing, and an unfortunate sinking of one boat - fortunately near the ramp so it was easily recovered. We have a couple of the races on video - uploaded to our YouTube channel.
May - A busy month!
We held round 2 of club 500 championship, went to Stotfold Steam Fayre, Model Air at Shuttleworth and Model Boat Mayhem at Wicksteed Park... phew!
Round 2 of the club 500 championships was a lively affair with a few casualties on the water. Jim Pallet came 1st overall this time and is in close contention for the overall leadershi. Newcomer Ethan performed a bit better this round coming 6th out of 10 competitors, but is still near the bottom of the table overall.
Championship results from this and previous years
Stotfold Steam Fayre
This was a busy weekend but well attended by club members and a lot of interest shown by the public. Our giant pool had some 'come and try' tugboats which were very popular with youngsters (and their parents) We have a 5 minute video of the event on YouTube
Shuttleworth ModelAir
This was a first visit to this event - aimed at bringing more interest to the model aircraft flying over the grass runway, by having model boats on the nearby lake. It's quite a large lake and ideal for our faster ic boats as the place to stand gives an excellent view of boats at all times. Plenty of wind for yacht sailing too. Several other local clubs turned up to make a great event. I believe there's another one in July... We have a 15 minute video of the event on YouTube
Model Boat Mayhem
Another fun year at Wicksteed Park for the annual Model Boat Mayhem. Lots to see over 2 days at the UK's biggest model boat sailing event. Scale boats, yachts, hovercraft, submarines and an excellent demo of ic boats / fast electric from our club members. We have a 21 minute video of the event on YouTube
April - Club 500 Championship starts
And they're off!
Club 500 championship got off to a good start this month with sufficient boats / drivers to split the heats into 2 groups. Everyone managed to make it to the finish line, so it looks like we will have some good racing over the next few months...
Championship results from this and previous years
March - Smallest boat?
Is this the smallest powered boat we have had at the lake? Built by Simon, this is a free-runner... no radio control. It has a tiny helicopter motor pushing it forwards in not such a straight line! We took some video of it...
February - Sunday sessions
Once the ice cleared and the weather improved, the Sunday sessions have been well attended, with plenty for the public to come and watch. The club has acquired a couple of collapsing barriers to section off the pit area for IC boat prep and launch. Our first Youtube video of the year is available on Youtube now...
The Events page for 2024 is partially complete, with the addition of the Club 500 Race dates for the 6 sessions. Unfortunately Wings & Wheels has been cancelled for this year, but there's plenty more going on!
February - New Tech???
Probably not the first time we have seen FPV boats at the lake, but becoming more often - Camera and radio link back to shore where the driver wears an FPV headset and sees things as if he were sat on the boat... more on this in the future I'm sure
February - new IC boats
A couple of new IC boats at the lake this Spring... see them in action on our YouTube channel -
January - Winter slowdown
This is usually the coldest time of the year, with few people sailing on the lake. In fact the lake has been frozen over on a number of days, providing an opportunity for the ducks to practice their skating and the local youf to throw sticks / branches onto the lake.
SMBC Annual General Meeting was held late January, when it was impossible to sail on the lake as it was frozen over. The geese were there as usual, ice skating.
At the AGM, a couple of changes to the club officers Dave Grey, chairman for the last few years decided to step down and Andy Nightingale was elected as chairman. Paul Warner has taken over as Safety Officer. Other members stay as before - Trevor as Deputy Chair, Jeff on Events, Ian as Secretary, Keith as Treasurer, Steve on Media / Website, Simon on Lake watch.
Chris Balmforth was awarded the Club 500 Championship for 2023 with consistent racing through the year.
There was the usual 'bring & buy' sale of boats and bits. And tea!
YouTube Video Channel...
Don't forget to check out our channel on YouTube to see some of our boats in action... we usually have a new video every couple of weeks.