Find out the latest news from the lake
2025 news
September
Sept 27-28th – St Albans MES show – ‘Models that Move’
This was a great model show as usual with plenty to see for model makers and families too. It’s held every year in Townsend School, which provides a lot of space inside and out for different modellers. Outdoors there was live steam and a pop-up pool for boaters, including some ‘have-a-go’ tugs for the budding boat sailers.
SMBC had a good display of some of the models our members own. The Luton club was there also, along with Black Park model boat club.
Gallery – click on an image to enlarge it.
Sept 21st – Club 500 final round!
Yes the final round of the 2025 Club 500 Championship, and it was a bit of a foregone conclusion who was going to be the winner as Jim Pallet with number 26 was way out in front from the previous 5 rounds. Today’s event was more of a ‘let’s see who comes second’ sort of race. Some boats unfortunately got inverted in the rush…
Sept 7th. – IPMS at Biggleswade
We had a stand with a good display of (mainly) plastic converted vessels including Scharnhorst, a 1:35 scale Schnellboot, a Skipjack class Revell submarine and others…
August
August seems to be the month of maximum weed in the lake. Almost every propellor driven boat seems to collect some even on the shortest of excursions. Yachts seem to fair a bit better although they have large rudders. If your prop driven boat slows down be careful not to stall the motor on the weeds… you could overload the ESC with disastrous results!
August 30/31st. – Southern Model Show at Headcorn
We had a stand there with a good display of our boats. the weather was excellent and there were more model boat clubs there than previously.
July
July 27th – Another Club 500 championship race this month with Round 5. Eight competitors this week, so 4 heats. Looks like we have a clear Championship winner even though there is another round to go. You can view the Results here and we have 4 videos of each of the heats on our YouTube channel
There are only 1 race left this year, so think about getting a boat ready for 2026.
July 12-13th Shuttleworth ‘Summer Fair’ happened on July 12-13, and similar to last year there were a few model boat clubs in attendance at the lake. It was a fairly hot couple of days, and some of our members had their fast boats on the lake
July 6th – Club 500 championships continued this month with Round 4. As folk were on holidays, there were only 6 competitors so just 2 heats. Championship so far… Results here There are only 2 races left this year, and one person has a commanding lead.
June
Club 500 championships continued this month with Round 3. Once again, there were only 6 competitors so just 2 heats. Championship so far… Results here
Club open day was on June 22nd, running from 9am to 4pm with a mixture of boats on the water. One or two unusual boats this year with a couple of 3D printed submarines. We have a short video on YouTube of the day’s sailing.
May
Club 500 championships continued this month with Round 2. There were only 6 competitors so just 2 heats. Video of heat 2 on our YouTube channel – Championship so far… Results here
Stotfold Country Fair took place over the weekend of 10/11th May and as usual the club had a presence there with the large ‘paddling pool / boat pond’. Everything went smoothly thanks to Trevor’s organisation and the many volunteers from the club who turned up to help set-up and then display various boats over the 2 days.
Some images from our members… slide along and… Click to enlarge
April
Club 500 championships started this month with Round 1. There were eight competitors so 2 groups of 4 competed over 2 heats for each group. The early leader in the championship after 1 round is Jim with boat 26 and some fairly consistent racing… Results here
March
A bit of a variable weather month – some days warm others with a cold Northerly wind meant that numbers sailing at the lake were up and down. There were a few new boats on the water and the return of the water-skiing team.
February
Well the weather is starting to improve a little and we’ve had a few more people at the lake, some with new boats they have acquired or built. Or with old boats they have modified!
For example I think we have the first electric powered GPL 1000 on the lake. Previously this would have been powered by a small nitro engine of around 3 – 6 cc. A conversion of a smaller IC boat is feasible, but difficult for a larger 30 cc Petrol engined craft. Think power to weight.
At the moment, we are not running I.C. boats due to restrictions by Stevenage Borough Council. Consequently, we are still having discussions with them about the types of boats we should run despite the fact the club has run I.C. Boats for 50 years. Watch this space.
January
A few hardy people at the lake Sunday 26th. As expected, there was quite a bit of ice near the quayside, but not so thick as to deter some boaters. One of them brought their new ice-breaker tug…
These tiny tugs are very popular at our club – there must be at least 8 by now. They can be bought in a local model shop or online for between £25-40. They are ‘RTR’ in theory but may need some small assembly. At 1:72 scale they’re 28cm long and perform well in calm conditions, with 2 props. Battery life gives about 15 mins run time, and recharge via USB.
January is also the time for the club AGM – the one occasion in the year where members meet away from the lake. Committee members are elected/ re- elected and a couple of trophies are awarded.
First went to Jim- winner of 2024 Club 500 championship. He had a margin of only 2 points above 2nd place, making a strong finish in the last race of the season.That’s the second trophy for Club 500 as he won the championship a couple of years ago.
2nd award – the Syd McGoun trophy, was awarded to the club member who this year had ‘unrivalled enthusiasm for SMBC’. And that member was Ethan! He turns up regularly, has made some interesting boats from scratch, and has just finished his first I.C. Boat. Well done Ethan.
Only one change to the club committee this year, John took over from Andy as chairman. After the formalities of the meeting, there was the usual ‘ Bring & Buy’ sale, and tea / biscuits. Thanks to all who attended.
2024 news
September
St Albans MES – model show
This was a 2 day event and SMBC as usual had a stand there… Some photos from our members – click to enlarge
Club 500
Final round this month. And we have a winner for the Club 500 Championship 2024… check the results
August
Southern Model Show at Headcorn
Four club members attended the show at Headcorn. Weather was very windy on Saturday and nice and sunny Sunday. The show was well attended by people on both days. Can I say a big thank you to Paul, Chris and Colin for their help. – Jeff
July
Model Air at Shuttleworth – 2
The club’s 2nd visit to Shuttleworth this year – plenty of boats on show and several other boat clubs in attendance supporting the event. We were there for 2 days over the weekend with a lot of public interest in our sailing. Quite a few SMBC members turned up to display and run their boats. As usual there was some time allocated to the ‘fast boats’ – mainly IC but a couple of fast electric on show as well. Richard provided the excellent catering facilities for the weekend to ensure no-one went hungry or thirsty!
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,
June 23rd, our Open Day was a popular all day event.
Luckily we had some decent weather for the day. Once again 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.
Watch on YouTube
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.
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
Watch 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
Watch 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
Watch 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…
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…
Watch on Youtube
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…
Watch on Youtube
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 –
Watch on Youtube
January – Winter slowdown
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 , chairman for the last few years decided to step down and Andy was elected as chairman. Paul 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 B 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!